Take the steps below to prepare for a 30-minute meeting with an equity investor to pitch your idea and receive constructive feedback and advice. Our investors can help you take your idea, plan, pitch, and approach to commercialization to the next level.
Overview
This is a meeting with an investor who understands you’re interested in pressure-testing your idea and will give you feedback accordingly. We will introduce you to the investor to schedule a meeting. You will schedule the meeting at your mutual convenience and pitch your idea to the investor one-on-one. This is neither “coffee with investors” nor is this Shark Tank. These people are offering their time to meet with you and discuss your idea: whether it is investable, what to consider if it is not, what milestones will be important for you to advance your idea, and other comments about the idea and your pitch.
Use this opportunity as a genuine sounding board for your idea, a friendly but serious opportunity to talk with an investor without worrying about reputation or a second chance. They are volunteering their time to help advance your idea, knowing that most of the ideas they see will be early or possibly not investable.
STEP 1
Prepare your pitch
You will need a pitch deck before you can schedule your meeting.
For assistance preparing a pitch deck, contact Rana K. Gupta, rkgupta@bu.edu. Rana can also offer general advice on approaching investors: questions about IP, the nature and purpose of a pitch, your role (as a researcher) when giving a pitch, etc.
STEP 2
Choose your investor
Rana K. Gupta, Life Sciences
Rana Gupta is Director, Faculty Entrepreneurship at Boston University. In that role he is responsible to help researchers bring their ideas to market. Additional experience includes other startup and entrepreneurial initiatives, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in Beijing, China, and Arthur D Little (consultancy) in their Cambridge, US and Bangalore, India offices. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Mathematics from Earlham College.
RK Gupta, Medical Technology
Rana Gupta is Director, Faculty Entrepreneurship at Boston University. In that role he is responsible to help researchers bring their ideas to market. Additional experience includes other startup and entrepreneurial initiatives, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in Beijing, China, and Arthur D Little (consultancy) in their Cambridge, US and Bangalore, India offices. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Mathematics from Earlham College.
Rana Gupta, Engineering
Rana Gupta is Director, Faculty Entrepreneurship at Boston University. In that role he is responsible to help researchers bring their ideas to market. Additional experience includes other startup and entrepreneurial initiatives, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in Beijing, China, and Arthur D Little (consultancy) in their Cambridge, US and Bangalore, India offices. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Mathematics from Earlham College.
Rana G., Artificial Intelligence
Rana Gupta is Director, Faculty Entrepreneurship at Boston University. In that role he is responsible to help researchers bring their ideas to market. Additional experience includes other startup and entrepreneurial initiatives, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in Beijing, China, and Arthur D Little (consultancy) in their Cambridge, US and Bangalore, India offices. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Mathematics from Earlham College.
Step 3
Schedule your meeting
Send your interest in a meeting and pitch deck to Rana K Gupta, rkgupta@bu.edu.