How to Build a Business Pitch
Like most entrepreneurs, you probably think about your business 24/7. Your social life is a distant memory and your past-time of choice is stalking investors on LinkedIn.
Determination, hard work, and a reasonable amount of obsession are essential components to entrepreneurial success. However, this success can only come to fruition if you don’t lose sight of one important fact:
A business’s ultimate success is dependent on others buying into its vision.
In other words, your progress is reliant upon your ability to pitch the value of who you are, what you are doing and why it matters. Your job is to clearly communicate why a given audience should care about your business.
And on that note…
What is a Pitch?
Put simply, a business pitch is your opportunity to tell the audience (i.e. your customer) your idea, with the intent of gaining something back from that audience.
A common misconception is that pitching equates to selling. That’s not entirely accurate. Whilst it’s likely that you hope to make sales off the back of what you are pitching, the pitch itself should be about telling your audience your business idea, in the hope that they will want to engage with you afterward.
In short, if you can connect with your audience in a compelling manner, it can prompt them to engage with you on a one-to-one basis and help drive your business forward.
But, what makes for a good pitch?
In our experience, there are three components of a good pitch:
Structure
Content
Delivery
Before you begin constructing your pitch, you need to first think about what you want to say. What are the key points you want to include? What would you be disappointed about if it wasn’t included? We can help ensure that we cover all basis in the pitch by thinking about our structure.
Structure:
Think of your pitch like a book. A book is laid out in chapters that are clearly titled and deliver a specific piece of information at a specific point in the story. Approaching your preparation in a similar manner allows you to break your story down into chapters that your audience can follow.
The Hook:
One of the most challenging yet crucial parts of pitching is commanding your listener’s attention from the outset. While we may like to think that our product or service is so good that people will be keen to hear about it by default, sadly, this is seldom the case. Unless, of course, we are able to capture their attention right away. That’s where your hook comes in.
The Hook should be capable of capturing the listener’s complete attention. The quicker your hook can do this, the better, as you’ll have more time to pitch your message and connect with your audience. So, no long-drawn out details, these come later, at follow-up meetings - not in your pitch and NEVER in your hook!
Your hook can be captivating in several ways, but should be an immediately punchy piece of information that captures attention. Below, we have created some different examples of how a hook may sound:
Thought-provoking: “Did you know that statistically, you're more likely to win EDGE funding if you follow our pitching advice?”
Surprising: “What do a robot, a dog, and a drone all have in common? They’ve all successfully pitched on the EDGE live final stage. Allow me to explain…”
Personal: “The hardest part of working at EDGE is having to tell good businesses that they’ve not been successful, help me lessen the chances of having to say that to you and listen to what I have to say over the next few minutes...”
Shock: “Did you know that we recently had an applicant win on his 7th application attempt? What did he do differently on his 7th attempt? Let’s see…”
Confrontational: “Taking our pitching advice onboard is entirely optional, after all, winning isn’t for everyone.”
A trait of any good hook is that it stimulates the listener’s attention to the point that they feel motivated to hear more. At the same time, the hook should hint at both the problem and the solution in an appealing way.
The Problem:
When you have your audience’s attention, you’ll now want to identify the problem or pain point that your product or service addresses. What is the current situation that requires your solution? What type of person or demographic suffers from this issue? Who is already tackling this issue and why aren’t they solving it? Finally, why is it urgent that this problem is addressed now rather than later?
The important thing is to create a common ground between you and your audience. Your goal is to have them believe, as you do, that if this problem goes unsolved, or is solved by any method other than what you are proposing, the consequences would be less than ideal.
Solution enters stage right…
The Solution
Now, the exciting part - your solution (product or service).
The simpler your explanation, the greater the likelihood that your audience will follow and engage with what you are saying. Remember, you won’t always be pitching to people who understand the technical side of your industry, so avoid jargon.
Relate back to the pain points you’ve just set up so that you’re both creating a natural transition through your pitch, and also reinforcing the message that you - and your product or service - truly are the answer to the issue. Why is your solution so different from what’s already out there? What makes it unique for the people it is solving a problem?
So - short, snappy, and straight to the point. Don’t get caught up in specifics, touch on all the pain points, and don’t leave any ambiguity around your ability to deliver on what you say you can. Be confident, but not overly cocky.
Market or Revenue Model
It’s one thing to tell your audience that you’ve got a great idea. It’s quite another to demonstrate that your potential customers agree with you. You’ll want to explain who your customers are and how you plan to engage with and convert them (if you haven’t already started).
This is where you really have an opportunity to build some interest. Tell your audience how big the market is, and how large your piece of that pie will be. Stats are good, but make sure they’re relevant to you - your business specifically - as this is a much stronger indication of what you are likely to achieve.
That said, be realistic. Don’t over-inflate your projections as the savvy investor will see through this. Rather, provide strong validation for how you’ve reached your numbers – for example, “we surveyed 100 people from our core target market, and 85% said they’d be highly likely to use our product over that of our closest competitor”.
In short, give quantifiable evidence that you’ve validated the number of customers you are likely to attract to your product or service.
You’ll also want to mention your Revenue Model – simply, how much you will charge for your solution vs. how much it costs to produce. This will give your audience an idea of how profitable your business idea may be, and how well thought out your pricing model is.
Traction
This is where you get to show-off!
Just as important as were you are going with the business, is how far you’ve come! Don’t be shy, you’ve worked hard, shout about it.
Whatever stage you’re at, you want to convince your audience that you’re making strong progress and are committed to seeing things through, for example:
The fact that you have a prototype currently being tested
You have engaged with key customers and have a letter of intent
You have perhaps managed to already get some funding because someone else saw the potential in what you are doing.
Talk about the key achievements since the start of your journey, this will demonstrate your determination and ambition to succeed.
Team
When it comes to securing investment of any kind, be that £1000 or £1m, investors will want to know who’s in the team driving the business forward. Investors seldom put money into an idea alone, rather, they want to see the individual behind the company and the team supporting it have what it takes to make it succeed.
You’ll want to cover what skills and experience the team members possess and how those skills help deliver on the business plan. That said, don’t be afraid to highlight the skills gaps within your team and the skills that you personally lack, so long as you make clear that further growth and funding will allow you to address such gaps.
Also, don’t think of your team as being just the people working directly for the company. Your team comprises of your mentors, advisors, business accelerator coaches, etc... Essentially, anyone supporting you to run your business more effectively is part of your team.
The Ask
The most important part of your pitch, the reason you’ve worked so hard to win them over up until this point – the Ask.
This is your call to action, your invitation to your audience to get off their seats and support your mutually beneficial solution.
However, as you are likely to use your pitch many times over for varying intended outcomes, it is useful to have a number of asks established that can be tailored accordingly.
For example, your asks could be along the lines of:
“We’re looking for £100k to strengthen our team with a new Commercial Director and Head of Sales”
“My ask of the audience is to engage with our social media channels and spread the word of our new product launch”
“Today, we are looking for advice and guidance on developing our funding strategy and taking our device to market.”
Being specific shows that you’ve put some thought into your ask and also helps the audience understand exactly what is required of them.
Content
So, now that we have the ‘chapters’ of our pitch established, it’s time to start focusing on the content that will engage your audience and ensures the story is understood and transitions well.
When it comes to writing the content, here are some key tips to keep in mind:
Start from the end - Know the length of time you have to speak and create your script from there. Speaking at a rate of 150 words per minute should be a comfortable pace for both you are your audience - not too fast, or too slow. For example, the recommended word count for a 3-min pitch is a maximum of approx. 450 words, which incidentally, is the pace that Kev is speaking in our video. Does he flow well?
No Jargon - This is especially true for tech-focused businesses with intricate product components, and regardless of your sector, AVOID ACRONYMS at all costs! Never assume your audience will understand abbreviations no matter how commonplace they are to you, it’s the quickest way to lose your listener. When it comes to a pitch – laymen's terms, always!
Don’t repeat yourself - Doing so can give the impression that you’re rambling or ‘winging it’. If you state your points with conviction, they won’t need repeating.
Don’t overload with numbers – As humans, we find comfort in the familiar. Words are relatable in that for most of us, they form the basis of our communication. Numbers, on the other hand, whilst being useful, can cause an audience to disengage if delivered to a bamboozling extent. Certainly, include numbers where they complement your pitch, such as sales and customer volume, but do so sparingly. A maximum of 3-4 sets of numbers is a good rule of thumb to follow.
Never read from slides - A slide deck should be used purely as a visual aid that compliments what you are delivering verbally. Text-heavy slides will draw your audience’s attention away from you, whereas pictures and uncomplicated charts and graphs can convey information in a much more effective and subtle manner.
Visuals are good! - If possible, always show an image or physical example of your solution. This will aid your audience’s visualisation of the product or service in way that a verbal description alone would struggle to achieve.
Delivery
Now that we have decided what we want to say and when we want to say it, we now want to think about how we are going to deliver that information, which for many is the most challenging part of the pitch process, but as with most things in life, practice makes perfect.
Ultimately, your goal here is to convince the audience that your solution is critical, that its success is of the utmost importance to you, and that you are credible as the person who will take it to market.
So, here are some top tips when it comes to conveying your story with credibility:
Speak clearly and don’t rush – You are telling a story, a story you’ve worked hard on, so show it the respect it deserves. Remember your pacing, and pause between sentences. This will allow your audience to digest your narrative comfortably as you guide them through your pitch.
Don’t panic! – Speaking in front of people can be a daunting task, even veteran speakers can lose their place from time to time. If you forget what you are saying mid-pitch, just take a second to compose your thoughts and carry-on from the next point. Your listeners have likely never heard your pitch before, so they’re not aware that you’ve missed a part. You can always add it at the end as a call-back.
Prepare physically - We put a great deal of thought into the components of our pitch, but just as important is to prepare ourselves physically for the undertaking, after all, we’re not delivering our pitch telepathically (if you are then you probably don’t need to worry about impressing your audience!). Stand tall and breathe deeply before you pitch, doing so will help you to relax. Practice the physical delivery of your pitch often and get comfortable with projecting your words to the back of a room.
Smile - It’s infectious! Make your audience believe that you are happy to be there and are excited for the opportunity. Naturally, there will be serious parts of your pitch and you’re not expected to hold a forced smile throughout, but try to project a positive vibe, one that says “this is the solution you need and I’m the person to deliver it”.
Make eye contact - Don’t stare down your audience uncomfortably, but make sure to maintain regular eye-contact. This may not be to your strength, and it can be tempting not to look your listener in the eye if nerves are kicking-in, but eye-contact is proven to help build trust and buy-in.
Pause after key statements – it gives your audience the chance to absorb crucial information before you move on to the next piece. It also gives you a chance to mentally prep for what you are next about to say.
Don’t pace around or rock from side to side – The more you can focus your audience’s attention on what you are saying and not what you are doing, the better.
Pitching in front of an audience can be scary, there’s no sugar coating that, but if you practice (and practice!) what you want to say, when you want to say it and how you want to say it, you’ll be able to deliver it almost as muscle memory, without a great deal of taxing recall required.
And that’s it! You’re now ready to take on the world with your super polished pitch.
Just remember, for the best chance of keeping your audience’s attention and taking them with you on your story – be clear, be concise, and be convincing.
GOOD LUCK!