NOT YET DECIDED!
Ola Amigos!
Today, I am going to share a real-life example with you guys. There was this B-PLAN Competition in which I wanted to participate but then I did not have a team. Don’t worry! I did find my dream team and we enrolled in that B-Plan Competition. We had an amazing idea. Everything was going great! We cleared all the stages with huge success. Finally, it was the day of the Grand Finale. We thought that everything was sorted but it was not! We missed a very important thing which turned out to be a hindrance to us. Any guesses what it could have been?
AN APT NAME and a Great PITCH…
What’s in a name?
Why is naming anything so important??? Any thoughts??? If not, you have ended up in the right place.
Keep in mind that the “NAME” of your startup must be christened after due consideration and brainstorming. This is because it’s your company’s name that people first hear when you introduce your startup to anyone be it the potential investors or the customers! Your name reveals about 80% of the work that your company does. Hence, even before you complete your PITCH, your jury already would have had their judgments about your startup enterprise, and a bad name can seriously make things worst for you!
One more thing your name helps you in is increasing your visibility, be it on Google or Playstore or any other platform. For example: If your company’s domain is that of Cooking and you name it “Poopsie”, then it would really downgrade your startup! Your name should connect to your end-users as this would improve your brand loyalty. For example, Uber is a trusted cab-service. When someone says Uber, only one thing comes in the mind i.e. CAB-SERVICE!
Once you settle upon your company’s name, the next step to excel your Pitch is to know some Tips.
Your check-list to make your PITCH from Good to Great
“Become the person who would attract the results you seek.” -Jim Cathcart
- Tell a real story: If you would have noticed I began my article with a Real-Life Story. Why was it necessary? When you give your customers a story to which they can connect to, you’ve already won the battle because that customer would surely be a turn-out. Also, while giving out this story keep in mind, that your audience must understand what you want to say. So, prevent using jargon and keep your piece simple but attractive.
2. Less is More: Your investors and customers are more interested in the relevant points. Hence, rather than being verbose and panicky, try being calmer and compose. Figure out what your investor or customer would be interested in and the lay huge emphasis on those points. This would leave a good impression on your stakeholders as you have delivered your PITCH with utmost precision.
3. Your Business Model: It is your business model that assures the investor that your idea would actually be economically viable. Let us see the example of ZipCar.
- A membership-based car-sharing company (they brand their members as “Zipsters”)
- Reservations are easily and quickly made online.
- Customers pay by the hour or by the day.
- Serves U.S., U.K., and Canadian markets.
- Also targeting college campuses.
Source:
ZipCar smartly used bullets to point out their revenues and customers.
The following questions your business model should answer:
4. Presentation: While preparing your presentation, keep in mind that it must be crystal clear to the one’s seeing to the same. What if your business model is not understood by your audience? It’s tragic, right? Worry not, because even if it happens, you have your Pitching skills to rely on. One of the common mistakes that turn one’s pitch to the worst is the use of jargon and Jibber-Jabber. You need to remember that your pitch has to be short, precise, and sweet. One quick-tip, while rehearsing, you can always ask an outsider to hear your pitch and get the follow-ups worked on.
5. Tell them who you are: Do you know that it’s not just your ideas that your investor is interested in but he/she is also interested in what you are. It is okay to toot the horn on you and the team’s maneuver. Elaborate upon the reason: “Why only you? or Why should I invest your venture?” This will highly increase your chances of your venture being selected for investments. Apart from telling them this, if you could show them the same then it will do the final flourish.
6. Head-On Competition: When you come up with a revolutionary product it is not necessary that you do not have a competition. This is because Competition always exists, so do not be in the impression of no competition. Definitely, there would not be any direct competition but an indirect competition always exists. Say for example, when Henry Ford, came up with Ford cars, there were no direct substitutes for his product but then other modes of transportation like trains, horses, etc. which were used by the masses at that time.
To outstand this parameter you just need to showcase your Competition model in the form of a Matrix. A competition matrix is a powerful pitching tool as it gives one a clear picture of your standing as compared to the other players in the industry in which you are. The image below is what a Competitive Analysis Matrix looks like.
7. Numbers behind Numbers: If you want your investors to do some hands-on-activity than this is the best thing that anyone could have asked for. This is because when you are pitching your Revenue/Financial Model, you need to make sure that the numbers you have forecasted must have come out of due deliberations. Now when you’ll make present your Model, you would implicitly include assumed numbers of your leads, conversion rates, turn rates, average lifetime value, average revenue per user (ARPU), consumer acquisition cost (CAC), etc. When you do this, trust me your investor is bound to either take out their calculators or their phones.
8. Pitching Styles:
There are a plethora of pitching styles that you can use for different situations and audiences. But then there always exists the question that which one suits best to my interest. Hence, I am listing some of the most relevant pitching styles below:
- One-Word Pitch- Most important and difficult form of pitch. You add frame this on the basis of your values, product, and aim/goal.
- Question Pitch- This style pf pitching would prompt your audience to come up with their own reasons to support or buy your products. This is what you would want, right?
- Rhyming Pitch- If you want your pitch to be accepted the very moment, then try rhyming because this might be your golden duck!
- Pixar Pitch- Yeah, with Pixar here I mean Pixar Animation Studios. What Pixar does is it crafts a story in an archaic manner. So, next time try this as your pitch style and craft your story as a Once Upon A Time story.
Read more about the styles at:
9. WOW Moment: When you try to introduce your product in an exceptional way or in a way that your audience would have not thought than Bang On! You have created a WOW Moment. Apart from this even when you try to create a FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) effect, your audience would unquestionably be looking forward to your product/service.
10. Reveal Your Product: Until and unless you reveal your product or even show a dummy one or blue-print or by means of visual representations there is a minimal chance of your pitch to succeed. This is because when you show your product/service your audience gets an idea of whether the product/service is worth it or not without being left to self-imagination of the product.
So next time, when you are preparing your pitch, take into consideration the above-mentioned 10 points. Now, let us see some of the famous pitches that might inspire you to make yours a BETTER one.
PITCH DECKS OF SOME FAMOUS COMPANIES
1.Airbnb: Do you know its full form??? Trust me, before writing this blog even I did not know it. Airbnb stands for AirBed and Breakfast. Airbnb is a web platform where users rent out their houses to travelers. The problem that they wanted to solve was: Save Money, Share Culture, and obviously Make Money. Its Market Validation, Business Model, Market Adoption, along with the Competitive Analysis keep in mind the above-mentioned points.
The pitch-desk of Airbnb is today acting as a reference for many entrepreneurs.
Learning from Airbnb’s pitch-desk: They have introduced them in a perfect manner, hence covering the tell, them who you are, point from the previous section.
2. Buffer: We all know how addicted we are with social media today, and being active on all the different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter India, and Linkedin is a bit difficult. Hence, to solve the problem of scheduling Buffer came up with the idea of SMM. Its Market Validation, Business Model, along with the Competitive Analysis keep in mind the above-mentioned points.
Learning from Buffer’s pitch-desk: Buffer has focused its attention on the Numbers and has substantiated their predictions with solid theories and assumptions. This pitch-desk is the perfect example of a pitch-desk focusing on Numbers behind Numbers point, mentioned in the previous section.
Want to see the Pitch Decks of the above-mentioned companies and that of other famous ones like Facebook, Sequoia Capital, etc. Click on the link below:
CONCLUSION
“Beware of monotony; it’s the mother of all deadly sins.” -Edith Wharton
Always remember that you should never have a mob mentality because it would kill the whole point of being creative and innovative. What’s new when you do what someone else is doing??? This theory applies to everything. Hence, when you pitch your idea it is very essential that you keep your pitch simple but distinct; informative but precise; fancy but real. If you learn this art, then surely you’ll succeed in attracting your investors. Also, while you are preparing your Pitch-Desk take reference from some famous pitch-desks to avoid making mistakes. At last, rehearse and then tell your story, to rock at the Pitch-Desk!
I hope this blog of mine has touched upon some of the common things that we miss while making our perfect PITCH.
Till the next time,
AU REVOIR!
