Fundraising Tap Dance (A One Anda Two)

I’ve spent years of my career fundraising for clients’ ventures and my own, with each project requiring hundreds of hours for the tap-dancing-dog-and-pony-show pitches required to pique investors’ interests.  I’m now piqued to learn about a site called Caplinked that promises to make the process of “private investment easy, secure, and social.” Its model for sharing and updating information with the many people needed for successful fundraising is one I’m eager to try!

The site’s founder, Eric M. Jackson, reports a trend away from presenting The Business Plan as a narrative tome in favor of a slide deck that is more quickly prepared, presented, and absorbed. This twist alone will save tens of thou in presentation development costs.

Homework: Think now of needing three scripts for your fundraising show:  a one minute (the elevator speech), a ten minute (the executive summary), and a one hour (the slide deck). Even if you’re not imminently raising funds, it’s good to have any marketing message articulated at three levels of depth to be prepared for every request to put on your tap shoes and dance.