Blog

Effective Investor and Venture Capital Pitch Tips

May 9, 2012 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Ok, so you have spent a lot of time perfecting your business plan and financial projections. You have what you think is a good investor or venture capital pitch deck (presentation). Now, don’t ruin your chances at obtaining capital by poorly executing your pitch.

Here are 20 top tips in delivering a solid pitch:

1. Be Genuine - Be yourself. If you are perceived as fake or trite, forget your chances.

2. I am the Next Google, Amazon, or Facebook - Let’s face it. Be honest with yourself. You are not going to be the next Google, Amazon or Facebook. Be real. Be realistic. Leave the hype at home and by all means, keep it out of your business plan!

3. Talk - Don’t read. Don’t have notes. Definitely don’t read off of the presentation slides. Just talk and be natural. If you know your stuff, it will come easy. If you can’t just talk about your opportunity then you need to get a better pitch. Don’t ramble, do a lot of practice, and have a framework to work off of. Just talk and be real. Be flexible. Your presentation may be interrupted at any time. Be able to go with the flow and adapt.

4. Pictures and Graphs - Don’t just write out your pitch and put it on slides. Your presentation slides are for pictures and graphs and charts (which you need to explain). The slides should better explain your product, value, model and market.

5. Demo Your Product or Service - Investors want to see the product or service in action. Demo it! Talking about an “idea” is the kiss of death.

6. Too Technical - Don’t be too technical in your presentation. Not all investors may understand what you are saying. Keep it simple and in layman’s terms. If they want sophistication, they will ask you pointed questions.

7. Realistic Assumptions - Prove how your business plan comes from highly realistic and well researched and considered assumptions and market info. Reviewing your underlying assumptions gives you credibility and believability. Two critical hurdles.

8. Short and Succinct - Don’t go long, and definitely use less time than allocated. If they like your pitch, they will ask questions, and then your timeline is irrelevant since you got them talking!

9. Believe in Yourself and the Opportunity - If you do not believe in yourself, and most importantly, in your opportunity, then investors will see right through you and in 30 seconds they will make up their minds you are a waste of time. If you don’t believe your pitch, don’t give it.

10. Don’t be Boring - Investors and venture capitalists listen to pitches and review business plans all day long. Brighten up their day with enthusiasm and an interesting pitch, and most importantly, an interesting opportunity.

11. KISS - Keep it simple. Trying to fully explain your business plan is a mistake. Talk about your team’s experience, why your model works, why your projections are realistic, and your underlying assumptions. If they want more detail, they will ask, so be prepared.

12. Know Your Plan - Far too many times a pitch presenter doesn’t know the company business plan inside and out. And this presenter often passes the buck when asked a questions he or she can’t answer. Huge mistake. Know your assumptions, know your model, know your financials, know where the valuation came from, know your market, know your research– know your plan inside and out!

13. Tell them the Bad - If everything is all peaches and crème, and you are the perfect business person with the perfect business with the perfect opportunity, then you might as well stay at home. Investors want to hear where you are weak, what your gaps are. Why? Because they make your strategies more believable. They know you know your shortcomings and look to see how you address them.  A business plan or presentation without weaknesses and threats have no credibility, and certainly the strengths and opportunities will not be the slightest believable without them.

14. Be Natural - Don’t be rigid or appear overly nervous. If you are natural, it shows confidence, not cockiness. It shows preparedness. It shows you know your stuff and can back it up.

15. Practice Makes Perfect - If you don’t practice the pitch from start to finish a million zillion times in front of an audience, then you are not ready. Find some experienced business people and investors to critique your pitch and re-work it until you are confident in it, then practice it over and over.

16. Stay Away from Common Pitch Words and Terms - Don’t use catchy, by the minute, phrases to impress. They don’t impress- in fact, they show your inexperience. Watch out for buzzwords. Come on, be real!

17. Tell a Story - Talk about you, how you got here, what you have learned…who your product or service is for…A storyline can be easily followed and makes sense. Get investors believing in you by being interested in your story and your journey. It is the journey and what you learned that is most important to investors and VC – not your great product, service, opportunity.

18. Remember Your Best Asset - Your best asset is not your product (or service)! Don’t sell your product as much as you sell yourself. Start with you, your experience, your team’s experience, then work in your offering and opportunity into your story. Investors invest in people, not the product!

19. Talk about the Competition - Identifying you have strong competition is a winning strategy. Saying you have no or little competition will lead to a no success pitch. Identify your main competitors, and address how you will capably compete with them and how you are unique in comparison with them.

20. Don’t Sell the Opportunity, Sell Yourself - This goes back to item 18 because it is just that important. Don’t give some flashy sales pitch with enormous markets and numbers and no substance and viable assumptions and research and experience to back it up. Sell yourself and your team and why you are capable. This will be the only sales you will need. The rest are facts, aren’t they? If they don’t believe in you, they will never believe you (or your opportunity).

Beware of Business Plan Writers and Flashy, No Substance, Plans

A well developed business plan that comes from a good business planning process will produce the best pitches. Hiring some business plan writer to throw together a flashy business plan after a two hour phone conference is a waste of your time and money. If you want someone outside your company to help with your plan find an experienced business plan consultant that will take the time to help you develop a viable model, strategy and plan that is grounded in good research and solid assumptions.

Carefully examine the experience, process, support and team the business planning firm brings to the table. And be certain you are committed to the agreed upon business planning process. If you do not give of yourself and your team’s time, then the consulting firm will have no where to start and build a viable plan. Be committed!

Posted in Business Finance, Business Planning and tagged business plan, business plan consultant, business plan writer, investor, pitch deck, venture capital.