Presenting Your Idea

Inventors have a range of business opportunities and obligations to present the concept of their technology. An inventor may present their idea to the following stakeholders in addition to others:

• The financial community to raise funds
• A potential Board of Directors member to request commitment to join the Board
• A potential vendor where the inventor is seeking creating pricing based on the quality of the idea and the potential future revenue
• A potential employee to highlight the opportunity
• A fellow academic to seek input or funding
• A colleague seeking interdisciplinary collaboration

Each presentation requires a modification of the core message to the target audience, however the 10 points listed below should be included in each variation. The ten components listed below include critical questions that should be addressed succinctly and accurately.

Although technical individuals have a strong tendency to want to “build to conclusion” in their presentation, most audiences, and especially the financial community prefer to have the technology presented on the first slide, with the market opportunity following closely behind.

It is also important to note that a change in PowerPoint format has been adopted by the business community. Previously, PowerPoint slides included only the briefest information in a bulleted outline format, and were used as a discussion guide. Today a PowerPoint is expected to be a stand alone document since in most cases (i.e. more that 75% of the time), the decision maker is not present during the presentation, and thus will be asked to review the materials independently. The inventor needs to ensure that the decision maker will view the technology from the desired vantage point.

A presentation is certain to be well received if the format outlined below is followed:

Medical Technology Presentations – 10 Slide Summary

1	Technology Name	Technology name and few word description One very brief sentence describing what the technology does
2	Technology Description	What does the technology do? What is the clinical application? What makes the technology unique? Measurably, how is this technology better than other products or alternative methods for solving the problem?
3	Market Opportunity	Estimated market size. Identification of the clinical indication for use. What is the disease or condition incidence and prevalence? How many patients treated per year? Examples of additional market size elements: expected market growth, treatment costs, etc.
4	Competitive Position	How many existing or emerging competitors are there to your technology: (Show their location). What are their market strengths, annual revenue, breadth of product line, sales force and customer service, established distribution channels? [Emerging competitors are technologies in development, but not available for sale]
5	Advantages of Technology	List the advantages based on measurable standards (e.g. acquisition cost, increased throughput, level of invasiveness, ease of use, breadth of applications, etc.
6	Verification of Efficacy	Animal feasibility: Number of centers, number of animals, study length and results. Human feasibility results, if performed: number of centers, number of physicians performing studies, study length, clinical outcomes. Identify the study method (H&E stain, cineographic images, graphs, etc.)
7	Intellectual Property	Confirm that a patent application has been filed prior to public disclosure Discuss disclosure to the university Tech Transfer Office and list disclosure title List any corporate or other third party sponsor. List number, name and brief description in the abstract the relevant patents including filing date, relevant provision patent applications and if the patent application is pending, issued or expired.
8	Product Development Overview	List development status: Has it been reduced to practice in humans? What are the major risks/challenges in product development? What financial resources have been committed to date? Estimated level of effort/cost to complete the project? Do you intend to license specific technologies from other parties to complete?
9	Top Five Product Development Tasks	Top 5 product development tasks with a proposed development timeline with milestones. Include any specific risks that are known. What additional bench or animal testing needs to be done?
10	Development Team	Development team and their relevant experience. List number of patents and relevant papers published in refereed journals. Show grants received (NIH, NSF, SBIR/STTR, etc.)