Everything you need to know about a successful pitch

1. HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL PITCH
Imre Hild
Global Traction

2. About Imre
1993-1998 Cornell University, New York, USA
1998-2003 Lehman Brothers, New York, USA
2004-2008 Built HILD & OTP Életjáradék ($120 and $80M market cap)
2009-2010 Entrepreneur in Residence at a Venture Fund
2011-2015 iCatapult - HUF 140M invested into 4 startups
2011 - Mentor for Seedcamp, StartupBootcamp, Pioneers, etc.
2011 - Hungarian Venture Capital Association
2013 - 1st Central European Startup Roadshow in New York City
2014 - Hungarian Innovation Federation
2015 - MIT Venture Lab Mentor
2015 - Digital Factory Contributing Partner - 300M into 21 startups
2015 - Global Traction - Business Development for 8 startups/scaleups
2017 - Hungarian section of V4 Startup Ecosystem Survey
2017 - 2019 Digital Startup Strategy - International Market Entry
2018 - Startup Board – Hungarian Innovation Office
2018 - EU startups, accelerators to Israel to learn Ecosystem Cooperation
2019- Mentor and coach to 6 startups

3. MY GOAL TODAY IS TO SHOW YOU WANT
SHOULD BE
AND WHAT
SHOULD NOT BE
IN A STARTUP PITCH

4. GIVE EXAMPLE OF A GOOD PITCH
FROM YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE

5. WHY DO WE PITCH?

6. REASONS FOR PITCHING
1 Form of introduction - to be followed up
Raise interest in opportunities of working with startup
2
Offer equity for investment
3

7. What makes a good pitch
MEMORABLE
RELEVANT
ENGAGING

8. PITCH
A PART OF YOUR COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
DISCOVERABILITY
Articles, website, videos
ACCESSIBILITY
Conferences, Ecosystem
events
Hiring, Ad hoc programs
MARKET POSITION
Customer reviews,
forums, Social media,
marketing messages

9. THE PITCH IS A TOOL
1
To connect with audience, leave contact info at the end (or each
page)
Recruit talent, partners, mentors, advisors
2
Show your competence about your industry
3

10. THREE PILLARS
1 CONTEXT, CONDITIONS
FORM
2
CONTENT
3

11. CONTEXT OF PITCH
Audience of the pitch – Investors, customers, partners, press
Your objective – investment, partnership, sales, PR etc.
Time, location, before / after facts
Opportunity to connect after pitch - Interactivity

12. Investment options into startups
Formal
Informal
Direkt
Indirect Equity
crowdfunding
(Seedrs)
Angel
groups
(Keiretsu)
Angel Superangels
VC funds
Angel
Syndication
(angel.co)
Crowdfunding
(Kickstarter)

13. Interactivity of audiences
Audience In
Hun?
Typical stage of
startup
development
Form Usual time
limit
Print Collateral Control of
setting?
Interactions
Angel Yes Pre-revenue,
‘concept’
Real time
One-on-one
60 min One pager Midlevel Continuous
Superangel Yes Pre-revenue,
‘concept’
Real Time One-on-
one (structured)
30-45 min One pager Low Continous, less
lengthy
Angel Syndication
(Angel.co)
N/A Post-MVP, some
revenue
Online video and
written, one-to-many
10 minute
reading /
pres. time
From One pager to
B plan
Low Moderated
interaction,
cumbersome
Angel Groups
(Keiretsu)
Yes Post-MVP, some
revenue
Real Time,
In person, one-to-
many
Up to 30
minutes
From 1 pager to B
plan
None Moderate
questioning
Early stage VC
Funds
Yes MVP Real Time,
Presentation to
inv. team
1 hour One pager, BMC,
some B Plan
Low Intense questioning,
continous
Crowdfunding
(Kickstarter)
Yes Concept to some
revenues
Online video and
written, one-to-many
8-10 minutes Online video,
printed support
docs
High Virtual, superficial
Press Yes Any Written, edited 2-3 min read One pager,
marketing mat.
Low Virtual, non-essential

14. FORM/ DELIVERY OF A PITCH
1 Learn to deliver message in different ways - ‘Mom’ test
Presentation slides - 10-13 slides max, only if they help. Letter size depends on the audience
Movement - direct the eyes at you
4
Voice - the louder you speak, the slower it will be: it is a PLUS!
1
2
3
Ask for feedback - works as checkpoint
5

15. IDEAL LENGTH OF A PITCH..?
5 minutes
3 minutes
1 minute?
30 seconds?

16. FORM/ DELIVERY OF A PITCH
It is OK
TO REPEAT
WHAT YOUR COMPANY
IS ABOUT
As audience attention may will slip

17. FORM/ DELIVERY OF A PITCH
TO AVOID:
17
1 Voice - low, fast or, monotone voice in spurts with emphasis on nothing….
Presentation slides - Full of text (in small letters), distracting eye-candy images
2
Movement - wobbling, avoiding eye contact
4
Presentation slides - Talking to the slides, using too much lingo, professional abbreviations
3

18. PRESENTATION TECH
1 Source of distraction
Easy to overuse it
2
Be prepared for Murphy
3

19. CONTENT OF A PITCH

20. Pitch Content
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview
2 Problem
3 Solution
4 Market Size / Benefits
5 Business Model
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

21. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem
3 Solution
4 Market Size / Benefits
5 Business Model
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

22. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2
Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats
etc.)
3 Solution
4 Market Size / Benefits
5 Business Model
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

23. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4 Market Size / Benefits
5 Business Model
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

24. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

25. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

26. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

27. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction - Who cares already? Volume/Cost/Conversion?
8 Team / Hires
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

28. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction - Who cares already? Volume/Cost/Conversion?
8 Team / Hires - People you audience may care about (and also those you don’t have)
9 Financials
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

29. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction - Who cares already? Volume/Cost/Conversion?
8 Team / Hires - People you audience may care about (and also those you don’t have)
9 Financials - Metrics that show your understanding
10 Call To Action
11 Summary / Recap

30. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction - Who cares already? Volume/Cost/Conversion?
8 Team / Hires - People you audience may care about (and also those you don’t have)
9 Financials - Metrics that show your understanding
10 Call To Action - What do you need, clearly
11 Summary / Recap

31. Pitch Guidelines
How to setup a “full” pitch?
1 Overview - Short, simple, memorable. Single sentence rule.
2 Problem / Opportunity - Make it obvious, support statements w/ numbers (stats etc.)
3 Solution - Differentiator / Competitive advantage? Prototype? Scaling opportunity? IP?
4
Market Size / Benefits - Market size, benefits, trends (most in audience may know
about)
5 Business Model - How will you make money? Breakeven? Revenues (direct/indirect)?
6 Competitive Advantage - what you do better than the rest. Is it ‘unfair’ advantage?
7 Go-To-Market Strategy / Traction - Who cares already? Volume/Cost/Conversion?
8 Team / Hires - People you audience may care about (and also those you don’t have)
9 Financials - Metrics that show your understanding
10 Call To Action - What do you need, clearly
11 Summary / Recap - Whole pitch in one summary slide

32. Pitch content – aviod to:
1 Describe Problem – No one’s problem
2 Solution – does not fit problem but what entrepreneur holds true about it
4 Market Size – small subset of a tiny market OR never gets mentioned or bottom up
5 Business Model – we will hire sales people or W-W-A-FB

33. Pitch Content - to avoid:
- Hardly mention what the startup / project is about
- Slides are distracting
- “Talking about talking”
- Using too much lingo
- Responding with a question
- Brushing off any criticism
3/16/15 33

34. AGAIN:
What makes a good pitch?
MEMORABLE
RELEVANT
ENGAGING

35. WHAT MAKES YOUR PITCH MEMORABLE,
RELEVANT, ENGAGING?
STORY TELLING
PROFESSIONALISM
DEMONSTRATED ABILITY TO SEE A REAL PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY

36. A PITCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6O98o2FRHw
3/16/15 36

37. Lessons of the pitch
• Simple form
• No slides
• Use of device (cup)
• Good, foolproof demo
• Bit edgy – seems mortal
• Reasonable, approachable, no goofyness
• Content
• Tons of numbers (28!) – implies a LOT of research
• Simple language, no lingo
• Simple business plan

38. Tim Draper

39. The most important element
Of your Pitch:

41. E-mail: hildimre@gmail.com
T: +36709452230
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hildimre
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hildimre/
Web: www.globaltraction.org
Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/hildimre
Crunchbase + relevant articles