Okay, now let's talk about when you're standing up in front of a funding source, and you're making a proposal or a pitch, what is it that they actually are expecting to see? Or what did they want to hear? Okay, so what they want to know number one is, this project makes sense. It aligns with our corporate strategy, perhaps there's a new business involved, and even though new businesses are much more difficult to get approved, it's possible, difficult but possible. So just make sure that before you get up and talk to someone who's going to fund your project, that the project makes sense from a corporate standpoint. Now, don't start talking about, if you have a product, particularly, don't start talking about how the product works. People don't really care how it works, to be honest, and they assume it will work. Otherwise, why would you be up in front of them talking about funding it? So what they do care about is that you have knowledge of your market that you're going after, whether it's an existing market or a new market. And you've talked to customers or have done enough discovery that you know that people are interested in what you're doing, and they will actually buy your product or your service. And you want to talk about what's the problem in the market? How does my product or my service address that problem? Okay, remember part of the process of getting funding is that the funding source has to believe in the team you put together to do this project. So if you have a previous track record in the corporate environment on other projects, talk about those. If you're missing some people in the team, you can talk about that. I wouldn't highlight it, but if somebody asks the question, you can say, yeah, we need a marketing expert or whatever. And you have enough resources in the organization to go find that person. And the point of the team is, you put together a complementary team, that has skill sets that aren't overlapping, but come together as a unified group. Because they're really going to know, they're going to want to know, or what they're going to want to believe that you can actually execute the strategy or proposal. Okay, so one of the things I always tell people when you're making a pitch or you're presenting a proposal is, you never want to say I don't have competition, because there's only two things that that can mean. Means you have an uninteresting market and nobody's going after the market, that's why there's no competition. Or it means you don't really know your market. There probably is competition, but you haven't researched it well enough to know that. So never say, I have no competition. You should know what the competition is and be able to talk about why your product or service addresses something that the competitors did not. I like to give people easy ways to remember things, so I have the 3 C's of a good business plan. First of all, the first C is it's a Compelling idea, okay? Why will people buy this product? Why will people use your service? Secondly, as I've already spoken about, you have a Competent management team. People who understand the market with the skill sets needed to execute the strategy. And then C is Cash flow. Now, all projects don't become immediately cash-flow positive, I know that, but any early traction you can demonstrate in your project. Pilot programs, some large customers doing beta testing on it. Any traction you can get is important to talk about. Or if you have it, talk about it. Okay, so again, your audience is the important person or persons you're talking to. Understand where they're coming from. What are their motivations? What are their concerns? So pitches are not easy to do but if you follow this kind of simple guidelines, I think you'll come out with a much better result.
