CH VI - Toolkit

Let’s Talk about Building a Perfect Business Pitch

Build Your Business Pitch Blueprint

A Perfect Business Pitch is a perfectly prepared presenta-

tion deck with a perfectly delivered presentation to perfect-

ly targeted investors that gets their attention.

The purpose of a pitch is to quickly get the potential inves-

tor's attention, let them know what you have and what you

are offering to get them to say… “Tell me more!!”

You should invest in Business Pitching to:

1) Build your confidence,

2) Expand your network,

3) Gain exposure, and

4) Refine your idea.

Business Pitching techniques:

1) Find the right investor,

2) Prepare your pitch deck,

3) Tell your story,

4) Get the details right,

5) Be specific with your investment needs,

6) Prepare for Q&A,

Build your business pitch blueprint by following these steps:

Usually, you have ten minutes for your business pitch

presentation. Don’t expect to raise cash in ten minutes. The

best you can hope for is to get a call back. The way to do this

is to be professional, make your pitch memorable so it is the

one they remember the following morning, answer the

investor’s key questions, and make them want to learn more

about how this could be a good business, and more impor-

tantly, a great investment opportunity.

Make sure you set realistic objectives for your presentation.

Here are some great objectives:

To be memorable

You have ten minutes on this investor’s agenda. How many

other pitches will he or she have to sit through? Often a

dozen or more in a day. One of those pitches is going to be

memorable, and that’s the one they will consider calling

back. Make sure it’s yours.

If you give a fine performance and the investor seems happy,

but they can’t remember you or your pitch the following

morning, you’ve failed. If you had to choose between being

convincing and being memorable, you should choose mem-

orable every time. That way you’ll at least have a chance of

being called back for a second, probably longer presentation.

Be professional

An investor judges the team as much as, if not more than,

the idea or project itself. A great team with an average idea

will be more attractive than a poor team with a great idea.

It’s important therefore that you look and sound profession-

al. Look and speak as if you already are a successful CEO,

because investors will be sizing you up and seeing whether

they can imagine you as one. Looking and sounding profes-

sional means many things, and it will be the subject of

another post, but it runs from mastering whatever technol-

ogy you are using through mastering and preparing your

subject, all the way to the way you stand, the clothes you

wear and the way you speak.

Answer the key questions

An investor does not need to know everything about you

and your idea in the first ten minutes. However, there are

some key questions that you will need to answer – other-

wise, either the investor will ask (and resent the fact you

didn’t communicate better), or, worse, they won’t ask

because they have given up caring.

The first thing to remember is the number one question asked

by investors AFTER a pitch: “So what do you do exactly?” If

you’ve gone through a detailed study of your market, the

competitors and the opportunity, but you’ve failed to

explain what you are actually planning to do, then you’ve

failed – big-time. Here are some of the key questions you

need to answer:

From

the People of Japan

Co-Creation Hub VI:

Pitching Perfectly

TOOLKIT

Step 1 – Setting objectives

• What do you do?

• Who are you (and why should I trust you)?

• How will you make money (and how much)?

• How long will it take?

• What are the risks (and how do you plan to address them)?

• How much cash do you need (and what will you spend it on)?

• Do I have a good feeling about you?

How to answer these questions would be the subject of

another post (and also form a key part of the Ideas on Stage

course “Winning Pitch”), but you can probably work out why

each of those is important, and what you can do to weave

the answers into your pitch. The last one is not so easy,

however. At the end of the day, investors are individuals, and

they make decisions which are neither 100% objective nor

100% rational, just like you and me. You could have the great-

est credentials and a rock-solid business plan, but if the

investor doesn’t feel like they want to do business with you

long-term, the answer will be no.

All I would say about this is: research your investor, be profes-

sional, try to make a connection, have a great answer ready

to the question “why do you want me as an investor?” (other

than “well, you’re the only one who returned my call…”), and

do your best to get along with the investor, but if you don’t

hit it off, walk away and find another one. You don’t want to

be stuck doing business for years with someone with whom

you have a tenuous relationship, any more than the investor

does. Some personality types just don’t get on well with

each other. Better that you find that out now.

Make them want to know more

Here’s the final objective. In ten minutes, you only just have

time to answer the key questions above, ideally in a particu-

larly memorable and professional way. You have learned not

to expect a decision there and then. Your ultimate aim is to

be called back for a longer chance to discuss your business

opportunity. Therefore, you need to make sure they are

interested enough in three things to want to know more

about them:

1. The team

2. The business plan

3. The chances of a good return on investment (RoI)

If they are interested in the business plan but not you, they

won’t call you back. If they are interested in you and the

business plan, that’s fine – but if you can show them a

chance of a good RoI, and make them feel there’s a chance

this could be a very good deal for them as well as building a

business, then they will at least want to know more about it.

Just make sure your financials are based on clear and

reasonable assumptions which don’t fall apart when the

investor asks the tough questions.

Once you have your story written up, it is time to design

individual slides. One simple way to do this is to focus on the

main components of your presentation and allocate slides

to each component.

1. How your business started

2. The value proposition

3. Key milestones achieved

4. Details about customers

5. What you’ve learned

6. How you’ve iterated and

improved

7. What the product does

8. How much the product costs

9. Market opportunity

10. Future milestones

11. Why your team is right

12. Forecasts and financials

13. Your fundraising ask

Establish a structure for your presentation. Start by answer-

ing the 5Ws of your pitch:

• Who are you? Who are you pitching to?

• What are you pitching? What problems does your pitch solve?

• Where to pitch? Where is your pitch target market?

• When would your audience benefit?

• Why should the investors/audience pick your solution/

pitch?

Step 2 – Creating the structure of your presentation

After you have answered the key questions, it is time to prepare

your individual slides. Utilizing the Storyboard Approach

allows to create your own story and to ensure that your story

makes sense and has a logical flow from the beginning to

the end. It will have an introduction, a minimum of three

sections and a conclusion. Here is a graphical view of how it

could look like.

Step 3 – Preparing a Pitch Deck Presentation with

individual slides

Think about the presentation delivery and answer the

following questions:

1. Will the presentation be delivered online or offline?

2. Where will be the presentation be delivered?

3. Have you ever been there before and are you familiar with

the venue?

4. If not, can you go there and get familiar with the venue?

5. What is the format of the presentation set-up? Is it

U-shaped?

6. Is there a projection screen available?

7. Is there a sound system in place? Microphones? Speakers?

Cameras? Computers?

Step 4 – Planning the presentation set-up

What can you do to improve your presentation performance?

1. Practice and rehearse

2. Check the timing of your presentation

3. Record your rehearsal and view it back to identify weaknesses

4. Attend other presentations to get inspired

5. Watch TEX talks of great speakers to get inspired

6. Arrive early at the venue to reduce stress of being late

7. Adjust your surroundings and the environment before the

start of the presentation

8. Use positive visualization

9. Take deep breaths to release stress

10. Smile as often as you can

11. Exercise earlier in the day prior to your presentation to

boost endorphins

12. Work on your passes to avoid running out of breath,

getting more nervous or panicking

13. Focus on essentials and don’t try to cover too much material

14. Actively engage the audience

15. Be entertaining and don’t be boring

16. Admit that you don’t know everything and you don’t have

all the answers

17. Drink water before, during and after the presentation

18. Don’t fight the fear – accept your fear

19. Practice confident body language

20. Don’t quit the presentation, end the presentation

What are the worst presentation habits?

1. Bad Habit # 1 - Reading from notes

2. Bad Habit # 2 - Avoiding eye contact

3. Bad Habit # 3 - Dressing Down

4. Bad Habit # 4 - Fidgeting, jiggling, and swaying

5. Bad Habit # 5 - Failure to rehearse

6. Bad Habit # 6 - Standing at attention

Simple tips for not losing the audience, involve them.

Here are some suggestions for dealing with the audience:

• At the beginning say when you accept questions

• Avoid long interrupts, set scene before continuing

• Never lose temper with adversarial individuals

• Be ready to stimulate questions

• Don’t “shoot from the hip”

• Keep answers short and simple

• Improvise carefully, if at all

• Stay in control

• Listen and show appreciation

• Look for common points

• Never argue with individuals,

propose discussion in the coffee-break

• Use jiu-jitsu: acknowledge and then

state own opinion

• Prepare for sensitive topics

• Use short arguments that can’t be denied

Step 6 – Handing the audience

8. Will the presentation be recorded or livestreamed?

9. Is there WIFI available at the venue?

10. When is the talk to be given?

11. Does this allow me enough time for preparation?

12. How long is the talk meant to last?

13. Will there be discussion or questions?

14. Will there be other speakers before or after?

15. How large is the audience? Can it be split?

16. How will the audience be seated in relation to where I shall

be speaking from?

17. Will they have any problems seeing me or hearing me

clearly?

18. What visual aids can be used?

19. What about the acoustics, seating pattern, etc.?

20. Who will make any practical arrangements?

7. Bad Habit # 7 - Reciting bullet points

8. Bad Habit # 8 - Speaking too long

9. Bad Habit # 9 - Failing to excite

10. Bad Habit # 10 - Ending with an inspiration deficit

Step 5 – Planning your presentation performance

Checklist: Time to Test

CHECKLIST

Know your audience.

Know your objectives.

Answer the 5 Ws of pitching in your business pitch

Establish a compelling story from your past, the present and the future

Prepare individual slides for each component of the Idela Pitch Deck

Understand your topic well and find something in it that matters to you.

Engage your audience immediately.

Organize your talk logically, making it easy to follow.

Develop your ideas with vivid examples and details.

If you can say something in fewer words, do so.

In your conclusion, emphasize the most important points of your message. Finish with confidence.

Remember that visual aids, speaker notes, and handouts all have different forms and functions.

Limit text in visual aids. If you do include text, keep it simple and easy to read.

Where appropriate, make use of graphical images in your visual aids.

Do not allow your visual aids or handouts to upstage you.

Maintain your connection to the audience. Be their primary focus, and they should be yours.

YES / NO

30 legendary startup pitch decks and what you can learn from them

https://piktochart.com/blog/startup-pitch-decks-what-you-can-learn/

Free templates provided

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yh20wAuf84xTgYAmqrTO_4GN_PhQrUO3?usp=sharing

How to pitch to investors: Mistakes to avoid and 8 expert tips to level-up your pitch

https://blog.close.com/pitch-investors/

How to successfully pitch your business idea to investors

https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-pitch-to-investors-in-10-minutes-and-get-funded/

How to give the perfect pitch – with TedX speech coach David Beckett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njh3rKoGKBo&t=658s

5 pitch mistakes entrepreneurs make, and how to fix them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr1PKaoflLo

How to get meetings with investors and raise money by Aaron Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzz4AEIddzY

How to pitch your startup – Kevin Hale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17XZGUX_9iM

Know More - Additional Resources

Free Templates and Resources

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