Elevator Pitches No Longer Work: Learn to Hit a Financing Home Run at Money Chase Event

 

For Immediate Release

 

Elevator Pitches No Longer Work:

Learn to Hit a Financing Home Run at Money Chase Event

 

Interactive Workshop Takes the Pain out of the Investment Process

 

Markham, Ontario – March 7, 2011 – Raising the first seed and start-up funding for a business is among the hardest work any budding entrepreneur will ever face. But it doesn’t have to be. There are common “rules of the road” every investor looks for, and once you anticipate those questions – and know how to answer them – the process of receiving funding becomes a practical application, says W. Daniel Mothersill, creator of Pitch+, an interactive one-day workshop that is making its debut in York Region as part of a series called The Money Chase 2011: Pitching for Today’s Capital.

 

“Standing up and pitching for cash is truly one of life’s most unnatural acts,” says Mothersill a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and founding member and past president of the National Angel Capital Organization. “Every investor has a mental checklist – the problem is they don’t always share it with the company in front of them, so what we’ve done is compile a program that peels the layers of the investment onion for them,” adds Mothersill, who is also an advisor at the Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham (ISCM) Investment Network, with experience in industries ranging from IT and manufacturing, to green technologies and resources.

 

WHAT:                       Money Chase 2011: Pitching for Today’s Capital

                                    Pitch+ Workshop

 

WHEN:                       Thursday, March 17, 2011

                                    8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

WHERE:                    Markham Convergence Centre Showcase

7271 Warden Avenue, Markham

 

PRESENTED BY:     Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham (ISCM) Investment Network

 

REGISTRATION:    Free-of-charge

 

INFORMATION:     www.iscm.ca or call Brigitte Sharpe at (905) 248-2735

 

URL:                           http://www.iscm.ca/moneychase/

 

With registration available on a first come, first serve basis, the limited-seating event is designed to give entrepreneurs the tools they need to bullet-proof their presentations.

 

Workshop topics include how to find money in a tight economy, what investors demand to see but won’t tell you, why typical elevator pitches don’t work, and how to take your presentation beyond words. A must-attend event for any entrepreneur who is serious about raising money, the interactive program takes the mystery out of the financing process.

 

“The problem with elevator pitches is that no investor cares what you do,” says Mothersill. “It’s not that you’ve built a better mousetrap – it’s what pain does that trap solve in the marketplace and is there a significant demand? If you can answer this in a sentence or two, and then tell me you have a unique solution, then you’ll have my interest.”

 

The Pitch+ workshop isn’t a magic bullet, he adds. Rather, it’s a straightforward approach based on his years of experience as an angel investor and entrepreneur himself. In the last decade, Mothersill founded and financed eight companies, four of which spun off into profitable enterprises. He also created the Angel Network Program for Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, securing $2.5 million in funding to launch 12 angel investor groups in the province.

 

“The net sum of a killer idea is zero unless you can turn it into a profitable business,” says Mothersill, noting that securing the seed money required for commercialization is usually the biggest stumbling block. “By the end of this workshop, you’re going to know how to position yourself, what your presentation should look like, how to deliver it, and what the demands of your audience are. We take the pain out of getting up front and personal with investors,” he says.

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Media are invited to attend this one-day workshop. For more information, to register for the event or for advance interviews, please contact:

 

Gail Bergman or Samantha Giovenazzo                             

Gail Bergman PR

Tel: (905) 886-1340 or (905) 886-4091

info@gailbergmanpr.com