It’s a big week in London this week, and it’s not just me saying that, it’s a quote from TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher. Yesterday was SeedCamp, today is Geek’n'Rolla and last night I chaired the Mobile Monday London session on “Financing Your Mobile Business in a Credit Crunch.”

Raising Finance

Raising finance is an almost inevitable part of running any business, large or small, in good times (to fund growth) or in bad times (to get through). It is something to understand, whether you are a new employee or a seasoned CEO. This post captures some of the discussion and my thoughts from last night’s diverse and talented panel, that included:

• Chris Padfield, from London Business Angels.
• Carl Uminski, long time entrepreneur (CTO of Overture, TruTap co-founder and involved in Flirtomatic).
• Pamir Gelenbe, from Newton Moore – entrepreneur and VC.
• Rose Lewis, from Pembridge Parnters LLP – again with a VC background and businesses finance experience.

The evening kicked off with presentations, including Vodafone launching their mobile clicks competition in the UK, a session on business modelling, an overview of the DKTN and also Gateway to investment - www.g2i.org – a scheme which helps prepare businesses for funding.

Customers Consulting and Product

A lot of the discussion centred on customers and consulting. Customers are clearly an important piece of the funding equation. Paying customers not only provide revenue to fund the business, they also provide evidence that the business has a credible proposition. Clearly something that is important to potential investors. While a single customer doesn’t prove you have a business (almost anyone can sell something to someone once), a few key references are a good indicator that you might be on to something.

Some businesses are funded pre-revenue, as was the case for many of the businesses that I have been involved in. If you are developing patent-able technology, or a product with a long development cycle, then clearly you are going to need funding to get through to first revenues. However, with changing development models and costs, and the more modular nature of Web 2.0 technologies, it is becoming the exception rather than the rule in the web and social technology space. Businesses are getting customers on board with early versions of the product, and after that seeking funding to accelerate growth. That means less dilution for the company founders – since the company will have a higher valuation, you don’t have to give as much of it away to raise money.

The general consensus from the panel was that web-based businesses really do need to get customers before they go for funding. With the cost of prototyping applications being so low, early development can be self-funded. Customers are key to showing that there is a market for the offering, rather that it just being a ‘good idea.’

There is a temptation for technology companies to slip into being a consultancy business, rather than a product business. Not that there is anything wrong with a consultancy business, but it has a very different valuation and structure to a product one. Consultancy can provide short term cash, but products provide revenue streams that can more easily be leveraged and grown, once up and running. Many businesses do start with consultancy and use that to build expertise and IPR that leads to a product – it takes great skill.

Timing and a Plan

The session on business modelling, and a few questions from the audience, brought up the issue of business plans. I think it was Pamir who said: “Business plans are like sausages, if you knew what went in to one you wouldn’t touch it.” In my experience, that is very true, but you still need them! Rose pointed out something that many people I speak to seem to miss: “Once you have raised the funding, what are you going to do with it?” She likes to see a 90 day plan detailing how the investment will be used.

Timing for investment was another central topic of discussion, and its always a tricky one. There are pros and cons to going early of going late, but Pamir reminded us of the truism: “The time to get money, is when you don’t need it” – If you don’t need funding, you can be more selective about who you get funding from. That gives you the opportunity to choose “better quality” money.

Not all cash is equal.

Just as some customers are a better source of revenue – either because they are prepared to be references or can help with critical product issues -  some angels and Venture Capitalists are going to be able to bring more relevant expertise and contacts into your business. It isn’t just about their money, in fact almost anything but. Also, remember that headline valuation is one thing, but terms are another. Sometimes the terms of the funding can kill you down the line, or at least greatly limit your options.

If you ask a VC for money you get advice, if you ask a VC for advice you get money.

Much of the art of investment is about controlling risk, and that came up as well. As a business person you need to manage your risk, but you also need to manage (and reduce) investor’s risk. 

There are lots of different options for raising money. There are 15-20 key groups of Angels  in the UK, a smaller number of VCs (with funds that are active), then there are banks, competitions (ike Vodafone Clicks) and grants – many of which are regionally specific in the UK. Banks are clearly putting money into businesses, but generally only into larger, mature businesses. If you already have VC funding, then venture debt is also an option. It’s newer and more esoteric, but can be advantageous in certain circumstances – I’ve had good and bad experiences with it. 

Be Innovative

There other ways of funding your business too, and you can be really innovative in ‘raising funds’ – sometimes adjusting cash flow, for example moving to success-based cost models for sales and marketing, or choosing suppliers that will work in ways that free up your cash.

Although we don’t say it so much on this side of the Atlantic, the recession is great for entrepreneurs – Brits talk about it more conservatively. In down times there is more talent available, sales and marketing costs are lower and things are more open to negotiation – for example office space. If you are driven by costs, not revenues – usually the case for early stage start up – then hard times can be good. Not so great for businesses with big established revenues and high margins. 

A big thank you to Farhan for liberally tweeting notes whilst I was chairing – another great use for Twitter, real time session notes.

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The Pitchers

You can see the pitch videos in all their glory here on TechCrunch (and my photos of NewsPepper / TechFluff.tv’s  Hermoine Way filming them here). I’m not going to say much about the companies themselves, watch the pitches or visit their websites if you want to know more :-  BookingBug, CardCode, Jupidi Date-Coach, Rendezviewonline, Socialibrium, Soundcloud, Quick.tv and Worldeka - a very broad range of company types!

Here are my thoughts on giving effective pitches, based on watching the companies in action (interesting to compare with  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Pitchers from last time).

Tackle The Obvious

In any situation there will be some obvious questions. Make sure that you head these questions off by answering them or neutralising them (by making them irrelevant). The best way to find out what these questions are is understanding the interests of you audience, ideally by sounding out some friendly advisors who have a similar perspective. If you are pitching your business to an investor, they’ll want to know how your business is going to make money and increase in value. Pre-empt any objections you are likely to encounter, and handle them up front, and positively! 

Win The Audience

In a 90 second pitches there isn’t enough time to convince your audience what a wonderful person you are. Actually, people do a worse job of this given more time. Win the audience over by proxy: Get a laugh or get to you will make my life better. If you can do that, you’re likely to seen as a good egg, even though we’ve don’t actually know you. Make sure we can see the benefit (to us). Soundcloud used a recorded testimonial from Hammer (aka MC Hammer) to kick off, which won the crowd’s attention. There was more social referencing, in listing the company’s big name investors. Nick Bell, from Quick.tv , used a shock joke to very good effect and won the audience with laughter – Nick went on to win the evening’s voting.

Get The Good Stuff in – Early

CardCode got the biggest reaction and cheer for something that wasn’t in their 90 second main pitch: that they had built a QR code reader for the iPhone. It only came out during the Q&A. In a real-world elevator pitch, you don’t know when you are going to run out of time, so don’t leave your most compelling benefits until the end or for next time. If you do, their might not be a next time. Be sure you understand what people are most likely to get excited about, and get it in early. 

Be Conversational – Not Corporate

By conversational I mean two way communication, look at how your audience is reacting. Frame things in a way that engages people as individuals (avoid this list of phrases as a minimum: most annoying business speak phrases in the UK). Watching the crowd’s face during Socialibrium’s pitch was telling. The sizzle and the human element was missing. Jupidi’s Date-Coach pitch was very human, perhaps overly so! It got laughs and silence (intense listening!). Both apps were people-centric, but only Jupidi told the story from a human perspective. Socialibrium spoke from a business/corporate angle. Whatever your product or service, always talk about it’s emotional impact. You’ll get listened to more.

Where Were We? Oh… Don’t Get Side Tracked

You only have a short time, be polite, but don’t beat about the bush. This isn’t the time to get distracted or fall down a rat whole. Mike gave (most of) the speakers a “30-seconds to go” prompt. Each speaker dealt with that differently – some were quite distracted by it. Don’t be put off by time running out or by interruptions. Use your time as best you can. If you have 90 seconds and you spend 5 seconds of it lost in commentary about somethingelse, then that’s 5% of your time wasted. Whenever you are presenting, don’t make interuptions any bigger than they need to be. Deal with them if they need dealing with, but then get straight back on track.

Be Concise – Keep It Simple

An elevator pitch isn’t the time to be wordy or elaborate a complex idea. You might feel compelled to talk about the unique object-oriented approach to PHP coding that you used to build your app, but do I really need to know about that to get why your product or service is compelling? If I do, then you better go back and redesign it, because your heading towards a sales and marketing fail. Most struggling start ups I have encountered were held back because they didn’t have a good, solid elevator pitch. It usually took several hours to figure out what it was that they did and why it was beneficial enough to purchase or invest in. That isn’t a receipe for business success. 

Last, but not least…

Have a compelling call to action at the end of your pitch. What’s next? A trial? A cash investment? Tell friends about the company?

Not a bad set of pitches, but I’m sure each of the companies will walk away with lessons to be learnt. Nick Bell of Quick.tv had the added benefit of walking away with a nice bottle as a prize!

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Last night saw me at the TechCrunch Pitch! event and in a camera happy mood (see Techcrunch pitch photos on Flickr), you’ll find some videos on techcrunch moblog  (I Qik’ed Mike Butcher’s intro here). The pitches were of a high standard, and I’ll be checking out a some of the companies.

Mike gave the companies a specific list of questions to work to. That isn’t completely unusual for a pitching situation, although I think it vexed a few of the speakers. Doug Richard, from BBC’s Dragon’s Den, did an excellent job of playing bad-cop.

On the way home, my thoughts turned to “what makes a good pitch?” Over the years I’ve been on both sides of the table, prepping the pitches and pitching businesses for funding, but also listening to company pitches with a view to investment or acquisition. As I was describing these to my ever astute COO, she said “That sounds like the seven habits of highly effective pitchers”, so here they are:

1. Know the audience, but don’t take them for granted.

What are their motives for being at the pitch? Who are they? These days there is little excuse for not having good background. Linkedin, Xing, Google and Blogs (if they blog) are useful tools. Obviously, don’t end up being a social media stalker, but be aware of the background. One last obvious point, don’t take everything you read as gospel, or make the mistake of believing you actually understand the audience.

2. Know the ideal outcome and shoot for it.

What is it that you want to happen as a result of the pitch? Have a very clear and specific idea of what it is, and make sure the pitch actually works towards it. If you are pitching to investors for cash, they are going to be more interested in how much you want, how good you’ll be with it and why. Not in how hot your Ruby-on-rails coding skillz are. 

3. Know the weakness(es) and head them off.

You suck. You genuinely do. There are things that you are not great at. There are areas where your company is exposed. Know what they are. What are the most common objections you get in the context of this pitch? You don’t want to sow seeds of doubt, but you do want to concrete over any ground where they might spring up.

4. Describe the value from a customer perspective.

What is it that you enable? In specific, quantifiable terms, how does it make things faster or cheaper for customers. For any business product it must do one, if not both, of these or there isn’t a proposition. If you are a consumer offering, then you have the luxury of grasping at being outrageously, additively fun. Don’t miss it.

5. Woo and wow, rather than beat and demand. 

Don’t sell to me, woo me – win me over. People (I include myself there) dislike being sold too. Get me on your side. Don’t tell me you rock, tell me about someone else who says that you rock. Appeal to my judgment, experience and objectives (see 1).

6. Know your time limit; stick to it.

Not over or under. When I first started running a Toastmasters club, I found one of the rules very harsh: If you run over time, you are out of the competition. It is a good discipline. The only way you can know if you are going to be in the time limit is to do a full talk-through. Do it and time it. Rinse and repeat. The audience, and you, will appreciate it. Failing to stick to time and being pulled off stage dents the impression you leave behind.

7. Tell stories.

Stories have narrative. They flow. Their linked structure (this, then this, then this…) make them memorable and easy to follow. Stories have colour and detail, which makes them engaging. People love stories, and if they are good they retell them – that is a marketing secret weapon.

And remember, good stories have a beginning, middle and end. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them. That’s the seven habits of highly effective pitchers.

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SocialMedia Networks produced the event, which included panels with some familiar faces, including Joshua March. One of the highlights for me was Stefan Glaenzer, with his Fidelity Ventures hat on. Whilst he gave solid advice, in his usual straight talking style, it got me thinking about the place of VCs in the new open-source-social-media-powered technology world.

For the greatest part of my career, startups have depended on venture capitalists for a number of reasons, mostly contacts and cash for:

• Marketing, to get the company and product known.
• Development, to get the product or service developed.
• Funding the build out of a sales force ahead of revenues.

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