For a startup company a great and fluent pitch is a must. It is the key to get interest in your company, raising money from investors and networking with possible business partners. Pitch deck (power point presentation) typically consists of 15-20 slides and is intended to showcase company`s products, team, technology etc. You can also make extended version that includes everything you’d like to give potential partners access to. Raising interest to your company is hard and it is crucial that a startup creates a great pitch by articulating a compelling and interesting story. The goal is to create a pitch that is easy for you to work off of and gets investors excited of your business.
You need to practice your pitch. Good pitch is based on a solid plan and a lot of practice. You need to be able to speak quickly about each element of your business. You may think you know everything about your idea and business plan, but presenting your pitch to new crowd may surprise you. Don’t go to pitch meetings unprepared. Take the time to practice, simplify your messaging and keep elements that build up your business.
Great pitch gives an answer to the question`s
- What does your company do?
- Why sholud I buy / invest in ”you”?
Pitch deck will help you to tell about your business. First slides on of our pitch deck is informative – company name / logo, introduce yourself and your background. You might also tell something about your experience. Begin your pitch with story. It should address the problem you’re solving in the marketplace. This will engage your audience and get their attention. If you can relate your story to your audience even better.
Following slides must say what your product is. Describe the essence of your business, the ideas, and the mission. Share what’s unique about your business and how it will solve the issue you shared in the previous slide. Keep it short, concise and easy for the audience to explain to others. Avoid using buzzwords unless your audience are very familiar with your industry.
Be realistic about who you’re building your product for and your market. If you can, try to describe your ideal customer when speaking about your target market. This can help investors visualize the potential customer base and displays that you’ve thought intently about who your business will serve. You can devide your market in three parts;
- TAM is the number of businesses or people your product targets / the total market demand for your product.
- SAM is the segment of the overall available market targeted by your product within your geographical reach.
- SOM is the portion of the SAM that you can realistically
A business model outlines how you’re going to make money. This slide is the subject of the biggest interest for investors, so prepare it well. It includes information on the key partners, key resources, value proposition, marketing channels, revenue streams, customer segments, relationships with customers and cost structure. Present an estimation of the revenue you expect to be making. How many months are you able to forecast? In the end finish what`s in it for the investor. Be prepared to have ready your financials in Excel format as investors may want to see that after reviewing your pitch deck.
Never dismiss your competition, show a realistic view of the competition. Listeners want to hear why you’re good, not why the competition is bad. Use charts and pictures if they convey your points more effectively.
Some examples what you should avoid in your pitch deck slides.
- Too much text.
- Excessive explanations and caveats
- Unrealistic profit forecast
- Photos with no titles or captions.
- Animations
- Memes
- Subtle humor.
People are interested in people. Investors invest in people first and ideas second, so be sure to share detail your assets and why you are the best people to lead the business. The team is one of the most important slides in any pitch deck. The investor wants to know who you are and what makes you / your team so unique. You can tell something of your background, work experienced and how you discovered this business idea. Remember there are many other people that have also thought about your same ideas. To create your pitch deck, you can find many free websites. You can also use Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote. If you’re using an iPad create a pitch deck online with Canva. Finally remember to practice and practice. Present your pitch to your friends or family, practice makes perfect. You can find more information about pitch talk at Module 6.
Links to pitch talk
