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Perfect Pitch Still hitting the wrong note with investor presentations? Try these expert tips.

By Art Beroff

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Though they started their company just eight years ago whilestill enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia, Future GraphInc. founders Bob Blitshtein and Steve Boymel are now softwareindustry veterans. The company started life with a single softwareproduct, titled f(g) Scholar, to help students with math andscience. Today, Southampton, Pennsylvania-based Future Graph is anemerging publisher and developer of math and science educationalsoftware aggressively sold in retail stores.

On the path from obscurity in a college dorm to entrepreneurialsuccess, the pair became experts in another discipline, as well:raising money. According to Blitshtein, since the founding ofFuture Graph, he and partner Boymel have raised approximately $2million in more than a dozen separate financings, ranging fromgrants to loans to equity investments by high-net-worth angels andventure capital firms alike. The partners credit much of theirmoney-raising success to their winning presentation."There's no doubt about it," says Blitshtein."We've made our presentation to investors hundreds oftimes over the years."

A leading authority on investor presentations is Jeffery Adduci,president of the Regional Investment Bankers Association (RIBA) inCharleston, South Carolina. RIBA is a trade association that, amongother activities, hosts five investment banking presentations eachyear for companies seeking an investment banker, selling an IPO ordeveloping market support. During his tenure with the group, Adducihas run 50 investing conferences and, as a result, has heard some1,600 presentations by companies trying to raise money.