As an entrepreneur, it is crucial that you know how to pitch your company at any time, and at any moment. There could be an investor right next to you, asking what you do and if you do not have a catchy and concise pitch, it could cost you thousands or millions of dollars.
The Need
Let’s start with the basics. There are different types of pitches. This could range from a 30 second elevator pitch to a 30 minute powerpoint pitch. Whichever type of pitch you are giving, you need to to always think: why would an investor give money to me? It comes down to the problem you are solving. The investor needs to know that the problem that you are solving is WORTH solving. The bigger the problem you solve, the more WORTH it has solving it. Some problems are not even worth solving. The problem needs to be convincing, and very compelling. In sales, this is called THE NEED.
Ask yourself, what problem are you solving? How can you show the investor that it is something worth solving? How can you BUILD the problem up to sound compelling to solve it?
Value Proposition
Our second tip is to show your value proposition. What is a value proposition? A value proposition are the benefits from what your company is offering.
Once it comes to value propositions, we recommend keeping it short and simple. There should be no more than 5 value propositions. We recommend anywhere between 3-5. They should be clear, and concise enough that your consumer would understand the benefits from your offering. Value propositions also need to be catchy and enticing. Your consumer needs to feel that your value propositions are worth buying. Often times, companies have value propositions that are generic and boring. They sound exactly like their competitors’ value propositions. Your value propositions need to STAND OUT. They need to show your consumer that you are DIFFERENT and SPECIAL from all of your competitors.
Do you have a value proposition? If so, does it sound boring and generic? What can you do to make it STAND OUT? What are the benefits that a consumer would get from your offering?
Think Like An Investor
Our third tip is think like an investor. Every investor wants to know how they are going to multiply their money by investing in you. A general rule of thumb is 10x. If an investor gave you money, how will they be able receive 10x in return? Once you start to think like what an investor, it will be easier to craft your pitch. Once your pitch is tailored to the investor, you are now speaking their language. This principle does not only work for pitching, this works for acquiring more customers overall. In order to acquire customers, you have to think about what your customers want to get if they invest in you (give you their money).
In what way can you improve on thinking like an investor? How can you then improve your pitch to tailor it to investors? How can you show investors that they can 10x their money by investing in you?
Look at Your Competition
Our fourth tip is to show a realistic analysis of your competitors and how you beat them. Often times entrepreneurs dismiss their competitors. They do not spend the time to analyze their competitors and if they do, it is not a realistic one. By realistic, we mean not having the humility to accept that your competitors may be better than you in specific areas. Great entrepreneurs do a realistic analysis on their competitors, accept that their competitors may be better in certain areas, but still have the confidence that their overall approach will beat their competitors. We recommend using a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This forces the entrepreneur to think positively, realistically, opportunistically, and constructively. When you think about reasons why you will beat your competition, they have to be REAL. REAL does not mean “we will work harder”, “we will work smarter”, or something of the sorts. We mean a real strategy that the competitor is not acting upon that will beat them. .
Who are your competitors? What are they doing better than you at? What are the reasons why you will beat them?
Create A Strategy
Our last and final tip for you is to have a killer Go-To-Market strategy. What is a Go-To-Market strategy? It is a playbook of how your business will acquire customers. This includes, but is not limited to figuring out who your ideal customer is, how to engage with them and how to get them to buy. This is perhaps the hardest part of business. Many entrepreneurs have great ideas, but have a hard time executing on those ideas and scaling their business. This is the hardest part, but the most important part of any business. Even though you have a Go-To-Market strategy, it does not mean that it is the BEST strategy. For example, many entrepreneurs fall short when identifying who their ideal customer is. They think that everyone is a potential customer. This is not the right approach. There is a specific type of person that is more likely to buy from you. The key is to identify what characteristics they have. Getting this part right is an example of the importance of getting the Go-To-Market strategy RIGHT.
What is your Go-To-Market strategy? How do you know that it is the BEST strategy? What are the areas that can be improved?
Always feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions around How to Pitch Investors. Our CEO Clayton Porscha recently gave a speech on How to Pitch Investors at Founders Institute in Sacramento. We know a lot on this topic and are surrounded by angel investors, venture capitalists, and private investors all the time, so ask us any questions about this topic. Until next time!
