Looking to stand out from the crowd when pitching to potential investors? Read on for my top five pitching tips!

A punchy introduction

For starters, you only have a short amount of time in a pitch to grab the attention of the panel and engage them quickly. A short elevator style pitch which covers the how, what and why of your proposition but avoids acronyms and technical jargon is essential. Ideally, a nice clean visual aid which engages the audience will also help.

Articulate the problem

The best pitches started with the problem from the customer perspective and went on to say how their solution would address it. If an investor doesn’t understand the problem then they won’t buy-in to your solution no matter how impressive it might be so start with the problem.

You should also cover how your proposition is unique and the competitive advantage you will enjoy as a result.

Business model

This was an area several of the companies presenting struggled to articulate clearly perhaps because of their relatively early stage. It won’t resonate with investors to adopt the Kevin Costner approach – ‘build it and they will come’. You need to be able to explain how you will generate revenues.

Market size

This should be a given. Investors want to invest into companies who have a disruptive proposition in a big market so providing an overview of the market potential is imperative.

Your ask

How much you want and what you will do with it need to be included in your short pitch.

In such a short time you should not try and cover every aspect of your company. The aim of your pitch is to engage investors in a process which will hopefully result in them making an investment in your company. Aside from the content, who presents and the style of presentation are also important factors. The presenter should speak knowledgeably but also passionately about the proposition. Visual aids are a double-edged sword. Good ones will help re-enforce what the presenter is saying and engage the audience whilst poor, overly detailed slides will distract and potentially lead to an important point being missed because the focus is on the screen and not the presenter.

By far and away the best pitch I sat in on was because the presenter was personable, clearly passionate about his company and his visual (and audible!) aids were engaging and helped take us on a very short journey to explain his company’s proposition.