4. Common elements of all pitches
• Intro: first name, company name, catchy line
• The opportunity, the market, the competition
• Why you, why now (insights), Team
• Long term value proposition
• Brief description of your product/service
• Go to market strategy
• Progress (traction), Roadmap
• What you need to accomplish all of the above
@realventures
6. Getting to pitch
• Research investors
• Understand fund dynamics (partners, deals)
• Ideally get an intro from another entrepreneur
• You will pitch 40 times to find the right match
• Iterative process. Longer than you thought
• Pitch at every possible opportunity (events)
@realventures
7. Preparing your pitch
• Work in text only, one line per slide
• Make sure you have all the elements
• Experiment with the flow
• Practice, practice, practice
• Not about memory, about understanding
• Your pitch is your blueprint
• Different support/format for different contexts
@realventures
8. Delivering your pitch
• Board room setting
• Have one person setup, the other chatting
• Presentation but mainly conversation
• It’s about the dream: pitch what you will become
• Questions: don’t be defensive
• If you don’t know, just say “I don’t know”
• I will get you the answer as a follow-up
@realventures
9. After the pitch
• Review notes (from co-founder not presenting)
• Good questions should go back in your deck
• Have backup slides as support material
• Follow-up a few days after the pitch
• A quick qualified no beats a long maybe
• Second pitch to all partners when it goes well
• Term sheet if it goes very well!
@realventures
10. The Art and Science of the Pitch
Sylvain Carle
John Molson Startup Conference, March 7th 2015
@froginthevalley
sylvain@realventures.com