Research Liaison & Development (RL&D)

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Selling Your Innovation

You've got a great idea with tremendous potential. But you need external support to move your idea from the laboratory to the marketplace. How do you convey the value of your idea to win the support of potential investors?

The following "Selling Your Innovation" guidelines were developed by Linda Plano, PhD, Associate Director of the Mass Tech Transfer Center. For UMass Amherst technology entrepreneurs, contact Research Liaison and Development to learn more about the services and resources available on campus.

When preparing and investor presentation keep in mind:

Investors care about mitigating risk (reducing fear) and increasing reward.
Different people absorb information differently. Use a combination of graphical, written and verbal approaches to describe your innovation.
Prepare a *brief* presentation. If you've really got something it should be clear in ten slides or less.
Keep graphics and written descriptions brief and to the point. If your audience wants more detail, they'll ask for it. Having backup information at the ready is a good idea.

In the following section are listed the different aspects of your potential business that answer the above questions. When you can answer these questions confidently and, where appropriate, quantitatively, the 10-slide investor presentation will almost write itself.

Five questions investors want answered:

1. What is it (exactly) that you're offering?

a. In a lanugage I can understand!
b. How real is it?

2. Why should I care?

a. How big is the market?
b. What part of that market do you address?
c. Who is your customer?
d. Are you sure they care?

3. What makes your solution better than anyone else's?

a. How does it compare with the current state of the art?
b. What are its features? Benefits?
c. In addition to any technical advantages, is it cheaper?

4. How are you going to stay in the best position?

a. What is your intellectual property (IP) position?
b. Do you have the right protection?

5. Why are you the best team for the job?

a. Who do you have? Who's missing?
b. Do you have an advisory board?
c. What resources do you need?

1. What is it (exactly) that you're offering?

a. In Lanugage I can understand
b. How real is it?

Technology:______________________________________________________________

Description:______________________________________________________________

Technology Status:________________________________________________________

Technology Hurdles:_______________________________________________________

Production Hurdles:________________________________________________________

Technology History:_______________________________________________________

Note: Where possible, use simple drawings (no complex chemical formulas or other technical detail) to illustrate what the technology does (and what it is if that adds to the investor's comfort level (reducing risk)).

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2. Why should I care?

a. How big is the market?
b. What part of the market do you address?
c. Who is your customer?
d. Are you sure they care?

Primary Market
Primary Market Size	VC's are looking for $100M+; preferably $1B+. Angels may be satisfied with somewhat less, especially if they have a social entrepreneurship reason for investing (e.g., family member with disease that can be treated with invention).
Secondary Markets	• •
Secondary Market Size	Remember: investors want to know that there is vast potential for your technology and for a technology platform (as opposed to a single product); they also want to be comfortable that you can make it best by focusing on one product path for them to strike it rich in the short term.
Customer Description
Product Platform	for example: • Modified for use with alternative rodents, e.g., rats, which are widely used in toxicology studies. • Scaled for high throughput research. • Portable systems (does this open up new markets?) • Systems for use with unrestrained mice. • Adapted for use with aerosol delivery methods for drugs, allergens, etc.
Value Chain	(supplier (if appropriate)) Þ (direct customer) Þ (their customer) Þ (end user)
Specific Customers	Suppliers (if appropriate): Direct Customers: Their Customers: End Users: These should be companies that you have or plan to interview, in person if possible. Bonus points for companies that are interested in joint development projects, especially if you have connections with decision makers.
Customer Price Points	How much are they willing to pay for features and benefits?
Other Validation	Do you have industry experts on your advisory board? Are you doing or about to do any joint work with a potential customer? Etc.

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3. What makes your solution better than anyone else's?

a. How does it compare with the current state of the art?
b. What are its features? Benefits?
c. In addition to any technical advantages, is it cheaper?

First, list your technology's features and benefits. The more specific you can be with respect to features and benefits, the better:

Your technology's features	Your technology's benefits
1.	1.
2.	2.
3.	3.

Features = what your technology does . Benefits = why your customer cares about what your technology does. For instance, one feature of a Pentium processor is that it performs billions of operations per second. The average customer couldn't care less about that; what he cares about (among other things) is the benefit that his programs load faster than they would with a slower processor.

Note 1: If the challenges include that your technology is more expensive than the competition, recognize that your technology must be disproportionately valuable in some other way and emphasize those benefits.

Note 2. A cost vs. performance chart positioning your technology positively with respect to the competition can be very helpful.

Try this worksheet:

Competitive Technology	Competitors	Their Features	Their Benefits	Our Advantages	Our Benefits
1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.
2.	2.	2.	2.	2.	2.

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4. How are you going to stay in the best position?

a. What is your intellectual property (IP) position?
b. Do you have the right protection?

US Patent Protection
Worldwide Patent Protection	Note: Reduce fear by explaining why this isn't going to damage your competitive advantage in a significant way.
Copyright
Trademark
Trade Secret
Continued Development Plans	What modifications or new types of processes do you expect to pursue in order to stay ahead of the competition? How do you plan to reduce costs? Enhance production? Etc.
Other

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5. Why are you the right team?

a. Who do you have? Who's missing?
b. Do you have an advisory board?
c. What resources do you need?

Primary Inventor Contact
Expertise
Institution
Contact Source
Desired Outcome for Technology	Note: You don't need to present this but you should be very clear on what you want in order to frame presentation and to provide consistent answers to questions. Also so you don't waste a lot of valuable time doing stuff that eventually winds up creating a result you don't care about.
Desired Outcome for Inventor(s)
Other Team Members	Desired outcome for other team members.
Tech Transfer Office
Expertise Needed
Advisory Board	Should include industry experts, preferably with great network of contacts relevant to your work and with great enthusiasm for your technology.
Timeframe	How long to proof of concept? How long to beta tests? How long to first product release? How long to significant market penetration?
Investment Needed	Example: Proof of concept (est. $400,000) Note: This is not usually put into the investor presentation. Have as backup for Q&A after they are excited about investing.
Other Resources	Example: lab space

Remember: Reduce Fear Increase Rewards.

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