Here are some things to avoid saying in your presentation (and things to rethink if you were tempted to say them):
- We have no competition. (Wrong; you always have competition)
- We only need 1% of this $10B market to be a big company (Wrong; venture capitalists look for rapidly growing and/or disruptive opportunities where your company has the opportunity to be a major player, not a 1% player)
- We can’t talk to you until you sign our NDA (a non-starter for almost all venture capitalists, and most angel investors)
- If you are pitching a VC (as opposed to an angel) do not propose what you think your pre-money valuation should be -unless the VC asks. Most VCs believe it’s their job to tell you what your valuation is, and it just gets things off on the wrong foot if you try to set the value yourself.