Once you go down the rabbit hole of entrepreneurship, the word “free” becomes that elusive rabbit with a waistcoat-pocket all entrepreneurial Alices chase after. While “free” is often suspiciously devoid of quality, I recently came across an interesting resource for entrepreneurs ([insiteny.org]) that may prove otherwise.

InSITE is an entrepreneurial mentorship program that brings together top students from Columbia and NYU Business and Law schools to support New York entrepreneurs in the development of their businesses and their pursuit of venture capital and angel investments.

Best of all: it’s free.

So what do they do?

Each semester, InSITE selects five or six companies to work with in-depth over three months, providing consulting services that include:

Overall Business Review

Business Plan and Exec Summary Analysis

Business Model Analysis

Pitch/Presentation enhancement and Story Practice

Management Review & Recommendations

Strategic Analysis (timing, competition, and alternatives)

Deal Analysis (including valuation potential)

At the end of this process is the InSITE Pitch event, where the companies present their businesses to a select group of New York City’s prominent Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors for potential investment opportunities.

With only three months, the entrepreneur and her team focuses on three core deliverables: 1) a pitch deck, 2) a brief executive summary, and 3) a Pitch Event to Top VC and Angel Investors.

With some modification, some helpful info on each of these:

Pitch/Presentation enhancement and Story Practice:
The pitch deck and presentation should be clear and concise. In addition to the slides, management should be able to produce additional backup material including the sources that they cite within the presentation. The speaker should avoid being either overly formal or over familiar. Often times an investor will not be able to listen to an entire presentation regardless of its quality. Ensure that the initial overview tells the story well, in case the investor cuts a presentation short. Get to the point and know the audience. If they are experts in the field, too much background will bore them.

Executive Summary:
Based on the group feedback from the initial screening of the plans and the pitch, this is a critical point where InSITE can add immediate value for the client. The objective of this component of the process is to identify strengths and weaknesses.

Pitch Event to Top VC and Angel Funders:
Each semester, InSITE Companies have the opportunity to present to VC and Angel Funders at the Final Pitch Event. Each entrepreneur will have 10 minutes to pitch, and will receive feedback from a panel of highly experienced funders and entrepreneurs.

Past panelists have included:
- Bob Greene / Co-Founder and Partner, Contour Venture Partners
- Thomas Lehrman / Founder and CEO, Boliven
- Charlie O’Donnell / Entrepreneur in Residence, First Round Capital
- Noah Walley / Managing Director, Investor Growth Capital

Past attendees at pitch events have included:
- Contour Venture Partners (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- DFJ Gotham (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- Greenhill SAVP (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- Investor Growth Capital (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- Milestone Venture Partners (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- RRE Ventures (InSITE VCAP Sponsor)
- Ascend Venture Group
- Black Dome Capital
- Canaan Partners
- First Mark Capital
- First Round Capital
- L Capital
- Lux Capital
- NGEN Partners
- Rose Tech Ventures
- Tipping Point Partners
- Salmon River Capital
- Union Square Ventures

So there you have it. A free resource from what are considered top graduate schools. Perhaps quality…perhaps not, but an interesting resource nevertheless.