I have discussed what is pitch, how to pitch and 12 steps to perfect pitch. Then I will move on to Elevator Pitch and its format and then to the investor pitch deck where I will tell you what points you have to consider while making a pitch deck. Further, I will discuss what points you need to take care of while presenting and some tips for you on the pitch.
5. 12 Steps for a Perfect Pitch
● Get to the point fast.
● Don't use too many slides.
● Establish the need.
● Use a message map.
● Use a multilevel structure to your pitch.
● State who your competition is.
● Include a sound bite.
● Introduce the team.
● Know when to stop.
● Know your next step.
● Learn from others.
● Don't beg. 5
6. What is an Elevator Pitch?
A short, simple description of your
business idea that anyone could
understand
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7. Elevator Pitch Format
My Company, (Company Name)...
Is developing (a defined offering)...
To help (a target audience)...
(Solve a problem) with
(secret sauce solution)
(Customised Endnote)
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8. Investor Pitch
❏ A short summary of your company, your business plan and your startup
vision.
❏ The main purpose is to raise capital for your startup from the investors.
It is very crucial that a startup absolutely nails its investor pitch deck.
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9. Pitch Deck
➢ Title & Contact info
➢ Exec summary
➢ Team
➢ Company purpose
➢ Problem
➢ Solution
➢ Traction
➢ Market opportunity
➢ Why now
➢ Competition
➢ Competitive advantage
➢ Business model
➢ Customer acquisition
➢ Funding & use of proceeds
➢ Next 12-18 months
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10. How to Present
1. Smile
2. Eye Contact
3. Enthusiasm
4. Confidence
5. Be Honest
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11. Tips for your Pitch
Interesting story with a compelling call to action
Strong, succinct problem-solution statement
Clear description of how your solution is innovative
Don’t cram in buzz words - focus on what matters
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12. Why is your solution urgent? What impact will it have?
Know your market and how you’ll tap into it.
Know your customers & your users
Who are your competitors? What is your competitive
differentiation and how will you get market share?
Don’t bash your competition.
What traction do you already have (trials, users)?
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13. What technical steps need to be achieved?
How much money do you need to make this work?
What will you do with this money?
Management team and/or advisors with relevant
experience?
IP & other forms of defensibility for your business
(patents, licenses, exclusive relationships, etc.)
Let your passion shine through
Remember the “A-Ha” moment
13
14. Get in Touch
Smit Shah
Mobile: +91-9879477742
Email: smitshah0885@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smit--shah/
ROTONITY CLUB, SIT Pune
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rotonity/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rotonity-club/
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Notes de l'éditeur
Thank you for the introduction. Good evening everyone. ROTONITY Club is the official Robotics and Automation club of Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune. I am also a final year Electronics and Telecommunication student.
https://www.mentimeter.com/app
Before starting with the presentation. I want all of you to login to the www.menti.com and there you insert the code 17 90 01 6
“Go to www.menti.com and use the code 17 90 01 6”
Now, let’s continue with our today’s topic. Pitching. If you want to raise capital for your company or product, pitching is very important. You are a student and you are heading a club and you want funding for you club, at that time also pitching plays an important role. Let’s see what all we are going to discuss today.
Today, we will be discussing on what is pitch, how to pitch and 12 steps to perfect pitch. Then we will move on to Elevator Pitch and it’s format and then to investor pitch deck where I will tell you what all points you have to consider while making a pitch deck. Further we will discuss what points you need to take care while presenting and some tips for you on pitch. Finally, we will have a small Q&A session.
A pitch is a presentation of a business idea to potential investors. People pitch a business because they need resources. If the goal is to raise startup cash, the target of the pitch is an investor. Other businesses pitch to potential customers to sell their product. Finally, some organizations pitch because they need a partner or resource to help them accomplish their mission.
Moving on to How to pitch. For perfect pitch, you need to take care of 12 steps.
Here, by perfect I mean you need to have SMART Goal.
S stands for Specific i.e. Clearly Identify your goal
M stands for Measurable i.e. Define the goal in measurable terms
A stands for Attainable i.e. Choose the goal that are realistic and manageable.
R stands for Relevant i.e. Make sure the goal is something that is important to you
T stands for Time-Based/Time-Bound i.e. Define the time frame during which you will achieve the goal.
Now let’s talk about the 12 steps, So
Get to the point fast.
Don't waste time with preambles. Give them an overview of your compelling proposition quickly, and succinctly, and you're more likely to capture and hold your listener's attention at the crucial start of your pitch.
Don't use too many slides.
If you use too many slides then investors may get bored and if there are too less slides then it may not look professional. So, you have to choose the right number of slides, around 10-13 slides are preferred.
Establish the need
One of the questions that goes through your listeners' minds when they set out to listen to you is, "What problem are you trying to solve?" Convince them that there is a need. Give them a definite, concise statement of the problem, with an example or two illustrating the need. Show them the ramifications; i.e., how it affects people. Then follow up with your solution to address the need.
Use a message map
This idea comes from author Carmine Gallo. As he puts it, "If you can’t tell me what you do in 15 seconds, I’m not buying, I’m not investing and I’m not interested." The message map is a tool to help pitch a complex idea, simply and quickly. It helps you explain your idea visually—on one page—in 15 seconds. This involves creating a Twitter-friendly headline, followed by three key benefits to support the headline. It ends with a reinforcement of the three benefits through stories, statistics and examples.
Use a multilevel structure to your pitch
Scott Berkun recommends creating three levels of depth in preparing your pitch: 5 seconds, 30 seconds and 5 minutes. The 5-second version is a concise, single sentence explanation of your idea. In the 30-second version, you explain how you plan to achieve your idea by providing just enough interesting detail to help the audience get a clearer understanding of what you are proposing. Once you are successful in scaling your idea down to 5 and 30 seconds, you can then broaden it to 5 minutes. Brevity is the key to the initial success of a pitch.
State who your competition is
This is a crucial step. What is your competitive advantage? Show them how what you are pitching is better than what your competitors are offering—or at least, how it is different. Also show any potential entrants in that space. What is your shield against those?
Include a sound bite
A sound bite is a short, catchy phrase. Most people don't remember data, but they will remember a sound bite. A sound bite is the Velcro that makes the message stick. We all remember Steve Jobs' famous sound bite, "The world's thinnest notebook" when he first introduced the MacBook Air. It pays to spend time to come up with just the right sound bite to catch your listeners' attention.
Introduce the team.
Your listeners want to have the confidence that you have a solid team to back you up. Some recommend adding the team slide toward the beginning, while others prefer including this at the end. Keep it relevant and high level, and include photos.
Know when to stop
Any experienced salesperson will tell you, know when to stop selling your idea. Learn to read the signs that tell you your idea has hit home. The more you continue to talk beyond that point, the more you're likely to say something that can reverse the positive direction.
Know your next step
Practice your follow-up steps as diligently as you practiced the pitch. People often enter the pitching situation with misgivings about their chances of success. A positive response catches them off guard and they sometimes react like a deer caught in the headlights. Come prepared for the next steps. What happens if you get a positive response? What do you want your audience to do? Preparation will help you move forward with confidence.
Learn from others
One way to hone your pitching skills is to simply watch how others do it. There are plenty of opportunities to do this online. Another way is talk to people you know, who are good at pitching.
Don't beg
There's a fine line between showing intense passion for your idea, product or service, and showing nervous fear of losing out. While a little anxiety is understandable, letting it take hold of you will work against you. It can make you adopt an attitude of begging, which never serves us well. Remember, the ultimate power is the power to walk away. If you truly believe your idea has merit, go in as an equal. This is not advocating arrogance. It's simply asking you to be aware of emotional leakage that may derail you.
Now, elaborating further on “Use a multilevel structure to your pitch”. There are three versions i.e. 5 sec, 30 sec and 5 min. The most common type of pitch is your “Elevator Pitch”.
An elevator pitch it is a short, convincing and previously prepared speech that an entrepreneur uses to arouse the interest of others. This approach is characterized by not normally exceeding 30 seconds while transmitting important information.
Now moving on to Elevator Pitch Format. So, first you need to state what is your company’s name and what you are developing. By developing I mean you have to give an idea about what your company is all about. Then tell about who is your target audience. Now, give an idea about the problem that is being faced, make listeners feel the pain and after that give your secret sauce solution i.e. a simple unique selling point. FInally end with a custom endnote, which includes: Why should people care? Because, you have – Excellent Team – Excellent Product – Excellent Traction
Coming on to Investor Pitch
An investor deck is usually a 10-20 slide presentation designed to give a short summary of your company, your business plan and your startup vision. Similar to a pitch deck, this is a document most of the times you send to potential investors.
The main purpose is to raise capital for your startup from the investors. Raising capital from investors is difficult and time consuming. Therefore, it’s crucial that a startup absolutely nails its investor pitch deck and articulates a compelling and interesting story.
For pitch deck, you need to keep these points into consideration.
Title & Contact info: Keep it simple - most deck incluses logo and one-liner description of the company
Exec summary: Break this slide up into different sections such as company overview, team, traction, etc.
Team: This is an optional slide. You can include key team members and highlight the achievements.
Company purpose: Explain the high-level objective of the company. It’s includes the mission and vision of your company.
Problem: Clearly articulate the problem you are solving. If you are just representing a company, you can keep this optional.
Solution: Describe your product and its key features. This is also optional.
Traction: show evidence of product/market fit and company progress
Market opportunity: Prove there’s a large and worthy market opportunity. Include market research and data sources.
Why now: Show the company and opportunity is well time and articulate why this matters not only today but also in 3-5+ years
Competition: Who is your direct and indirect competition? And clearly articulate how you are different - don’t let the investors guess
Competitive Advantage: Thoughtfully articulate the structural advantages you’re building and explain what is “truly” unique which includes data, tech, design, network effects, etc. If you don’t have one today, explain how you’ll build over time.
Business Model: Prove your company can or will generate revenue. Include some traction data.
Customer acquisition: Demonstrate you can acquire customers cost-effectively and efficiently
Funding: Rationalize your capital requirements and use of proceeds
Next 12-18 months: Explain and show how your company will evolve during the next phase. Create a timeline and layer in product, hires, milestones, etc. Along with traction for the same period.
All the discussion that we had till now was, how you can prepare your pitch and what all points you need to keep in mind. Now, while presenting to your investor, you need to keep this things in mind. First, keep a smile on your face, second always maintain direct eye contact with the investor and show them how enthusiastic and you are in your product or your company. This will lead the investors in having the confidence in you and your company. Make sure you have done proper research on the product you are presenting and you should be able to answer any questions from the investors. If you fail to answer the question properly, then it may create a bad impression towards the investors. Be honest with your answers.
Last but not the least, whether the investors response is positive or negative, always thank them for their time.
Some tips for you
Interesting story with a compelling call to action
Strong, succinct problem-solution statement
Clear description of how your solution is innovative
Don’t cram in buzz words - focus on what matters
Why is your solution urgent? What impact will it have?
Know your market and how you’ll tap into it.
Know your customers & your users
Who are your competitors? What is your competitive differentiation and how will you get market share?Don’t bash your competition.
What traction do you already have (trials, users)?
What technical steps need to be achieved?
How much money do you need to make this work? What will you do with this money?
Management team and/or advisors with relevant experience?
IP & other forms of defensibility for your business (patents, licenses, exclusive relationships, etc.)
Let your passion shine through
Remember the “A-Ha” moment
You can get in touch with me on my email and you can also connect with me on LinkedIn. You can follow my club on Instagram and LinkedIn.
