Want your idea heard? Get the right tools

It’s time to get out of the office and engage with customers and investors – the right communications tools allow you to have these conversations in effective ways.

At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture on Business Plans and Other Communication Tools, Veronika Litinski gave tips and examples on how to create five documents essential to growing a business.

The goal of these tools is to engage your audience. Keep them interested and asking for more by giving them something that they can grasp: case studies, testimonials and personal stories bring your message to life.

Put all of these together and you’ve got yourself a toolkit that will help grow your business from an idea to a reality.

Your Toolkit should include:

• Elevator Pitch – a 30 second overview of your business concept
• Executive Summary – a detailed summary of your product and plan
• Pitch deck – 15 slides that communicate the key aspects of your business plan
• Business Plan – a roadmap and planning document for how you will build your business

The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit has useful articles and templates to help you create these tools – click on the links above to access them.

Once your Toolkit is ready, it’s time to construct your message – Veronika’s slides include a checklist that you can follow.  Watch the lecture video for more tips on presenting your message successfully.

Watch this Quick Hits video for highlights from the lecture:

Resources:

• Speaker slides: Communication Tools: How to make your idea credible and understandable
• Workbook: Financing Workbook 2: The Business Plan and Executive Summary
• Workbook: Financing Workbook 4: Developing and Delivering a Winning Investor Presentation

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Next week’s lecture: Marketing Communications