When you decide you want to start a business, it usually involves pitching. Whether you are pitching to investors or pitching the idea to friends and family, the pitch itself is an important factor when it comes to articulating your business idea and getting people on board to support you.
In the past few years, more and more people have decided to build their own startup. This means that investors have no shortage of opportunities to choose from when it comes to what they want to invest their money in. It does not matter how good your product or service is, it cannot sell itself which is why perfecting your pitch is incredibly important.
In this blog, we are going to break down a pitch into all of the various elements you need to include in order to get investors on your side.
Table of Contents
5 Key Elements of a Pitch
- 1. Introduce Yourself & Your Team – Let the investors know who you are, what your background is and why you have decided to start this business.
- 2. Articulate the Problem – You need to make it clear that there is a problem or need that the market is not currently having met. Outline the gaps in the industry that present an opportunity for the solution you have.
- 3. Present the Solution – Once your audience understands the problem, walk them through how your product or service is the perfect solution. Tell them about the features you offer and how they differ from the competition. Walk them through how the product or service works.
- 4. Validate Your Market – You need to have clearly identified a market that is willing to buy your product or service. Make sure you know exactly who these people are, how they behave and what characteristics they have. If you’re not sure how to validate your market, check out our blog about it here.
- 5. Walk Through Your Business Model – Clearly outline how your product or service will make money. Investors want to know that you have a clear understanding of where you will allocate the money they invest in you and how you plan to repay them. Paint a perfect picture of the potential returns your investors will receive.
What to Include and Not Include in Your Pitch Deck
What you say and how you say it is important when it comes to pitching your business idea. A typical pitch is accompanied by a slide deck. Here are some important details you should know about putting together your presentation slides.
Do
include images and graphs to help state your point
make it easy to read and accessible prior to the pitch, usually in PDF format
show your passion for the business by connecting it to a personal story
make sure your presentation looks professional, up to date and reflects the quality of the idea you are presenting
Don’t
make your presentation longer than 20 slides
make the slides wordy
focus on the competition but instead focus on how your product is better than the competition
use acronyms or terms people may not understand that are related to your specific industry
15 Essential Pitch Deck Slides
According to Forbes, these are the 15 key slides you want to ensure you include in your pitch deck.
- Slide 1: Company Overview
- Slide 2: Mission/Vision of the Company
- Slide 3: The Team
- Slide 4: The Problem
- Slide 5: The Solution
- Slide 6: The Market Opportunity
- Slide 7: The Product
- Slide 8: The Customers
- Slide 9: The Technology
- Slide 10: The Competition
- Slide 11: Traction
- Slide 12: Business Model
- Slide 13: The Marketing Plan
- Slide 14: Financials
- Slide 15: The Ask
The pitch is the one thing that stands in between you and the funds you need to make your business idea turn into reality. Make sure you pitch with confidence and come prepared with all of the information the investors are looking for.
Want to land the perfect pitch? Here at Altitude Accelerator, we know that building a startup can be difficult. That’s why we created a 3-part pitching event called Champion Series to help startups become pitch ready.
Register as a Altitude Accelerator client to get access to this event and all our tech-startup focused programming and resources.
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