1. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
Writing a presentation teaser
By Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker
Not as easy as you think
You want to describe yourcompanyorideato an investoryou are asking to rise money
from. Sounds easy right? All you have to do is explain how great the product or
concept is and surely they will see the potential! It’s all about how great my product
is…Right?
If this is your approach:Congratulations, you just graduated to the class of businesses
that receive the, “Very nice, I’ll be in touch.” diploma given by investors every day.
With this diploma you will never hear from this investor again and he will never take
your call.
Why can I say that? Over the last 20 years I have seen or written over 5,000 business
presentation. At times with as many as 10 Ph.D.’s in the room to explain how they
were going to change the world. Only a few ever raised large sums of money.
So, what made these companies different? Simple,these executive teams know how
to speakthe language of money. Money is a very differentlanguage than engineering,
market research, or financial projections. The language of money is all about - RISK
MITIGATION!
As an investment banker I meet people every day that want to raise money. My first
question always is, “What role did you play within the company that raised money or
sold the company?” The answer I receive almost 100% of the time is, “I was VP of
(your department here)”. This statement tells me everything about you. You were/are
part of the company not part of the TEAM. It’s the team that raised money or sold the
company.So,if you are just part of the company notpart of the closed doornegotiation
team, where do you get your training? How do you level the playing field?
Where do you learn to speak the langue of MONEY? There are only way two ways I
have ever found to learn this langue of money. Either you were invited in to be part of

2. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
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that team and received the experience or you have to hear no enough times from
enough investors and be willing to grow past your own boundaries and employ a
financial advisor, such as myself and partner, to help you learn to speak the langue
Money what’s to hear.
In the next few pages I will share what I’ve learned by hearing no so many times I sure
it will be the only word on my tombstone.
Where to start
If you ask me to sell a company or product, no problem. Ask me to sell myself, how
do I do that. How do I tell the story of me? The hardest story to tell.
The first step to selling you as a company is step away from the company and team
and find a quiet place.Reflectonwhat other companies in your space are doing. Look
at all the sales materials from these companies you can find. See how each describe
the company and service. Then think about the team you have assembled. Be very
honest with yourself. Is this the team you want to go into battle with? Would you trust
each person with $5,000,000.00?
If you have even one doubt, stop.Your team is what will be evaluated most heavily by
an investor. Just as when you buy a major ticket item you do a lot of research. What
investors call Due Diligence (DD). And just like buying that large ticket item, brand
name and marketing are important. But, in the end you buy from someone youconnect
with and trust. So it is with an investor. Investors don't invest in the idea; they invest
in the team. He needs to know that the team he will invest in is capable of achieving
the greatness you promise.
Rules for writing that teaser
Rules number one, two, and three.
1. BE BREIF
2. BE BRIGHT
3. BE DONE

3. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
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Everything comes from these three rules.
Rule 1: BE BREIF
First, you have exactly the first line of text to hook the reader into giving you the time
for the next sentence. If you are boring in your first statement, I guaranty no one will
read the second statement. So, what is an example of a boring statement?
NEWCO was founded in 2010 as a Delaware C corporation.
Don’t waste time. Get to the problem you plan to solve. Tell the reader why the pain
is so great you have spent your valuable time creating this solution. Hook me with
what’s in it for the investor. And say it in less than 10 seconds of reading time.
I have read teasers and business plans from all types and stages of companies with
this example as the first line of text in the teaser/executive summary. Would you read
any further? Remember, the reader has 20-50 more teasers to sift through…Today.
Rule 2: BE SUCCINCT
Less is so much more. Use pictures, graphs, and charts to explain ideas. Use words
sparingly. Words setthe scene. Let the reader create how great a value you are from
images. Don’t use more than 2 images per page. Remember, less is much more.
Rule 3: BE DONE
When you finish the in person presentation or first phone call, ask what else the
investor would like to know. Never educate an investor. Never fill silence with talk
about how great your product is or what your kids did last week. Never think this
investor needs you. Investors have deal flow; you have to standout.
News flash. The war is over. PowerPoint is the winner when it comes to creating
teasers and presentations. Use the best tool and the medium the reader is
expecting. I have thought in the past I would be smart and be different. The only
call I received was, “Are you stupid?”.

4. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
4
Practical application
Most teasers are sent to third parties via email. Teasers because of this must be written in a format
that can be understood without a talk track, but at times you present face-to-face. This text talks to
both situations.
A teaser should never be written as a; from scratch document. The teaser is a
summary of your company. Start by creating a PowerPoint Deck for each of the
business units listed below. Using the same three rules above, showing the reader
that you have thought through everything possible to reduce the risk of failure. The
steps to composing a great teaser are first:
1. Create a Financial PowerPoint
a. Don’t put spreadsheets in any screens
b. What should each screen address
i. What you do
ii. Market size
iii. Investment into the company to date
iv. Cap table overview, founders share virus outside investors share as
a total
v. Capital structure
vi. Sales history and projection, when will you be cash positive
vii. What, if any, government subsidy, grants, tax consideration
viii. In-house or outsource model
ix. Investment opportunity how much money for what percentage or
interest rate
x. Use of funds
xi. What is the projected exit strategy and investor return on investment
xii. Summary of the PowerPoint
2. Create an Operations Plan PowerPoint
a. What should each screen address
i. What you do (Yes you can recycle)
ii. What is the current production/fulfillment/service plant
configuration
iii. What is needed to expand company offering in
physical plant
iv. Justification for build vs. outsource, or vice versa

5. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
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v. Who is charged to drive growth (It had better not be the CEO)
vi. What is the timeline for build out
vii. What is the cost of the build out
viii. What is the human cost
ix. Summary of the PowerPoint
3. Create a Sales/Market Plan PowerPoint
a. Note, I didn’t say Marketing
b. What should each screen address
i. What you do
ii. What market research or experience sparked the idea
iii. What research convinced you to move forward
iv. How big is the market projection for the next 12 24 36 months by
year
v. Who is in this space, what have they done in
sales
vi. Are you capturing new market share or stealing
from market leaders
vii. What is your go to market strategy
1. In-house sales force
2. Outsource sales force suchas VARS or Big
Box
viii. What is the cost of your strategy in G&A terms
ix. What is the contingency plan if plan A fails to launch
x. Summary of the PowerPoint
4. Create a Manage Plan PowerPoint
a. This many be the most import deck of all, what should it address
i. First and foremost, strength of the management team
ii. Have a quality professionalphoto of each memberof the CxO team
iii. Have a professional writer create a one paragraph bio of each
member
1. Don’t list all the timeline accomplishments
2. Make it interesting tell the reader why CxO is the best person
for the job

6. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
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3. What is it about the executive that will
reduce or eliminate RISK
iv. What plan to increase depth or upgrade
CxO’s
v. What is the plan for a board of directors
vi. What is the offering
vii. How many board seats will be offered to
investors
viii. Summary of the PowerPoint
Now you are ready to create a teaser. It’s simple really. You have done the work by
creating the meat of the company presentation you will need anyway. Take each
PowerPointand distill each down to one no more than two pages.Have bright, colorful
open page,and follow up with that one to two pages from each sectionexplaining the
reason the company is a great investment with minimal risk.
Here is the format:
1. Greeting page
2. What we do page
3. Market reach
4. Sales Projections
5. Financial overview
6. Team
7. Offering
8. Summary Page
9. Disclosure Page with who to contact
That’s it! That’s all you need to create a great teaser. I told you the teaser was the
easiest part. By the way, did you notice what PowerPoint Deck isn’t in there? You’re
right. Don’t talk about your product or service for hours on end. The investor doesn’t
care. The productis simplythe one-page overviewin each deck.Inthe investors mind;
“If your product was perfect today and you controlled the market, you wouldn’t need
the investors’ money. One more bit of advice. I cannot count the times rookie
entrepreneurs and seasoned professionalhave talked themselves out of closing with
an investor. The golden rule is; the investor knows everything. Never try to educate

7. Robert Schwenk, Investment Banker (714) 924-4386 – Writing an Investor Teaser/Investor Presentation©
January 2016
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an investor. Simply deliver a short presentation, ask questions of the investor such as
what more can I tell you. Never talk
to file silence and never educate the
investor. Lastly a great line from the
movie Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross:
“Remember your ABC’s:
Always
Be
Closing.”