Jerry Liu

Be strategic when you doing a startup pitch

After all the efforts we made in the past three months about creating our competitive statement, analyzing our target market, finding our target audience, designing our prototype and figuring out our revenue model, we are finally ready to present our startup pitch. But how we convey our message and sell our product to the potential investors is really important. By reading the articles from Entrepreneur and VentureBeat about how to deliver a pitch in front of investors, I concluded the following strategies:

  1. Take only ten minutes and focus on one major idea

The more concise and effective your pitch is, the better results you will get. If you could summarize your whole pitch into several sentences, then your pitch will stand out because you’re conveying a single idea to your audience and you know what you are talking about.

  1. Use storytelling techniques and show investors why they should care

In order to make your pitch unforgettable, you have to grab your audience’s attention and hold it. Everyone loves stories, so if you could portray your product through your customer’s experience or your personal stories, you may gain investors’ attention and the funding will follow.

  1. Give an overview of your product at the beginning

Always remember to show investors a clear structure with a beginning, middle and end. Articulating your message clearly as an introduction is a key to a successful pitch because that will guide your listeners through the whole pitch.

  1. Explain the selling point, marketing strategy and revenue model about your product

Telling your potential investors about the uniqueness of your product is crucial because they will decide if they will invest money based upon that. Another important thing is to show how well you know your target audience and how you gonna market your product. So use demographic and psychographic information that you’ve collected to illustrate who your product targets to. At the same time, tell your investors what is your plan regarding to marketing strategies. Most VCs are well aware of the advantages of digital marketing, so be prepared to include an online marketing plan for your product. Last but not least, the most critical thing your potential investors care about is making money. An investor will care about your pitch if you can answer this question: How will my company make you rich? Therefore, identify which type of revenue model you are embracing in particular, explain your revenue model in deep, and state how you plan to apply it.

  1. End your pitch strongly

After covering all the key elements stated above, make sure you end with a strong sum-up of your major idea and message, and remember to reinforce the reason why your potential investors should put money in your company.

  1. Be ready for tough questions and think about the answers in advance

If an investor is interested in your product, he or she will ask more questions. Sometimes, these questions are really direct and sharp so don’t be afraid about them. Most of the time, there will be no right or wrong answers and investors would like to see the way you respond because it demonstrates how you deal with situations that may involve uncertainty or pressure.

For more helpful tips, you could watch TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking and the art of the Shark Tank pitch.

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