From registration to the day he put the money in the bank, four months had elapsed. The idea behind Net matchmaking services is to connect people who wouldn't otherwise meet. But you also need to be able to get a sense of who the investors are and what are their interests. Entrepreneurs interact with the sites' managers mainly when they're preparing their presentations. Once that's done and their pitches are posted, they wait to see if they have any responses.
Most matchmakers limit business plans to two to four pages.
The others may seem stingy by comparison. But the sites say they render a real service in making entrepreneurs pare their pitches to the essentials, because investors won't wade through much more. Wyatt Starnes, CEO of TripWire Security Systems Inc., agrees. Each site has its own variant for drawing up business plans. Venture Capital Online says it uses proprietary templates to guide entrepreneurs.