The Art of The Pitch

When presenting to investors, the entire purpose is to convince them that YOU are the person they are going to invest their money and make money in return.

You have to convey 10 different characteristics:

• Integrity
• Passion
• Experience
• Knowledge
• Skill
• Leadership
• Commitment
• Vision
• Realism
• Coachability

Think about your pitch as a time-line, take them on an emotional journey:

• Start like a rocket, you have 10 seconds to get their attention (story/experience)
• Take them on a solid steady upward path
• It’s got to get better and better and then at the very end you need to knock it out of the park
• You want to get them on such an emotional high that they’re ready to write you a check right there before you leave

So how do you do that?

• Logical progression – what is the market, what are you going to do, how are you going to do it etc.
• Let them know that there are touchstones, you want to tie in the rest of the world out there
• Outside validation – make sure somebody else out there says this makes sense
• Believable upside which is 2 parts – upside, yet it’s got to be believable
• Don’t tell any lies which will discount what you’re saying
• Any typo or stupid mistake will show you can’t run this project

How to Give Power Point Presentations:

• Short short bullet points, just the headlines, or even better just pictures
• No long title slides, they know the date and who you are and why you’re presenting, just give them your company logo
• Give a quick business overview – 2 sentences
• Show who the management team is
• Tell them about the market, why is this market worth getting into
• Tell them about your product, what is it
• How will you make money on it
• Who are you selling this to?
• Do you have any relationships that are going to be special to help you
• Say exactly what your competition is and how you are special
• Give a financial overview – project a few years out – what are the drivers
• How is the money you get from them going to help you get there
• How much money you actually want – what’s the money in so far? You must have invested personally
• Then take it back to just the logo – give the final pitch that will put it over the top

Top 5 Power Point Presentation Tips:

1. Never ever look at the screen
2. Don’t read your speech
3. Handouts are NOT your presentation
4. Always use a remote control
5. Always use presenter mode, it helps you pace yourself and lets you know where you’re going