RECAP: Prepare a Winning Pitch Deck to Attract Investors

We had an excellent turn out from our attendees and speakers last night at the ‘Prepare a Winning Pitch Deck to Attract Investors’ workshop! Speakers in attendance included business mentor and pitching expert Chelsey Baker, Paul Lantsbury of PwC, Chris Kettle of NatWest, Andrew Adcock of Crowd for Angels and Reece Chowdhry of Parker Lloyd Ventures. Continue reading to see what each said about pitching!

Special guest Chelsey Baker (Chelsey@broadcastingyourbusiness.com) provided us with numerous insights about not only how to pitch but how to ensure that you are ready to pitch:

• PRACTICE your pitch. Get familiar and confident with your slides. Have a product that you can demo? Practice the demo, and provide your investors with a sample if possible.
• There are 47 trigger points to an investor slide deck. Many people only cover two of these. Know these trigger points and include them in your pitch!
• Know the key message that you are going to be delivering to your investors.
• Don’t pitch too soon! Perform extensive research, protect your IP (class 9, 16, 25 and 35) and put yourself in the press.
• Convince investor you have a viable, scalable and sustainable business.
• Think about adding people to your team that can also bring in credibility.
• When you practice your pitch, video yourself!
• Think about questions that you might be asked by an investor. Ensure that you have an answer! If you don’t know, don’t try to give a long explanation.
• After you pitch, ask for investor’s details, send brief email with info, exec summary and photo, and follow up within 1–2 weeks.

Chris Kettle of NatWest explained that a successful pitch starts with you and your plan:

• Investors will want to see your management team and the style of the team.
• Things you need to demonstrate you have: industry-specific skills, an understanding of market trends and strategic relationships.
• There are many questions that you must consider before pitching such as:
• Will your business maintain its ability to generate cash? Or will new entrants steal your market share?
• Is your business embracing change? Will your business model last the period of the loan?
• Can you evidence competitive pricing, new products, increased levels of customer service, warranties and guarantees, advertising, better networks?

Andrew Adcock of Crowd for Angels discussed a few things to understand before you pitch:

• Know who you are pitching to. For example, Crowd for Angels’ average investor is 47 years old, male, AB1 and likes Rugby.
• Only 7/100 applicants make it onto the Crowd for Angels platform. This is due to:
• No accounts
• Poorly written business plan
• No flexibility
• Lack of communication
• Indirect and shy manner
• No marketing strategy

Reece Chowdhry of Parker Lloyd Ventures said the key part of a pitch deck is the financial portion. Understand your financials and be able to explain them to your potential investors. Other things to consider while pitching include:

Paul Lantsbury of PwC’s My Financepartner concluded the presentations with a few final tips of making a winning pitch:

• Know your audience.
• Keep it simple — Be able to articulate your business in 30 seconds.
• Establish credibility.
• Look at your business through an investor’s eyes: returns, risks and exit.
• Confidence in your numbers = confidence in your pitch.

Looking to spend an evening networking with business angels? Join us for our ‘Evening with Business Angels’ event on July 25!

If you would like assistance with your pitch deck, email us at marketing@businessfundingshow.com to start your journey towards creating a winning pitch.