How We HELP
BEFORE You Come
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Meeting
- Be prepared for an audience that may consist of just one angel, or as many angels as can dance on the head of a pin (maybe six).
- Use your 20 minutes wisely - know what you want to get out of the meeting, and don’t let the Angels take you down a rabbit-hole.
- Don’t waste time - we will not be offended if you skip introductions and handshakes, and just get to the meat of the session.
- Assume that the Angels are smart, and might have a little bit of knowledge about your industry. This means that generally, the Angels will work out what you mean from context, or if that fails then one of the Angels will ask you to ‘back up’ and explain more simply.
- Don’t try to convince the Angels about a product/market/opportunity with statistics. Chances are the Angels already believe you, and you are just wasting time. If the Angels don’t believe you, they will ask you questions, and that is a great time to bring out market data or other evidence.
How To Plan Your Meeting
- If you do not have a plan, the ADI session will default to being an unstructured friendly discussion between a group of interesting people. The Founder normally learns something, the Angels normally learn something, and everyone has a good time.
- Don’t plan on showing us an electronic (or paper) presentation. We have a TV that can show slideshows etc, however, it will probably waste some of your valuable time getting it set up.
- ‘Show and Tell’ is greatly appreciated by the Angels - if you have a product or sample then please bring it. Note that this applies to both physical and digital products, but be warned that (unless told otherwise) the Angels are going to attempt to fiddle with your App (and maybe break it) while listening to you with one ear.
- Make sure you can take notes. Angels will often mention really useful things during the general discussion.
- Look for action items. If an Angel explicitly asks you to get back to them with a piece of information then the Founder will look very bad if this does not happen.
Sample Meeting Plans
Here are a few examples of meeting plans that you may find useful. Note that all of them start with the Founder telling the Angels what the Founder wants. This is because the Angels see many different types of Founders, and the type of Founder requests will have a bit impact on the types of questions that Angels ask.
About Founder & Team
Who is this for: You are someone who thinks that you might want to become a Founder one day (or maybe you have accidentally become a Founder).
Request Examples:
Request Examples:
- Should I become a Founder?
- What courses should I take?
- Do you know any co-founders for me?
- 1 min: Tell us your requests
- 5 mins: Tell us your background, finishing by restating your requests
- 10 mins: General discussion
- 4 mins: Circle back on your requests
About Product Idea
Who is this for: You have a concrete idea for a product and/or company.
Request Examples:
Request Examples:
- Is this a good idea?
- How big is the market?
- Can you introduce me to someone who can do X?
- 1 min: Tell us your requests
- 5 mins: Pitch us the idea.
- Use simple, concrete examples (even if the actual product is much more generic)
- Tell us what is hard about it
- Talk about competition
- 10 mins: General discussion
- 4 mins: Circle back on your requests
About Product Funding
Who is this for: You have started work on a product/company, and think you might need investment.
Request Examples:
Request Examples:
- Should I take investment or self-fund (bootstrap)?
- How do I value my company so far (pre-money valuation)?
- How much money will I need (investment)?
- What is the weakest part of my plan (valuation, use-of-funds, market size, exit possibilities, competition…)
- Is this suitable to pitch to FKA investors?
- How can I find a FKA Deal Champion?
- 1 min: Tell us you are looking for investment, with any numbers that you know.
- 5 mins: Describe where you are at
- What stage is the product/company at?
- What are the risks?
- What are your current sales (user numbers)?
- 10 mins: General discussion
- 4 mins: Circle back on your requests
About Pitch Night
Who is this for: Experienced entrepreneurs that already know the answers to every question every Angel could possibly ask.TIP: If you think you are in this category, then you are probably wrong, and should actually pretend that you are in the previous ‘Product Funding’ category. Seriously. The Angels will thank you, and you will still get the invite to FKA.
Request Examples:
Request Examples:
- I want $X investment at $Y pre-money valuation.
- 1 min: Tell us you are looking for $X investment at $Y pre-money valuation.
- 5 mins: Run through the pitch (with or without slides)
- 13 mins: General discussion
- 1 mins: Confirm your FKA Deal Champion and Pitch Night appointment (just kidding).
How To Get To Your Meeting
Auckland
- The meetings are kindly hosted by GridAKL.
- Enter GridAKL from Pakenham Street, turn left and go up the stairs. Make sure you sign in at reception as visiting ‘ADI Clinic’. There is some seating near reception where you can rest your weary bones.
- Meetings are typically held in the blue meeting room that is close to reception.
- Feel free to poke your head around the corner and see what is happening in the meeting room. Generally, someone will be in the middle of a session, so just go back and take your seat by the reception. If it doesn’t look like a session is running, then you can try to get eye contact with an Angel, and they may invite you in straight away. (Note that it is very difficult to tell the difference between 4 bored Angels chatting versus 3 Angels quizzing 1 Founder, so please don’t just assume you can interrupt.)
- Once the Angels are ready for you, one of them will come around to reception, look at the people sitting, and say ‘Are any of you
?’. This is the moment you have been waiting for. - Note that the ADI sessions may not be running to schedule. Sorry, we do our best, but these things happen. If we are running late, it is OK to pop your head around the corner every five minutes or so, but please wait until we explicitly ask you to come in.
Wanaka
Wanaka Recreation Centre, 41 Sir Tim Wallis Drive, Wānaka 9382
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