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Just under three weeks until Demo Day and the teams are working harder than ever. Today they took the time to listen to StartupCFO and Real Ventures partner, Mark MacLeod, on getting investor ready.

He gave them lots of insight, including views from both sides of the fence. Not only did the teams come away from the talk with lots of notes and great tips, but also with a better idea of how to approach investors and the whole financing process. Here’s a few things that he shared with us during the class: 

Here are his 4 “Ps” to being investor ready:
- plan and set your strategy
- prepare your documents
- prepare to do the pitch
- party afterwards

“The plan’s pretty simple. You’ve got to decide first of all, do you want to bootstrap? [If not, and] you do want to raise, then you’ve got to decide if you’re truly ready to raise, and that really comes down to status of the product, status of the story, and are you truly venture ready. If you’re not, then even if you want to raise, you’ve got no choice to bootstrap.”

What’s investor readiness? “It’s pretty simple. It means you know exactly how much you want to raise, what you’re going to achieve with that, and who you’re going to raise from (angels vs. VC’s). It also means that you have the basic set of investor documents: an executive summary, a pitch deck, a very basic financial model, you’ve got your deal team assembled and a pipeline of investors that you’re ready to go after.”

“The exec summary has one purpose. It’s to get you a meeting.”

“Get all the documents ready, and then you hit everyone at once. You don’t run in series, you run in parallel.”

“[Build] relationships with potential investors before you start asking them to invest in your company. This is particularly important for VC’s because it’s the potential for much more capital, it’s a longer relationship, and we need to get to know each other.”

“You need to target the right investors. You need to understand who is investing in this space, at this stage, investing the dollar amounts that you’re trying to raise […] You’ve got to target people who are known to invest in your geography, your sector, at your stage.”

 ”It really is all about traction. […] we’re skeptical, and the thing that gets us over the hump is actual traction.”

“This is a two way relationship, it’s a long term relationship, and you absolutely have to choose the right investors. [...] Above all you want to make sure there is mutual respect and trust […] This is the kind of person you would go on a flight to Asia with. If not, then don’t take their money. It’s going to suck.”

And here is Mark’s presentation:

Brad Feld took the time today to talk to our 11 CEOs about prepping for Demo Day. Here are three questions that were asked and the answers that Brad had to share with the teams. Lots of insightful information as the teams charge towards Demo Day! Thanks, Brad! 

Q: “Teams will take 6-9 months to raise, typically, after a Demo Day. And that you shouldn’t necessarily be expecting to get a Terms Sheet right off the bat, that there’s still a lot to be done, that Demo Day is just a starting point. Can you talk about that a bit?”

A: “I think that it’s really important to recognize that the financing process is a continual process….the value of Demo Day is that it gives you the chance to be in the spotlight for a very focused period of time, and your goal on Demo Day should not be necessarily to get everybody in the room to have a meeting with you. Your goal should be to figure out how to get a set of people in the room to have a meeting with you to start a more engaged process when you’re raising money…what your goal should be coming out of Demo Day is to try to figure out how to have real conversations with a half a dozen or so potential leads…”

Q: “How do you recognize leaders and followers?”

A: “It’s mostly reputational…the nice thing is you can find out easily on the web what people are investing in….do your research. Don’t be bashful about asking about the last couple of financings they did…You have to hustle; go find the information…ask “was he the first one to write a check or did he hang around?”

Q: “What are some do’s and do not’s on Demo Day?”

A: “Thing #1 is practice your presentation fifty times. Recognize that the first 10-15 times you give your presentation, it’s going to completely suck. It’s going to take you 10-15 times to get comfortable with your presentation and you’ll be tuning it. And it’s probably another 10 times before you finally feel comfortable with the final presentation [...] Be as obsessive with the presentation as [you are] with the product [...] Don’t undersell yourself. Really own it. #2 is show, don’t tell…If you can show somebody what your product does [...] the progress that you’re making [...] that’s so much more powerful than if you just assert it or tell them. [...] The last is have a clear ask at the end. Be explicit versus passive.”

“Good luck on Demo Day!”

So today a couple of us got to check out Monument National, the space where Demo Day will be taking place on May 23rd. It’s hard to believe we’re already almost done with week 6, which means we’re nearly halfway there! 

We toured the Café space where teams will meet with investors, and it’s a beautiful room that fills with natural light during the day. Before leaving, we took a peek at the actual theatre, and….WOW. Red velvet seats, an enormous stage, and an intricately decorated ceiling make the room look grandiose but feel intimate at the same time. Walking down to where the stage sits, and looking out to the seats, this is what you see: 

A bit of a breathtaker, eh?

We’re all feeling the pressure and getting really excited about Demo Day. Have you registered? If not, do so here. 

Join us on Wednesday, May 23rd for Demo Day and see just how far the 11 FounderFuel companies get after twelve weeks of gruelling hard work during which their businesses are refined, transformed and accelerated.

Over 500 people attended the Fall 2011 Demo Day including investors from Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, and London.

You don’t want to miss this excellent chance to network!

Demo Day Agenda
9:00 AM – Doors Open & Grab A Seat
9:30 AM – Opening Remarks
9:45 AM – Pitches
11:45 AM – Closing Word
12:00 PM – End

BONUS: Your FounderFuel Demo Day pass gets you free access to the FounderFuel and AccelerateMTL cocktail party at 5:30 PM. Learn more about AccelerateMTL here.

Catch a glimpse of the Fall 2011 Demo Day

It’s been a week already since Demo Day, and we just received the photos of the event, courtesy of Eva Blue. Here are just a few, but be sure to check them all out on her Flickr stream:

We should have video content to share with you soon as well.

Wow. How has 12 weeks gone by already? We’re just not too sure how that happened.

It’s been a short but really intense journey. Since the start of the session on August 15 2011, the teams have made spectacular progress in this high octane environment supported by 100+ mentors and 30 inspiring master classes. Some teams completely pivoted their business, many made major adjustments to their products while others changed only their branding.

All the companies have live products with market traction and some with early revenues. It’s clear evidence of the positive impact of the FounderFuel program and its network of experienced mentors, and today we’re very excited to announce the launch of these great companies.

Selected amongst several hundred applications, the FounderFuel class of 2011 is comprised of:

Playerize | playerize.com
Playerize grows social and mobile games by providing player installs from diverse channels at huge scale.

OOHLALA | gotoohlala.com
A mobile platform that helps students take control of their college life by powering the events, conversations and deals on campus.

Willet | willetinc.com
Willet is the missing step from social browsing into shopping, and converts the mindsets of people without intent to buy into paying customers.

BlameStella | blamestella.com
Is your Internet contrivance up to snuff? Find out with BlameStella, the future of Web Monitoring

Vuru | vuru.co
Vuru takes complex financial statements and distills them down into clear, transparent reports that show investors the fundamentals that matter.

PlayerTakesAll | playertakesall.com
A viral campaign & referral management platform that enables advertisers to extend the reach of their marketing efforts by 50%.

Wavo | wavo.me
wavo.me is the easiest way to collect, manage and play the music and videos being shared on your social networks.

Editola | editola.com
Editola uses the community to build the most accurate view of every news story. The best articles, videos and opinions, all in one place.

Seevibes | seevibes.com
The TV Ratings For Social Media Audience – measures engaged audience to provide relevant data that media and advertising industry need.

As you know, we’re deep in preparation for Demo Day. Practicing the pitches is a priority, and part of the work we’re doing is looking at other pitches for inspiration. Mark MacLeod, a.k.a. StartupCFO, shared a few thoughts on the work we’re doing: 

“Several months ago I posted a form I use for grading VC presentations. I still use it. But last week I was watching some demo day pitches with the FounderFuel teams as we prepare for our own demo day on November 8. We watched some kick ass presentations from companies that have gone on to raise serious $.  As I watching them I jotted down a checklist of what made them great. In a word: clarity. All the key elements were clearly and succinctly laid out.”

Have a look at the checklist on his blog.

We have discounted lodging for you at OPUS Montreal, just a few blocks walking distance to Monument National where Demo Day is taking place next Tuesday November 8 at 1PM.

If you’re interested to know more about the rate, send us a note (info@founderfuel.com) and we’ll tell you how to take advantage of it.

OPUS is a great place to stay, and we know you won’t regret it.

We certainly can’t believe how quickly the program has passed, and with Demo Day just 2 weeks away and 400+ attendees, every day seems to get more and more exciting. 

These days a typical day at FounderFuel HQ starts with pitch rehearsals and group feedback thereafter. Coming out of the session the teams have 24 hours to revise, practice and start over the next day. 

We recently read that Steve Jobs approached his presentations in 3 Acts:

1- Create the Story
2- Deliver the Experience
3- Refine and Rehearse

Sounds like a recipe for success!

We’ll be doing full blown rehearsals daily up until the big day.

Drumroll please…

Recognize it? It’s Monument National, and its where all the fun is going to happen on Tuesday November 8th 2011 for the very first FounderFuel Demo Day.

Built over 120 years ago, the clash between the new upcoming startups and the history of this location is what first got us excited, but the combined energy of the room put forth by the decor, the lighting, the seating arrangement and the dominance of the stage, is what makes this space absolutely perfect.

We can’t wait ’till the event, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to reserve your ticket online. Tickets are going quick!