How to prepare a project, if your goal - Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley - a place of worship, which gave rise to companies like Apple, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Tesla Motors. Valley - the ceiling of any startup, the cherished dream of everyone who is going to make money on IT and innovation.

In Silicon Valley tend to thousands, hundreds fall and succeed there is one.

All who come to the Valley, they want a rapid start, which will give life to their idea and will provide funds for the project. But many leave with nothing, spending money and not getting even a tiny financing.

How to correctly present the project and what else you need to know - about this and talk.

How to present a project to investors

The chances of any project increases its correct pitch, a kind of "package" for the investor.

1. Learn the requirements of investors

Thoroughly examine all of the requirements that apply to the project. Heed to the creation of presentations and other materials that are requested by the investor. Especially investment in the Valley - focus on really large and very innovative project, which is able to change the world.

Try to focus on scalability. The average volume of the market, which should leave the project - at least $ 50 million. Rare investor in the Valley will pay attention to projects with no ambitions to conquer larger markets.

2. Prepare documents, videos and personal history

The first document to be studied will be the Executive Summary, or Slide Deck (ie the summary of the project). It may be requested by the presentation, White Paper, which set out all the important information about the project, and other materials associated with a particular technological solution. If this is not the seed round (first round of attracting investment), investors will want to see a prototype of a program or device - that corresponds to the current stage of development.

It is advisable to carry out segmentation of the market and provide the results to a potential investor, even if it is not in the required documentation.

It is also useful to record in advance teaser project to YouTube. It is not necessary to invest in it astronomical sums, but it must be decent and not cause rejection. It should also be attentive to its social networking - peruse them for what may throw at you shadow or profile you the investor as an unreliable partner (especially important communication channels - Facebook and LinkedIn).

3. Suck English

The great advantage to be fluent in English. The level that the minimum necessary for communication in the Valley - Advanced. Ideally, if you or someone else's co-founder speaks English at a native speaker level.

If the level of language skills in your team is not above Upper Intermediate, in the Valley of you to do nothing.

Treat overcome the language barrier as the project preparation phase. Without language, neither you nor your project no one needs. Interpreters in the Valley of the fabulously expensive, so cheaper to spend a year on it to tighten the language.

4. Create a team

In the Valley of investing is not an idea, project or technology, then invest in people. That is why, in addition to perfectly prepared documentation, it is important to introduce the team. Sometimes investors have requirements regarding the number of founders.

Ingenious single is almost always doomed to failure.

There should be no weak links, as will assess all. Moreover, the US projects always have an advantage, so the jurisdiction of any foreign teams must be obviously higher. Otherwise, the project has no chance.

5. Learn the terminology

I need to talk to an investor in one language and to understand clearly what he wants from the project. Will be crucial terms such as IRR (internal rate of return), ROI (return on investment), the NPV (net present income), love to ask about them at the meetings. Naturally, that the incorrect or inaccurate answer may seriously damage the reputation or even to nullify your chances.

6. Spend exploration

Try to predict how many similar projects are in search of investment. In other words - Find people who can tell you how the actual state of affairs. Try not to rely on the opinion of one person, looking more and, preferably, not related to each other.

7. Ignore the information to the general public

Often it is not complete, and sometimes not reliable. Ideally I would like to create their own network of useful contacts, informants who can provide you with reliable information.

At the same time, try to ignore the so-called services of consultants and experts, who act with the scenes. These speakers are always talking strongly, but their words are rarely completely untrue and have real weight. Try to listen to those who work.

What else is important to understand

1. In the Valley there is no quick money

I recommend to forget about the rapid conquest of the Valley and instant money. Such attempts have been here a lot, but hurriedly no one and did not work - too sophisticated investors, mentors, competent experts. There are people who come to raise money for the project for 2-3 months, with support from business angels, and come away with $ 50 000 seed investments. Such tricks do not pass in the Valley, and lovers quick profits leave with nothing. The fact that such projects are immediately obvious, they do not withstand examination and immediately eliminated.

2. Important personal presence

To actually finance the project, it is important to physically located in the Valley, to talk with people, to thoroughly examine the business requirements for the project. We often chew detail all the features of investors and experts, even a few times.

It would be a plus if the Valley is not the only one Founder, but the whole team (or the most significant part of it), so that the investor can assess the competence of each person. Many investors do not like the team immediately after receiving the money sent to outsource and can not be verified, as well as what she's busy.

3. We'll have to re-learn

Be prepared for this. We can say that the young and inexperienced a better chance, as taught from scratch easier than to retrain. This applies to business, dealing with customers, investors search, negotiation, team management.

You need to understand that in the United States and Russia are completely different values, habits, different IT-market structure and presentation of IT-products. There are all different, and approaches which are applicable in Russia, may be totally unacceptable in the United States.

It is natural that the United States may have different requirements for the products, their features or simply to the positioning. The huge difference in mentality leaves traces on everything, down to the perception of colors, design, user interface. Thus, again we have to learn almost everything you need for a successful project.

4. Your standard of living will fall

If you are not very rich, it is likely that you will have to recall his student days and temporarily forget about comfort. Rental of property It costs a lot of money, at least - 2 000 dollars a month for a studio with virtually no amenities, and the very bad neighborhood. The amount of time that you will give to the project, will also be enormous. I do not be mistaken if I say that you will be working almost 24/7. About privacy, relaxation and entertainment will have to forget.

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If you do not mind all of the above, then you can try your luck in Silicon Valley. At the appropriate level of competence, a good idea and the best of circumstances, you may be able to develop and adapt your project.

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