Don't show up to an investor pitch empty-handed. Andy Whitman of 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners says these four items offer the info CPG investors want most.

Andy Whitman, Managing Partner

July 30, 2013

1 Min Read
What info to share with investors

We’re regularly asked, "What should we show investors?"  While there’s no single right answer, we’d suggest having:

1. One page executive summary. Download an example summary here.

2. Short Power Point that tells the story. Guy Kawasaki does a great job talking to his 10/20/30 rule:  ten slides, no more than twenty minutes, and no font smaller than thirty-point. Well said Guy!

3. Detailed bottoms-up (vs. a “there’s a billion people in the addressable market and we can get 0.5%, so...”) financial model in excel. Please don’t ever send anyone a PDF of a model—it defeats the purpose of being able to see the assumptions, etc.

4. OPTIONAL (and more for your use than investors in our opinion): Detailed business plan in word format.  Keep it under 30 pages, including the summary of financials. Make it the place to play out all your details and assumptions. Often, it’s a way a founder can see the gaps in their own plan that might not be obvious in a shorter Power Point.

About the Author(s)

Andy Whitman

Managing Partner

Andy Whitman is a successful consumer products executive and investor who melds the experience of a Fortune 100 leader with the passion and resourcefulness of an entrepreneur. After a successful career with General Foods and Kraft Foods and recognizing that nurturing smaller businesses to achieve rapid growth was his passion, he focused on investing in and helping to operate small consumer products companies. For example, he successfully partnered with management and co- investor Catterton Partners to assist Wellness pet food and Old Mother Hubbard pet treats to be one of the largest CPG exits in the last decade.

Andy began his career managing icons like Kool-Aid and Tang. After years of delivering results on big brands, he jumped at the opportunity to run small, autonomous businesses within Kraft in a shirtsleeves environment. Taking charge of brands as small as $10 million that Kraft had been unable to grow or run profitably, Andy's entrepreneurial leadership produced outstanding results. His ability to grow businesses comes from his proven general management experience built upon a diverse breadth of prior functional assignments, including marketing, sales, operations planning and corporate development.

He currently or previously assisted pro bono by serving as a board member for the Jewish United Federation Foods & Hospitality Trade Sector, Marketing Executives Network Group (MENG), Venture Board of the Women's Self-Employment Project and White Plains Child Day Care Association, a Head Start agency.

Andy received a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He is an outdoor adventure traveler, an active skier, an avid college basketball fan, a Culinary Institute of America-trained cooking enthusiast and a devoted Parrothead—as a result of traveling early in his career with singer Jimmy Buffett.

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