Whether you are starting a business, building a nonprofit or proposing a new idea to your boss, your presentation serves as your dynamic business plan for sharing your vision with potential team members, investors and stakeholders. Monique Brown, co-founder and managing director at The Growth Factory and a partner at Growth Factory Ventures, will teach you how to create a compelling slide deck—and how to pitch like a pro.

Vanessa Errecarte, Graduate School of Management lecturer will discuss how to communicate effectively with the public, the media and your potential customers.

What do potential investors want to see? Jim Kelly, assistant dean for finance and administration at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, will show you how to forecast and present your financials in a way that effectively demonstrates your understanding of the market and the value of your venture.

Join Ben Finkelor, executive director of the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute and special advisor to the California Energy Commission, to learn how to identify your market segment and customers and evaluate whether (and how much) they value your product, service or business solution. You’ll develop questions to ask a potential customer to better understand their needs and have the opportunity to practice customer calls.

A new venture’s business model defines how it brings together available technology, market and business opportunities, as well as how it plans to make money—and how much. Tim Keller will discuss how to create a viable business model.

Andy Jones of the University Writing Program will show you how to define your business in a concise and well-written executive summary. 

Note: The two-page executive summary is a required deliverable in Round 1 of the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition.