What Investors Look For When Evaluating Your Pitch: HRH Prince Khaled Bin Alwaleed Bin Talal
KBW Investments founder HRH Prince Khaled Bin Alwaleed Bin Talal talks about what he looks for when evaluating a pitch.
By HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud • Jul 2, 2015
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When evaluating a pitch, here is what HRH Prince Khaled Bin Alwaleed Bin Talal looks for in your business model. Some of the investors we featured look at early-stage and even ideation, others only consider large-scale models. At the core of the matter is that a pitch is a pitch, and you'll notice that these investors all mention a few essential points... like how much drive and motivation you and your co-founders have to make your business work. Does your enterprise have what (and who) it takes to secure funds?
"During a pitch I expect to hear more than I see... All the fancy graphics just distract from the business; I hate PowerPoint presentations. I'm looking for a few things.
1. HOW INVOLVED ARE THE FOUNDERS? I want to know if they are involved in the day-to-day operations or are they just handing things off to the CEO?
2. HOW MUCH RISK ARE THEY TAKING? Are they investing personally and how much?
3. HOW MUCH CAN I PERSONALLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE BUSINESS? Can I do any good, in terms of besides just being an investor and injecting capital; can I help them grow and expand to other countries?
4. HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN UP AND RUNNING? I'll need to know where they are in their business- are they in the profit stage? And does the company have debt?
5. CAN THE BUSINESS SCALE? Who is their target market? Where do they want to expand?"
