How to Make Your Pitch Better?

This article is written by Nardine B. M’barek, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.

Mrs. Andrea Barrica, a venture partner at 500 Startups, is a professional and international pitch coach. Many entrepreneurs had the opportunity to be mentored by her in numerous countries of the world through receiving tips and guides related to pitching, and how exactly should a pitch be. When she was present with us during Startup Istanbul 2015, Mrs. Barrica took the time to listen to some pitches delivered by entrepreneurs who were among the audience, she then gave them some feedback concerning the good and the bad sides of their pitches.

Andrea started her feedback by saying something very important; if you are pitching, and you say something really important, or the thing that you consider the most important part of your pitch, then you need to stop right after it. To stop does not mean making it the last thing in your pitch of course, but you should just take a brief break of 2 or 3 seconds in order to give the people who are listening to you the time to ponder on the idea that you just mentioned, and to better understand it as well as memorize it, because if it is a big thing, then it must be remembered throughout your whole pitch. This constitutes a delviery tip that would allow people to catch up with you. 

You also need to keep in mind that you need to be clear, that is something very crucial when you are delivering your pitch. If you are in front of some investors, and actually trying to get one of them to invest in your company, they will probably not do it if they do not understand the business that you want them to invest in. This is the part where clarity comes in; you will only win an investor if you are clear enough when pitching, that is basically rule number one in pitching.

Sometimes, you are not obliged to start your pitch with telling what you do or talking about your team, it could be a good option to begin your pitch by saying a sentence that best describes your business as a whole, this would be a good motivator for the ones who are listening to you, as it will keep them focused on your pitch for the rest of it. Also, when preparing for your pitch, do not use papers and pens, you should rather prepare it out loud, present it in front of your co-workers, friends, or even family in order to gain more practice, it is always better than only writing words on paper and then mermorizing it a day beforehand. 

Another thing is that if you are in a big crowd, then differentiatiion is something important. You should manage to mention what makes your startup better than the others that are in the same field; you need to make people attracted to you, not only through stating what you already have as revenue, but also through clarifying why your business can become successful. 

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