How To Pitch Your Business Idea To Investors

It’s something the vast majority startups dread, but without doing it, it’s unlikely you will go far. Pitching to investors is a tough thing to do, but it’s one of the fundamentals of starting a business. You may only have ten minutes of some very busy people’s time, and if you mess up, you could miss out on the funding you need. So how can you make sure that you ace this test of all tests? Here are some things you should think about which should point you in the right direction.

Research

OK, so you think you know your business inside out? Well, think again. Everything and anything you say could be scrutinized to the umpteenth degree. Nobody wants to waste their time listening to you fudge figures, so make sure that everything you say can be backed up with evidence. And, of course, that you know that evidence inside out, as well.

Planning

There are, essentially, three things that investors want to know. The first thing to get over is your business idea. It has to sound exciting and appeal to them in terms of money or, in some cases, power. The second is your team. Are you all experienced enough to handle the responsibility of a six-figure sum in investment? If not, prepare for some tough questions. Finally, you will need to know about your market. Who are they, and where do they live? Are they going to hand over cash for your product or service? It’s not enough to say that ‘everyone’ will use it. Instead, define a market and target it. Get these three things nailed, and you will have a good chance of coming through with a positive result.

Presentation

You need to be slick, confident, but not overbearing. Try and use a story structure to get your point across, and don’t be afraid of using props to help you. One of these BenQ projectors could do a job for you, for example, if you are feeling nervous. It will give the investors something to look at while you talk through the presentation. However, if you are going to use props, projectors, and slide show, make sure they look brilliant. ‘Good,’ just isn’t good enough unfortunately. The chances are that the people in the room have already seen a million PowerPoint presentations this week. You have to stand out, either in what you say, in how you present, or, preferably, both.

The elevator pitch

An elevator pitch is something that you can say about your business. It’s best to keep this as short and simple as possible. It’s what you should begin your presentation with, but we’ve added it at the end here for one important reason. By the time that your whole presentation has finished, the investors have to be able to remember your elevator pitch.  If the investors match your presentation with your elevator pitch, you’ve done an excellent job. And, have every chance of getting funding.

Well; hopefully, this will have given you some ideas of how to pitch your business ideas. Need any more? Well, you can learn a lot from the Dragon’s Den TV show – but not always for the right reasons!