Knowing how to pitch your business is a very important part of your startup’s success. No matter how unique or innovative your business idea is, it is all about how you sell it to the right people. A startup pitch needs to be well-thought and planned out so that the investors find it interesting enough.
At Itnig, for example, we host a weekly event, where entrepreneurs have a chance to present their projects in front of our investors and get instant feedback.
We’ve also co-host events with Taran Hughes, cofounder of PitchSLAP, a pitching session that helps you take your pitch to the next level. It’s also a weekly pitching show where you get immediate actionable feedback from Taran, and Zineb Layachi, two straight-talking international sales & marketing experts and startup mentors.
If you’re new to this process, you might not know how to write the right startup pitch for your new business. Here are some of the best tips to help you write the perfect winning startup pitch to attract investors.
Keep it simple and short
Keeping your business pitch simple and short is very important, especially if you are about to give it to make people go through. This might seem tricky, especially if you need to include a lot of necessary information.
No matter how many pieces of information you are tempted to include, you need to keep it short. This is important because the investors need to be able to go through the information easily. The more time it takes them to read everything, the harder it will be for them to stay focused. You need to make sure that it is short enough for them to be excited about the idea without it being too lengthy and tiring.
Make it motivational
Making a startup pitch motivational is all about talking about the reasons why you wanted to start your business. This might seem like a simple idea, but it can greatly impact the way the investors will view you. Being motivated will show exactly how much you want to work on turning your simple vision into a big success.
The easiest way to achieve that through your pitch is to talk about your journey to opening the business. You can talk about past struggles or any other issues you might have encountered that made you want to work on this. The investors need to see that this is life goal for you and that you are prepared to turn this vision into a reality.
Talk about your target audience
Another important piece of information you should include in your startup pitch is the type of people you wish to attract through your business. This is another thing that will help show the investors just how much thought you have put into the whole business plan. It will also help you build the right content marketing ideas and strategies in the future.
The target audience is going to be formed based on certain characteristics of the people interested in your products. These can include their age, genders, geographical location and other similar factors. All of these will help you know exactly who you need to attract in order for your business to make a profit.
Talk about your future goals
Talking about the future without having even started your company might sound a little too ambitious. In reality, though, it is the right thing to do when writing a pitch. The people intending to invest in your idea want to see you have thought about the whole process and you are serious about it. Your plans for the future of your company will show exactly that.
The future goals you mention can include other products you might want to produce in the future or your plans for expanding to other countries. No matter how ambitious your goals are, as long as they are reasonable, measurable and achievable, you should definitely include them in your pitch.
Stay focused on the main message
When talking about something you are very passionate about, it is very easy to go off-topic. You can probably go on and on about why you need them to believe in your idea and help your startup. While this might be important and necessary in some cases, you should keep your pitch focused on the main point as much as possible.
In order to avoid this from happening, you can split your pitch into different sections,
almost like subheadings in an article. Each subheading can have a different title where you will be able to focus on only explaining each individual idea. This will help you stay on topic and keep the startup pitch short.
Present your products and their value
The value of your products is not just monetary. You need to be able to explain why your product will stand out and why people will prefer it. Every startup has a vision, but not everyone is able to create a demand for their products in the market.
This is something that will help the investors decide on supporting your vision as they will have more trust in its success. Therefore, it is a good idea to explain exactly how your products will be valued by the public. Knowing their place in the market in advance will help you target the right people and easily increase your sales.
Backup your claims
No matter what you are selling, you have probably made some claims about the product and its qualities. All of these claims need to be backed up in one way or another, and these details should be present in your pitch. If your investors don’t believe the claims you have made, how will your customers?
If you are still working on getting some of the claims verified by certain services, then you need to include that information too. Being as transparent and informative as possible is the best way to get these people to trust you. If you present the public with an unverified claim, they will lose money too, so you need to take care of this in advance.
Outline profit projections
Any investor that is interested in the idea you are selling them will want to see exactly how you are going to use their money. This is exactly why it is important that you provide them with an outline of your profit projections. In other words, you need to provide them with a short but complete plan of how you will use the funds they are providing.
You can either put this outline in words or even create an infographic as it will be much more compact. It is a good idea to include anything from production costs to rent for the office space and even your website development costs. Services such as itnig can help you with finding coworking spaces and other important aspects of the startup so you can get started easily. All of these are necessary to include and will show just how serious you are about this process.
Prototype your product
Last but not least, another thing you must not forget to hand in along with your startup pitch is a prototype of the product you will be selling. The best way to win those investors along is to have them try exactly what they will be investing in. The more excited they are about it the more on board they will be with the plan.
Producing a few units of the product or products you will be selling is not going to cost you a fortune. It is also a lot more profitable in the long run as they can also give you some first opinions on the products. This way you can make some last-minute improvements and offer your future customers with the best products possible.
Attracting the right investors
Writing the right pitch for your business can help you attract the right people who will want to support your vision. Financial assistance is always necessary when starting a new business, and it heavily depends on how you sell that idea. The right startup pitch is the best way for you to win them over and start your journey with a big advantage. Which of these tips do you consider to be the most important when writing a startup pitch?
Written by: Dorian Martin, writer, editor, and content writing specialist that runs his own website. Students with thoughts such as “I could use help from someone to write a paper for me” will likely find Dorian’s assistance tremendously helpful.
Pick a date and come to itnig’s Pitch To Investors
Get your project funded!
This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)