Preparing Your Pitch

Preparing Your Pitch

The basics of any pitch are presented in a slide deck and cover the following points:

The Basics

• Problem
• Solution
• Market (needs to be fast-growing, big potential)
• Competitive Advantage (what makes you uniquely able to solve the problem better than anyone else)
• Proof that your solution works (i.e., traction with customers)
• Team (Demonstrate domain expertise and experience with rapidly iterating towards finding product/market solutions)
• Terms of financing

Keep In Mind

• You are not trying to close the deal; you are only trying to create enough interest so that the investor wants to learn more
• Know your audience and gear the pitch accordingly (i.e., don’t get technical with investors who are not industry experts, but do so when the investors know the industry well)
• Tell a story and keep it interesting
• Practice, practice, and practice some more

Check Out Available Resources

Many resources are available when crafting your pitch for investors; check out some of our favorites below. Another helpful exercise is to search "Demo Day Pitch" on YouTube and look through as many pitches as possible as if you were an investor.

The Process of Approaching Investors

• David Lee: The Executive Summary
• Raising Venture Capital
• The Art of the Elevator Pitch - Harvard Business Review

Pitch Deck Examples

• http://www.pitchenvy.com/
• http://bestpitchdecks.com/ 
• http://nextviewventures.com/blog/free-startup-pitch-decks-template/ 
• https://articles.bplans.com/what-to-include-in-your-pitch-deck/

Guy Kawasaki:

• Youtube: 10:20:30 Pitch Rule (based on Art of the Start)
• Book: Art of the Start 
• Pitch deck template

David Rose

• TEDtalk  

Dave McClure:

• 10 tips for the perfect investment pitch

Paul Graham:

• How to Convince Investors
• How to Present to Investors

The basics of any pitch are normally presented in a slide deck and cover the following points:

1. Problem
2. Solution
3. Market (needs to be fast growing, big potential)
4. Competitive Advantage (what makes you uniquely able to solve the problem better than anyone else)
5. Proof that your solution works (i.e., traction with customers)
6. Team (Demonstrate domain expertise and experience with rapidly iterating towards finding product/market solutions)
7. Terms of financing

When preparing a pitch, keep in mind that: (1) you are not trying to close the deal, you are only trying to create enough interest so that the investor wants to learn more, (2) know your audience and gear the pitch accordingly (i.e., don’t get technical with investors that are not industry experts, but do when the investors know the industry well), (3) tell a story, keep it interesting, (4) practice, practice, practice.