The Idyabooster Blog

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Pitching 101 for Creative Projects

As independent creative project owners start tapping professional investors and newer sources of funding, they will need to look beyond a creative outline of their projects

Here is a basic outline that could help you reach out to the prospective investor, many of whom would be looking to invest in a creative project for the first time:

About the team

Background of the team

Past projects and key successes

IMDB ranking, press coverage, awards etc.

A video introduction of the key team members is always a great draw

About the specific project

The concept and the storyline

Add a short video (for films/ documentaries, TV Series) to show treatment

How did you think about this subject, what was the filtering process

What audience do you wish to target

Why do you think you are best people to make it

Possible cast and crew

The Market Overview for your project genre

Some examples of similar projects

How much money put; how much made

Team/ Writer behind these shows

Target markets for such projects

What are the steps in the entire project cycle

Clear steps outline in a single slide with investment required at each stage

Who will put in the money in each stage

Where is the project currently

How much money is required at this point

Are you investing some funds? Do you have funds tied up?

Revenue and Profitability plan

What is the distribution plan?

What is the marketing and promotion plan?

How will you go about identifying the correct partners?

What is your plan for the alternative distribution?

Estimate of Pessimistic, Realistic and Optimistic revenue numbers

How will the money be used? What can be expected?

What exactly will the money be used for? Breakup in heads

Is there a letter with expression of interest from anyone

The investment structure

What are you offering the investor?

What are the soft rewards we can offer apart from equity and returns?

When do the investors get their principal back?

What do they get in terms of returns?

When are they expected to get their returns?

Treat this as a basic outline for projects across mediums and genres. The specific pitch of course will vary based on whether you are pitching a film, documentary, TV Series, Theatre, Live event etc.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Crowdfunding vs. investment based funding

One of the key questions we encounter in almost all discussions is if Idyabooster is a crowdfunding platform. The comparison with large global players like Kickstarter and Indigogo is natural as Idyabooster focuses on funding for creative projects

So here goes: Idyabooster is not a crowdfunding platform. It is an investment based funding platform that uses technology to bring curated projects to investors looking to invest in a new asset class

The key feature of a crowdfunding platform is that the funders are not expecting financial returns i.e. the money is not an investment but a contribution towards the project

So a crowdfunded project, offers one or more of the following to its funders

Rewards: Signed T-shirts by the lead actors
Incentives: attend a premier show with cast and crew
Acknowledgement: Associate producer
Participation: Act in the movie

An investment-based platform on the other hand, brings curated investible projects to investors looking primarily for financial returns

So an investment based funding will work as any other investment focusing on

Investment Opportunity: both equity and debt
Returns on investment: either valuation, dividend or interest
Revenue Potential: A great project also needs to make money
Risk Evaluation: Each project is evaluated on its risk and earning potential

While an investment in any creative project can have any of the above rewards mentioned in crowdfunding, those are add-ons and projects will get funded only when they look financially viability

As a new breed of creators reach out to a new set of investors, Idyabooster is looking to build a market of technology-enabled investments for smaller budget, independent productions that are viable both from creativity and profitability perspectives

Creative projects: An exciting new asset class

Creative project investing in India today is at the same spot where start-up investing was about 5 years back

There is an explosion waiting to happen for new forms of cinema, theatre and other forms of art, that is drawing the best of talent from across the spectrum.

This new breed of creators are going to require investments from a whole new set of investors, who are willing to take bets on smaller budget productions and lesser known names, for projects that are viable both from creativity and profitability perspectives

As an active angel investor, I can see several similarities between investing in creative projects (films, theatre, events, documentaries, TV shows) and investments in start-up companies.

An investor’s decision to invest in both asset classes is driven by:

A great team
A promising idea/ concept
The revenue and profitability path
Available benchmark information
Investment along with several others minimizing individual exposure
And the understanding of inherent risks in the investment, while taking informed calls on potential high stake returns

What specifically should the investor look for when investing in a creative project?

Team’s credentials
Project’s package – genre/actors/director/dept heads etc
Team’s willingness for transparency and open communication
Team’s understanding of their target market
Realistic budgets and timelines mentioned
Revenue projections – both domestic & foreign (high, mid range, low)
Marketing, communications and distribution strategy
Any partnerships/ contracts already in place
Alternate/ digital monetization and distribution strategy

As this asset class attracts capital from a new class of investors, its growth will depend primarily on the transparency of investment, reporting and monitoring of progress and benchmarking information available at the hands of the investors.