Making a Compelling Business Case for Funding Opportunities
The Kentucky Innovation Network works with many clients helping them get “investment ready”. The example of feedback to a client below is typical. If you see yourself in this discussion, contact us to see if we can help.
While many companies have a detailed plan, the targeted audience will want you to simply state the business you are in, who your target customers are, and what products are intended for each of these customers. In each of these market areas you will need to outline the positive and negative attributes of your products and why you will be able to get customers to convert to your solutions.
For example, you might say “the rapidly growing market relies on materials presently costing $20/kg. Our technology reduces that cost to less than $5/kg while increasing the energy density by 50% resulting in an 8x decrease in cost. Currently, the market is buying $3 billion worth of these materials and the share of this market that we can immediately target is $500 million.”
“The materials we will target include X, Y and Z. We will also license our technology and consult on the design of large scale manufacturing equipment.
“To understand this application, I have included a brief sketch of the components that go into several types of specialized end products for the automotive and large scale energy storage (smart grid) applications.“
I might next discuss the team and your IP before you go further into the market. I would discuss the market and the competition and why you will be able to penetrate these markets. I would also briefly discuss your revenue model (gross margin %, licensing strategy, consulting strategy). Stay away from claims that you cannot support.
People are going to want to know just what kind of business this is. Is it a technology licensing business, a raw material supplier, an equipment supplier, or a consulting business performing R&D? A combination of all of these will scare investors off.
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