For anyone launching a new business, the most tenuous part of the process comes when you are looking for investors to help you finance the venture. There are many things to consider when you're pitching investors, both in terms of how to pitch successfully and how to protect yourself legally. Here are a few tips you should know.

Craft Your Initial Pitch Carefully

Your initial pitch, often referred to as the elevator pitch, needs to be carefully crafted so that it draws people in but doesn't provide enough information to put you at risk of idea theft. Remember that the initial pitch needs to be brief. It's called an elevator pitch because you should be able to complete the entire pitch in an elevator. The brevity of the pitch makes it easier to avoid risking any kind of conceptual theft, because you don't have a lot of time for details. Just focus on making it clear and to the point.

To have a successful pitch, you should take time to write down the key points that you want your potential investors to know. Craft your statements around those points and practice it so that you can deliver it clearly, effectively, and without hurrying. You should be able to speak with authority and sound practiced but not rushed or rehearsed. Just focus on the key points without giving up design details.

Develop A Solid Formal Presentation

Once you draw in a potential investor with your pitch, you need to be able to give them enough details to help them see why your business or product is worth investing in. That's when your formal presentation counts. You'll want to build a slideshow presentation for this, and focus on keeping it organized and roughly fifteen to twenty minutes long. You won't typically get more than half an hour when you're pitching investors, so be considerate of their busy schedules and condense your information as much as possible.

In order to get a fifteen minute presentation, you should keep your slideshow to ten or twelve slides. When you know what kind of limit you have in your structure, you can prioritize the information you present so that you get the key business information out there right from the start. As with your elevator pitch, though, be careful about the amount of product detail you provide since you need to protect your concept. If you're going to go into design details, consider working with a business attorney to create a non-disclosure and non-compete contract for your investors to sign.

These contracts prevent them from inadvertently sharing design information with someone who could potentially beat you to market. Design theft is a very real problem, and the more proactive you are about preventing it and protecting yourself, the less risk you'll have of finding yourself in court trying to protect your idea.

Work With A Business Attorney For Your Executive Summary

Even if a potential investor believes in your idea or product, you're going to be hard-pressed to get them to actually commit to an investment if you can't show that your business is going to be sound and run well. That's where your executive summary comes in.

Have a business attorney help you create the summary papers, because that's a key part of your business incorporation, too. Part of your executive summary should detail what the problem is that your company is aiming to solve for the market, what your target market is, how large that market is, what your competitive advantage will be, and how much you expect to generate in revenue. You'll also want to detail your management team and their experience so that investors understand their capabilities.

Working with an attorney to craft this will help you to transition this form into part of your business incorporation papers, which are required for you to actually operate a business. Your attorney will show you how to protect your company's proprietary information while still providing the details that are necessary.