It is our mission to cooperate with the champions of tomorrow. We use a pro-active method to identify them. It is in our line of business to contact and be contacted. As a result, in many cases initial contacts take place in advance of a formal financing round.
In order to become a valuable and active partner, we need to have a thorough understanding of your market, your competitive advantage and the capabilities of your management team. In-depth understanding of your business takes time. You can shorten this process by providing us with a comprehensive business plan. We are not interested in the format, but rather in the content.
Once we have responded to your business plan, we propose a detailed project plan to investigate whether further cooperation is feasible. While many other venture companies take months to reach this point, we will not take more than three weeks to make a final decision.
If we see the value and upside in your proposal and believe that we could add value to your business, we will have a face-to-face meeting. When you present to PTV, it is important to recognize what you are not selling. You are not selling your products, technology or assets. What you are selling is your stock and the opportunity for us to join you in a business partnership. To accomplish this, you need to demonstrate the excellence of your team, not your product, and how well it is suited to the project you are undertaking. In short, your job is to make a convincing presentation of who you are, what you have accomplished so far, and what you plan to do.
The objective of the first meeting is the initiation of due diligence and follow-on meetings. You are expected to be promotional and it is essential that your team is concise, focused and well organized. We always assume that customers will give you far less time to explain your proposition than we do, so make the description of your business concept concise and clear. A well organized, persuasive presentation will convey your sense of purpose and leave PTV with the desire to get to know your team and your company better.
The presentation part of the meeting should cover the Big Four: Management, Market, Product, Finance. Begin by giving the backgrounds of key management members. Discuss market size in quantitative terms, but also, and more importantly, describe customer needs with compelling anecdotal information. The product presentation should not dominate the discussion. A demo should be presented as an option, as an appendix to the meeting. Conclude with a brief presentation of your financial performance, projections, and capital needs. Remember to keep exactly to the time set for the meeting.
After meeting with a company, we ask ourselves 'How can this become a huge company?' If we can visualize greatness and are convinced that the initial team shares the same vision and desire to create an industry giant, that will inspire our enthusiasm. We also assess the capabilities and charisma of the founding team: can they attract the best employees and shift the direction of an entire industry?
It is our style to communicate in a direct and open way. We want to make everything clear. Although every company is different, the process to an investment consists of certain basic activities:
- Analyze business plan / Assess team
- Evaluate market
- Examine business model
- Check references
- Call potential customers
- Evaluate product / technology
- Evaluate risk / rewards