Pitch Perfect
30 Mins
|
By Team Artha
Pitching is a make-or-break moment. You must know what you are pitching and to whom.
Back your pitch with hard data. Soft skills will not be of any aid if you don't have numbers and facts that serve as the very foundation of the pitch
Be prepared to answer in depth questions on sales, turnover, gross and net margins among others. Projections are one thing but hard facts are truly what investors look out for.
So what are the components of a good pitch deck? What's going to grab investor attention and help propel your business toward the same success like Facebook, Google, Uber and so many others?
Keep yourself abreast of the kind of questions investors ask. Back up all claims with facts and hard data.
Do not make a 25-slide deck. Stick to 10-12 slides max. Include an introduction, the problem statement, your solution offering, business model supported by data/statistics. Flesh out a proper pitch deck outline before you get started putting together the necessary information. Guy Kawasaki’s ever-popular rule is 10/20/30. “A presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.”
Investors love a good story just like anyone else. Have a compelling and coherent narrative. Pitch it like the way you would like to hear an engaging story. Try to use narrative techniques to craft an effective storyline - make an emotional connection. It is perfectly fine to use some humour.
This is not a novel you have penned. Don’t make it too lengthy and too wordy. Keep the slides flowing to build the narrative. Keep it short and easy to remember. Ensure that the audience can figure out the idea you want to get across with ease. Present the idea in a way that it helps get you the 2nd meeting.
Use a simple font, bold text, and good contrast. Not everyone on Demo Day will have front seats. Make sure someone even in the last row can read it. Clearly.
No one sounds professional if they add multiple “ums” during the pitching. Typos are a strict no-no. Review your slides minutely and rehearse them multiple times.
Boring, bulleted decks are passe. There are multiple templates and tools – Canva, Visme etc. it is now not too difficult to create a visually appealing pitch deck presentation. Keep it aesthetically pleasing and engaging. Depict facts with the help of diagrams, graphics, illustrations and images.
You must have a clear vision statement. It reflects the clarity of your team’s vision - what you have set to accomplish. But steer away from something lofty and fuzzy. Instead aim for tangibility and execution.
This is a critical element of any startup. There are multiple ways to calculate TAM. You need to look at the problem statement. You must conduct surveys, talk to customers and look at equivalent examples in different geographies and other markets in order to validate multiple aspects of adoption to define the total addressable market. However, it is essential to keep in mind that the market you have identified might not even exist yet.
One of the most important slides. Highlight issues from both POVs- target customer and intended investor making them readily see why the issue is important to address. The deck should reflect that you know your TG, understand their pain points and whether the target group is willing to pay to ease it or not. How do you articulate a problem statement? Who are you solving this problem for? Is this a real problem statement? Is it possible to monetise from the problem statement?
To boost the confidence of investors, display team chemistry. If you have brought the team for the pitch then don’t make them stand there like mannequins. Your collective expertise can help navigate through the different expectations of the audience. Definitely use a team slide focusing on essential details like their accomplishments, job experience, former positions held and educational background.
Before pitching, prepare thoroughly. Besides preparing an impactful pitch gather background knowledge on the investors too. Harness alumni networks, social media, and mentors; collect information that can help you engage your audience on a personal level.
To hook your audience tell them what your startup does in a crisp, simple and long sentence right at the beginning. This is your hook line. Michael Moritz, a venture capitalist, in his book Leading has a really interesting anecdote. One day two Stanford students walked into his office at Sequoia Capital - Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They explained to Moritz their business plan in the most concise and simple way possible, “Google organizes the world’s information and makes it universally accessible.” They secured their first funding by grasping Moritz’s attention with this hook line.
This is crucial. Employing relevant data and meticulously evaluated facts, significant growth drivers, competitive advantages and the most recent industry trends.
The deck should clearly mention how you plan to use the to contribute to the growth of the business. Break down the use of funds into categories - marketing and sales, product development, hiring etc.
VCs prefer Founders who understand their sector well and are compatible and whether a particular company can add value to their portfolio. They look for the unusual in a startup, something that has not been done before but is also viable. A first-mover advantage often makes a company attractive. While storytelling is important, it does not imply that a founder is expected to be flamboyant. VCs value authentic, sincere and succinct communication.
Demonstrating consumer use cases can do wonders. VCs tend to stay clear of regulatory risk or at least prefer to stay away from it and take chances very rarely. They check whether venture capital is right for you or not. For VCs, when they invest in start-up, it should become a huge company. The founders themselves must have clarity on their ambitions.