Making the initial startup pitch made easy!
You might have a revolutionary idea or have the necessary skills to run your venture, but it is not necessary that it will impress investors. Venture capitalists meet a lot of founders on an everyday basis and you need to present yourself in a way that it garners their attention and help you stand apart from the league.
Your initial startup pitch plays a significant role in determining your credibility. We at Fideserv have worked with multiple startups and VC’s and thus understands as to what makes the perfect pitch. Here is a summarized guide for the same.
1) Research about your audience
The key to a great pitch starts from understanding your audience. You should realize that every investor is different from others. He might belong to a particular industry or could have some specific interests. Make sure you have read all available material about them to understand the kind of questions you might face. Company website, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, press articles, magazine stories etc can help you in this regard. You can also get in touch with your pals in your network, incase, you share common friends for introductions.
2) Explain your product well
You should keep in mind that you might get less than 10 minutes to sell and you should use these minutes well. Don’t undersell and try to explain the minutest of the details in that time. Investors are smart people and they can easily make out if you are not prepared well. Go over every minute detail times, so that things are on your fingers and you deliver the best. There might be multiple companies working on a similar product like yours and therefore you need to explain what makes you different. Why you are the right person to solve that problem? How is your product different from others? If your startup is in initial stage and you don’t have anything credible to share then explain about your previous experiences and challenges you’ve faced.
3) Be Passionate
The key to having a successful startup is your dedication towards it. A company takes years to establish itself and turning into a profit making venture. For all these years, you need to go through rough phases and it would be only your passion that will help you sustain. Your energy levels, your dedication towards the company and your level of excitement towards your product speaks a lot and plays an important role in impressing the investors. If you’re yourself are not passionate about your firm, how will you make customers interested in it.
4) Share the Metrics
Investors are experts and they intend to put their money into ventures that can bore them good returns. Therefore, you need to make them realize how your firm will be able to do it. Research statistics are important here. Give details about your target audience, your budget for running the enterprise, approximate target audience, expected returns etc. All these things add credibility to your firm and make you a strong contender to get investment.
5) Don’t lose heart
Many startups get passed on by investors and they later turn out successful. Facebook is an important example here as it was initially rejected by VC. Don’t lose heart if you don’t get selected by any VC. Try again and look for other funding initiatives like Crowdfunding etc.