Pitching & Iterating
Once you have validation from your first sale, then you can seek investment to really boost growth. Pitching is where your hard work up until this point comes to fruition for investment. It's the culmination of your Lean canvas, hypotheses, invention, and all the steps taken so far. A pitch is essentially a compelling story - it narrates the essence of your company and the significance of your product or service. Remember, it's not about the data collected (although the data collected gives us legitimacy and access to resources/support), but about weaving a compelling narrative that resonates with potential investors and stakeholders. Use a pitch desk and formulate "The Ask". There are 3 forms of pitching:
- Elevator Pitch: Quick, informal, and concise, the elevator pitch is all about planting an idea. It's a short story (90 to 120 seconds) encapsulating your vision, problem, and solution.
- Formal Pitch: Typically used in meetings or competitions (lasting 5-10 minutes), this pitch is more structured and detailed, often accompanied by a pitch deck. It focuses on the key elements of your business idea and achievements.
- Extended Pitch: This is the deep dive (around 20 minutes) into your business. Using a detailed investor deck, it covers your business model comprehensively, highlighting all the critical numbers and metrics.
Crafting an Elevator Pitch
In an elevator pitch, grabbing attention within the first few seconds is vital. Structure it to cover:
- Who you are.
- The problem you've identified and your vision.
- How your product/service addresses this problem.
- Your business type.
- Your achievements to date.
- What you seek from the audience.
A simple format for a two-sentence pitch:
"We are [startup X], a [business type Y], developing [product/service] to help [customers] solve the problem of [pain point], using our unique [unique value proposition]. Unlike our competitors, we offer [technological innovation, business innovation, unfair advantage]."
This format helps focus and clarify your business essence.
Pitch Deck Fundamentals
Knowing Your Audience
Understand who you're pitching to. Their values, industry knowledge, and background are crucial for tailoring your pitch. Aim to engage and inspire trust in your team and company. Grab their attention and deliver a spark. Tell an engaging story but also tell them what gives you authority to speak. Build trust in you, your team and company.
Simplicity and Engagement
Tell a compelling story using personal or customer narratives. Keep slides simple, avoiding technical jargon. Realistic numbers and estimates are key - avoid over-promising. The goal is to pique interest, not overwhelm with information.
Initially you may not be able to tell them everything, but you want to cast the right bait. There is time for them to learn more details later, and if there is interest, they will learn it. This depends on the audience though, of course.
The Purpose of Pitching
Your pitch should have a clear objective, often centered around gaining access to external resources like capital, partnerships, feedback or future employees. This is what we call the Ask. Emphasize your team's passion, market understanding, and the uniqueness of your product.
Details to Think About
Make your key decision drivers obvious - do we have an experienced and passionate team? Can we cover substantiation of the research and the metrics we attach to it. Do we have a distinct and proprietary product or service. Do we have a deep understanding of the market and clear customer benefit? Is there a realistic pathway to long-term profit (and scale).
At the end of the day, most investors aren't really investing in the product, as the market can change in 5 years. They are really investing in the team. For this, we want to show a deep embodiment of the problem and our dedication and excellence to working towards solving that problem.
Mastering the Pitch
Craft a compelling storyline and practice it until you can deliver it naturally without notes. The aesthetics of your slide design are also crucial - they should be visually appealing and clear.
Pitch Deck Structure
A tip is to use the first slide as a visual. Start with a Picture or Video as this slide, as it'll likely be on for a while before you actually start your pitch.
- Past-Present-Future: Establishing history and process
- Comparison & Contrast: Establishing advantage vis-a-vis alternatives
- Cause & Effect: Establishing logic
- Problem-Solution-Outcome: Establishing motivation and wider benefit. TOC can be discussed
- What? So what? Now what?: Establishing call to action
Generic slide deck structure is:
- Cover Slide: Introduce your startup and its mission.
- Who are you?
- What is your startup's purpose?
- What do you do?
- What business are you in?
- What is your mission?
- Problem & Vision: Narrate the problem and your vision using a customer story.
- Who is your hero/who is affected (customer archetype)?
- Use a character customer to narrate the story
- What is the problem?
- What is the magnitude/scale of problem?
- Solution: Show how your product/service solves the problem with visual aids.
- How is your brand/product/service solving the problem?
- Can use mock up of prototype, homepage or image of some kind showing the components coming together
- Show visual representation as mock-up/prototype.
- How does it work? What are key components of solution?
- Market Opportunity: Discuss market size and potential market share.
- What is estimated market size?
- What share of market (SOM) can you realistically capture? Why?
- How is the market projected to develop over the next years?
- Market Access: Explain your go-to-market strategy and customer acquisition plans.
- How will you get your product to market?
- How does your business operate?
- How will you find customers?
- Where will you sell?
- Unique Value Proposition: Highlight your competitive advantages and unique offerings.
- What are the alternatives in the market?
- How do they compare against you?
- Use the axes you want and plot you and competitors.
- On what dimensions is your solution superior?
- What do you have that no one else has (i.e., patents, tech, resources, team)?
- Financial Projections & Road Map: Outline expected costs, revenue streams, and cash flow positivity.
- What are your expected cost?
- How will you make money?
- When will you be cash positive?
- Anticipated Results & Impact: Detail the expected sales and broader impact of your solution.
- How much will you sell?
- What difference will your solution make?
- What ultimate impact will your solution have on the world?
- Team: Showcase your team's expertise and experience relevant to the problem and solution.
- How does team experience match problem/solution?
- How does what you do today and intend to do in the future match problem/solution?
- What entrepreneurial experience do you have?
- Key Milestones, Next Steps & Ask: Illustrate the journey to scaling, capital usage, and associated risks.
- What is the trajectory to scale?
- What is needed to achieve milestones?
- What is capital expected to be used for?
- What risks are associated with your business?
- Supporting Data: Strategically Place relevant research, data, and endorsements to bolster your pitch.
- What reports support your pitch?
- What data support your pitch?
- What individuals endorse your solution?
Common Questions
- What is your route to market?
- What do you want to use the money for?