How to: give winning pitches?

Posted by Renata Brandão in pitch

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Welcome back 21st Century Kid,

I hope you learned as much as I did in last week’s blog and – most importantly – you are ready for this week’s one. Ok, now picture yourself in front of a couple of investors, you have butterflies in stomach, your hands are sweating but you have this incredible idea that they must hear. What should you do?

Pitching is the art of succinctly delivering a few powerful words that will convince a group of investor to buy your idea or product. But can this art be learned? Would pitching also be a science?

To me, pitching is not an exact science because every person is unique and thus every pitching has a piece of its pitcher on it. However, in a way, it can be seen as a science since it can be thought and thus improved. Truth be told, I am terrified of public speaking – in fact public speaking is a well spread phobia – but with some tips and outlines to follow it can definitely be easier and – at least to me – less scary.

Indeed, a good pitch is essential to generate interest in your project. So sit back, relax and join me while I also learn how to improve pitching skills.

1. Be short.
In a pitch you will have little time, so try to give the message in one minute or less. This one minute is essential Kid, as with it you might get a further 5 minutes of attention and/or a meeting in the near future. As a matter of fact, this is where "elevator pitch" term comes from. But what exactly is an “elavator pitch”? Well, I will leave Sean Wise – consultant of the reality show Dragon’s Den – explain it, and also give some important tips, to you:



2. Be clear.
Since you have little time you must be clear about what you are speaking, as you won’t have time to explain it further. Try to stick to your product and/or idea’s main characteristics and please DO NOT leave room for confusion. Moreover I find extremely useful to make some comparisons, making it easier for your investors to understand, as it serves as a reference.

3. Know how to tell a story.
Yes your product might be innovator and extremely interesting but you need to show that in an attractive way to your investor, otherwise they won’t buy it. The truth is that if you manage to make it attractive you can even sell ice to Eskimos, and a great way to do it is to make it personal, to enunciate the problem as something that you personally – or a friend, or someone that your “audience” can associate with – have struggle with.

4. Problem/Solution
Problem and solution is something that needs to be treated as one. When you present a problem and follows up with a solution to it, you instantly creates a bond with your auditor/investors. It helps to establish the importance of your product or idea and, additionally, shows more clearly what you can and have to give to your client.

5. Financial attractiveness
In the end, no matter how amazing your idea is, how clear and short your pitch was, and whether you created a story with a great solution to a latent problem, it also needs to also be profitable and financially attractive. How to do it? Well, I would say that, a good way is to present market data, relevant statistics or even show, somehow, that costumers will be willing to pay for your product. Your investors are your first – and possibly most important – costumers, sell it to them!

Are you taking notes Kids? I sure am.

Undeniably, doing all that in 2 minutes, or so, seems insane right? Perhaps, but trust me, it is not impossible. And in order to get there, to make a winning pitch, there is only one thing left: practice! Practice as much you can and I am sure you will get there. We will both get there – after all we are on this journey together, right?!

Thank you once again for company and do not forget to share you thoughts with me.