Pitch Perfect Pitches
Getting your pitch right could mean the difference between investment or a thank you and goodbye. Crafting a compelling pitch takes time, effort and practice.
Having worked on several pitches I’d like to share some tips to help those of you out there preparing for your next pitch.
- Think audience first
Be mindful of who you’re presenting to. You need to tailor your pitch to the audience so the deck is relevant, engaging and not patronising.
2. You’ve got 18 minutes
At around the 20 minute mark most people’s brains tend to wander. If you’re presenting to an angel investor or a venture capitalist then be aware that they might be seeing umpteen pitch decks in a single day. Delivering a short, pithy and succinct pitch deck will garner you thanks and appreciation. If you can’t convey your idea, it’s benefits and rewards in under 20 minutes you might have a problem.
3. It’s you they’ve come to see — introduce yourself properly
Investors are looking to invest in you as much as in the experience, service or product you’re pitching. Give those in the audience a clear understanding of who you are, why you’re passionate about your idea, how your experience is an asset. Sell yourself as much as your idea.
4. Stay faithful to honesty
Be careful not to make bold, rash and incorrect statements. It can be easy to shout about being first when you’re not entirely sure that’s correct. The last thing you want is someone in the audience correcting you on statements you’ve made. You need your pitch to be believable and integrity is crucial.
5. Set out your stall
When crafting your pitch deck consider including the following: Customer challenge, your solution & proposition, market size, opportunity & competitive threats, customer experience, business model, plans for customer adoption, forecasted rewards, growth plans, summary rallying cry and asks of your audience. Try and keep your pitch deck to under 10 slides.
6. Be careful with the hockey stick
Remember if you’re presenting to an investor consider what they’re looking for in terms of rewards. Lots of pitch decks show a hockey stick revenue curve in the hope that the audience can immediately see an unborn unicorn.
Consider going beyond revenue to show possible profit margin. Even in the early days of any start-up you can appreciate the likely running costs you’ll incur as your business grows. You can therefore begin to focus on revenue and cost and attempt to predict possible profit. It might not be watertight but it will show investors that you’re at least thinking beyond the simplified hockey stick.
7. We’d like to be in this together
When asking for investment it’s worth outlining what you’ll use it for and how it will help. You need your audience to understand that you have concrete plans for how you’d use an investment windfall and how difficult it will be without support from your audience.
Good luck.
