15+ startup pitch tips from investors & marketeers

Amsterdam is full of entrepreneurial talent just itching to start. At TSH Collab City, 40 people gathered to either pitch themselves or watch other people pitch for an experienced jury of investors and marketeers. No opportunity was left unchecked, as 12 people took their chances to present on stage.

The jury:

Elisabeth Stevens — angel investor, former director Booking.com
Tamara Obradov — Tablomonto Ventures
Jesper Vieveen — marketing manager Symbid

Their top advice for this night’s pitches:

Pitch style tips

1. Please, don’t use ’Uber/Amazon/Airbnb for X’ ever again;
2. Never have the same text on slides as in your talk. Don’t ’read the slides’;
3. Be aware of investor bias in questions they ask. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to answer a promotional question positively. Or try to spin a preventive question into a promotional one;
4. Talk in a calm pace;
5. Make eye contact with your pitch audience;
6. A short personal story is always a good idea;
7. Find focus in your story — don’t have several sidetracks;
8. Don’t use video with sound in your presentation. It’s distracting and it always goes wrong.

Pitch contents tips

1. Don’t cut yourself out from the slides. Investors want to believe in you. You got to convince people YOU can do this;
2. Stay close to your customers with the right business model, or even the right design or tone of voice;
3. In the early days of your startup: stick to the one market you know well;
4. Have a complementary team — names and photos are not enough. What did they achieve?;
5. Your own experience matters a lot.;
6. Show some vision. Why are you doing this?;
7. Show your ambition. What’s your BHAG?;
8. Make sure to mention what makes your business special.

This event was hosted by The Founder Institute. In this pre-seed accelerator program entrepreneurs will learn everything they need to successfully launch a business. From validation to funding and from pitching to product-market fit. Join Founder Institute Amsterdam now!