Every startup seeking funding needs to know how to write a convincing investment proposal. Having a business idea is one thing, but being able to sell it is another. A well-thought-out investment proposal significantly increases the chances of potential investors, so don’t overlook this aspect. 

This article will provide you with 12 detailed steps to grab financial institutions' attention with a compelling investment proposition. Not only that, but we’ll also provide you with free templates to present your business plan in the best way possible. But before we delve into the details, we’ll start with the basics and describe what an investment proposal is all about.

You need a plan on what to include in your presentation. Starting from scratch on an empty document sounds scary; fortunately, you don’t have to do that. Here are the essential tips on how to prepare your investment proposal. We’ve prepared them in a particular order so you can use them as a draft for your future presentation.

1. Describe Your Company

The first impression is one of the most important aspects of human relations. Your goal is to impress potential clients, so it’s best to do it right from the start to increase your chances of receiving financial support. After showing your startup’s cover, the second page should briefly describe your project. Present it as an executive summary, and title it as such. Write a few sentences about yourself and your company’s current status.

Your introduction has to be captivating to grab the attention. The good idea is to start with a thought-out yet straightforward question to draw everyone to your pitch from the very beginning. You can check Slidebean’s tips if you’re lacking ideas for pitch deck hooks that will get your audience’s attention.

2. Focus on The Problem

State the problem you aim to solve. Many business ideas are born out of frustration that you can’t do something efficiently, and no one seems to care. Show everyone you care, and your solution will fix it for good. 

You can use a sort of chain with cause and effect sequence. Point out what customers try and fail to achieve and the obstacles they face. Show how the current market fails to address the problem and puts invisible barriers customers can’t cross. Of course, this will vary depending on the project, but your audience needs to understand the problem before offering a solution.

3. Point Out Your Solution

Once your audience is fully aware of the problem, it’s time to give it a proper solution. This is the time to explain your product or service in detail and how your target audience will benefit from it. It’s one of the most important pages in your presentation, so make it easy to understand and avoid using technical jargon. 

In this case, we would advise preparing different versions of this page and asking someone for feedback, then choosing the final version based on someone’s opinion. Your audience needs to benefit from your presentation, not you.

4. Show Market Research

The next pages should describe your marketing plan and how you want to fit your offer in a particular niche. You have to convince prospective clients you did a thorough research about your chosen market. This information aims to be transparent and prove that you can use your valuable knowledge to compete successfully in a given sizable market.

On the first page, you should point out the uniqueness of your project. There are certainly similar projects to yours, so prove it differentiates from others, especially regarding distribution. Include something about your user acquisition strategy. Take into account any past testing, tech you’ve been working on, and valuable channels you’ve used to achieve it. Don’t forget to include sales methods, marketing channels, and overall strategies. Be confident about your product’s success and explain step-by-step how you will achieve it.

The second page is all about the area you’re willing to operate in. Don’t hesitate to expand on the size of the market. Give the exact numbers for your total addressable market and define the percentage of market share you aim to achieve.

Lastly, define your primary focus, priorities, and the tasks that come with your project. Create a table where you show all the steps you’ve taken for your growth and how to get traction.

5. Show Off Your Traction

Speaking of traction, show it off using a graph. Graphs are self-explanatory, and you don’t need to describe much when everything is clearly visible. Traction is particularly relevant for investors for at least one reason. It defines the risk for your potential investor, so if you’re not convincing enough on this page, it may be the deciding factor why he won’t support you. That’s why you must ensure your graph is top-notch!

If you’re unsure how to do it properly, check an article by Slidebean: What is startup traction. There are plenty of ways to portray it, even if you don’t have revenue. The problem arises when you don’t have any traction whatsoever. If that’s the case, work on it before seeking early-stage funding. Once again, visit Slidebean to learn how to raise venture capital.

6. Specify Your Goals

You need to be clear about your goals, even in terms of funding. Estimate how much you’ll need to reach your specified goals. Not only that, but explain thoroughly how you plan to spend it and what areas will be nurtured with it. Use customer validation to gain credibility and describe your product roadmap as visually as possible.     

7. Show Your Team

Investors need to know who they’re working with. Apart from yourself, include something about your team members, praising their accomplishments on their given tasks. Also, they should be able to form an opinion about you and briefly describe how you handle the project. Investors need to know that you can be trusted when facing challenges or using opportunities.

8. Be Transparent With Your Finances

Disclosing your financials is always a good way to show transparency and gain trust, but it’s not entirely safe. Not every country allows that, so check with your legal team if it's advisable in your particular case. If there are no contraindications, this part should consist of lengthy pages. Don’t hesitate to use graphs, tables, and bullet points for more clarity.

A financial slide is usually the first thing that investors want to see. The financial projections say much about your entrepreneurship, so use this to your advantage. Good financial projections should include sources of funds, projected gains and losses, loans, etc. Be transparent and realistic here; this important area is your opportunity to gain trust.

Also, don’t forget about a proper timetable. Show an estimated time for completing your established goals, divided into different stages. Be clear about what you’re asking for, including the breakdown of costs, technical feasibility, and scalability.

9. Explain Exit Strategy

Explain thoroughly how your investors can count on a financial return when siding with your project. Specify if it’s going to be achieved through acquisition, going for an IPO, or selling out to a buyer. You can give comparisons for each option so investors can decide which option is the most suitable for them. Also, consider including envisioned timeframes.

10. Include Monetization Plan

Clear sales strategy is mandatory in your presentation, so while you’re at it, include detailed pricing. By detailed, we mean users per month and your operating margins at that. It will vary between projects, of course.

11. Recognize Challenges and Risks

Be clear about the challenges and obstacles you might face in the future. However, this shouldn’t discourage investors but show them how effective your competitive strategies are. Use these obstacles to promote your project, not bring down your investment proposal.

12. Show Now is The Best Time to Invest

You need funds immediately, so prove that the present moment is the best for funding. Timing is crucial in every business, so provide trends, factors, and supportive data to answer why now is the perfect time to take action.

We hope these 12 steps when preparing an investment proposal will be very helpful when you decide to sit down and contemplate your pitch.

First, you need proper software. Most investment proposals are written in Microsoft Word, and that’s what we personally recommend. Microsoft Office suite isn’t cheap through official distribution, but we’re here to help. 

RoyalCDKeys offers Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus CD Key for less than $10, so you can start writing immediately. It’s a fully legitimate working software you can activate on the producer’s website.

Once you get the necessary software, it’s time to take care of visuals. We’ll explain everything in 8 simple steps.

1. Title Page

Find a proper name for your proposal and put it at the center of the page. Include your company’s name along with the address and name of the business proponent. It’s the person responsible for preparing the proposal document.

2. Non-disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement

On the next page, list the terms of the proposal and confidentiality agreement. This ensures that the content presented in the proposal cannot be misused or copied. It’s okay to dedicate an entire page to writing that section.

3. Letter

Write a letter explaining the purpose of the investment proposal. Give an executive summary of how both sides will benefit from your proposal. 

4. Company Highlights

Write something about your company, for example, when it was founded and how it’s grown to its actual state. You can also include some information about the market you’re operating within and introduce your team members.

5. Services Provided

Explain the type of service your company offers. Make it as thorough as possible, following up with market analysis. If it’s more than one product, list them in a detailed manner.

6. SWOT Analysis

SWOT means strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Specify everything and then explain it separately.

7. Terms of The Contract

This page is meant to give details on the commencement of the project. Don’t forget to list the circumstances under which the contract can be terminated.

8. Payment Details

Everything an investor should know about the payment. List the exact amount and your preferred payment method.

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best, and this template lives up to that statement. This template is all you need for an effective and well-organized investment proposal. It fits all requirements described above, and you can customize it however you see fit.

Download:

Simple Investment Proposal

Many investors don't have the funds to invest in large business projects. This template is for those with a good business plan that doesn’t require a large investment. Investors can be quite picky, so this template is made to convince lesser investors to invest in your small company. Make necessary changes, alter it to your liking and provide the best suitable information for your business.

Download:

Small Business Investment Proposal

This template is great for showing how much effort and thought you’ve put into your work. It’s a bit more advanced than the first two templates since it focuses on more aspects of your business. 

If your project is innovative but also expensive, it’s always better to have the best template ready. It’s perfect for explaining why you stand out among the competition and convincing investors to invest in your business.

Download:

Extended Investment Proposal Template