Is There A Universal Format For Pitching?
This article is written by Brian Malika, a Contributor Author at Startup Turkey.
Bill Kenney has founded 6 companies and currently leads two growing ventures. MEET (My Expo & Event Team) specializes in helping growth companies and economic development agencies effectively exhibit at trade shows. Test My Pitch is an online platform helps students, entrepreneurs and professionals develop their communication skills quickly in a safe and collegial environment.
There are NO PITCHING FORMATS that you should prioritize! Forget about all the tuturials, books and any other public information that suggest possible pitching formats that work best.
Well, you can digest all the information out there that educates you on how to format a good pitch, however, just see all those educative materials on how to pitch better as guiding tools on how a pitch can look like.
That being said, I would like to note that your pitch should always be in a changing state every time you pitch it to a different investor or audience. This is because investors out there are diverse with different backgrounds and as such what might make sense to an investor today might be a total waste of time to another investor tomorrow.
The secret to effective pitching is encrypted in developing the ability to read times and moods of the environment and then fit in. And that is how you get a second appointment after you pitch.
So, what are the factors that project investor mood and background information that I could watch for in order to pitch effectively? Well, such factors are well articulated in our next paragraph.
Factors That You Should Observe In Order To Generate Pitches That Resonate To Investor Interest All The Time
As we have already said, investors are different and as such you should not have a one fit all pitch model every time you present your innovative idea. And in order to help you on this journey, I have highlighted the following 4 points to help you project investor interests before you make a pitch.
1. Inquire before the Pitch Starts How much money is the investor willing to commit
If an investor is willing to offer 100 Dollars worth of investment while the other one is willing to offer 10,000 Dollars worth of investment then you should never at any given time present similar pitches to these tow investors even though you're talking about the same innovative idea.
Even though we are talking about the same innovative idea, the investor that wants to invest i100 dollars has a very different perception than the other one that is ready to invest 10,000 dollars on your project. Therefore try to be creative by doing background research on all your potential investors based on how much they are willing to offer as an investment and then make your pitches to suit their offers.
2. Understand what other investor support will be offered apart from money
While making your pitch, strive to know beforehand what else the investor will be offering apart from the money.
If you find out that the investor is willing to offer mentorship and leadership training support among other benefits, then in your pitch make sure you bring up the need for you to receive the extra benefits that the investor is offering. This will make you stand out as the ideal candidate that the investor is looking for.
3. Know the investor values beforehand
Before you walk into that room or stage, make sure you have background information on what your investors stand in terms of values. Then try to be creative by showcasing how the investor values reflect in your innovative idea that you are pitching.
Someone’s values are always a soft spot and you can easily get their commitment when you share the same values as them
4. Understand the Season of the Day
Please, please, please, do not pitch about how to make make a basic car when today people are looking on ways to innovate flying vehicles that can drive themselves. Go with the tune of the day.
If the world is concerned about climate change then pitch ideas that will better the same. Don’t come up with outdated ideas whose time has already passed because you will be wasting the investor’s time and your efforts as well.
And in order to come up with innovative ideas in your pitches, please make sure you read a lot on everything that is affecting the world today.B e familiar with the current world’s toughest problems and then ideate you start-up solutions from there.
Winding up
Always see your start-up idea as your baby! And as you the founder as the parent who has the natural mandate to ensure that your baby has a reliable upbringing The reliable upbringing in this sense is the potential investor. Therefore ensure always ensure that your baby (Start-up idea) is handed over to the most reliable upbringing (investor ). And this can only be achieved through drafting pitches that diversely attach the right investor.
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