Presenting Your Business Plan to an Angel Investor

When presenting your business plan to an angel investor you must understand that they will be very interested in your spreadsheets and proformas, but you must also realize that it is typically an entrepreneurial optimistic approach, which causes problems with proformas.

Therefore, you should have dueling spreadsheets; that is to say the spreadsheets, which take your best guess and double the time, double the expenses to compete with your optimistic approach. You should be able to present both of these to your Angel Investor; who chances are is a retired business person with a little bit of financial savvy.

This will show your Angel Investor that you indeed are a rational thinker and concerned about the money as well as the truth. If the Angel Investor cannot trust you your chances of being funded are nil. An angel investor is betting on the jockey not only the horse. As an entrepreneur you must be honest with yourself as well as your financial partner.
Tip! Myth: My business plan needs to be perfect before I can start my business.

They want to make sure you believe in what you are doing and that you also have risked your own capital, time and energies into the new business. Angel investors want you to succeed and often they also like to give their input and if you end up taking their money for your startup, the need to realize that their input needs to be taken seriously.

Angel Investors are typically much better investors for a long-term business plan that Venture Capitalists, although they do not come usually with the incredible network to help you succeed. Venture Capitalists are more interested in themselves and making money on their investment then what you get out of it or the future of the business with you in it. An angel investor is interested in you, the future of the business and the possibility of making a whole lot of money on their investment. Please consider all this when presenting your business plan to an Angel Investor.
Tip! Before you send your business plan to anyone, proofread the executive summary carefully. You will probably not get the financing if you have typos in the executive summary.

Lance Winslow