#13 | ?? Pitch like a Unicorn

by: Daniele Dellavalle

At Tach Ignite, hundreds of founders pitch to us each month. Through the last few years, we've identified common pitfalls and repeated approaches that, surprisingly, still occur despite a wealth of available resources on effective pitching.

Founders, in this article, we have collected the essential tactical practices and often-missed checklist items to refine your pitch and captivate your audience!

? Timing

One of the most common mistakes in any presentation is not pacing yourself. This shows inexperience and it can break your pitch.

The best way to ensure that you don’t speak too fast is to practice, practice, practice. We tend to talk faster when we are in front of an audience so practicing your pitch multiple times will make you look confident and prepared.

A good way to practice your pace is by ensuring that you talk at a rate between 120 and 150 words per minute. To be ready for every investors' approach, have a 3-min / 5-min and 10-min pitch ready!

? Key Elements

First of all, think of your pitch as a way of?communicating value?to your potential customers and understand?how the product can make their lives better. Your pitch should comprehensively cover the following areas:

• Vision & Value Proposition: What future are you aiming to create?
• Problem: What specific issue are you solving and how do you know it is actually a problem?
• Target Market & Opportunity: Who will benefit from your solution?
• Solution: How does your product/service solve the problem? And how are you better than the existing ones?
• Business Model & Pricing: How will you make money?
• Traction: What achievements have you made so far? How fast are you growing?
• Marketing & Sales Strategy: How will you reach your customers?
• Team: Who is behind the project? People buy into people first, not the product: most of the investors bet on the team even more so than the initial idea or product!
• Financials: What are the numbers?
• Competition: Who else is out there?
• Raise Details and use of funds: What will the invested funds be used for?
• Future Roadmap: What's next for your project (3/6/12 months look ahead)?

? Appendix Slides

Prepare extra slides to answer potential questions or delve deeper into complex aspects without cluttering your main pitch.

• Singular Focus: For each slide, ensure there is one key point that is easily understood and remembered.
• Simplicity is Key: Provide just enough information to spark interest and encourage a follow-up meeting.
• Visual Clarity: Use a readable font size and avoid overcrowding your slides with too much text or too captivating images that would steal your audience attention.

If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it’s almost always a sign that what you are doing is too complicated. Sam Altman

? Often-Missed Checklist for a Compelling Pitch

• Vision: envision your company's future in 10 years - think big and inspire.
• Value Proposition: create a concise and compelling statement that clearly outlines the unique value you provide.
• Live Demo: showcase a live demo of your product in action or a wireframe.
• Business Model & Pricing: detail your sources of revenue and your business model.
• Traction: Highlight key progress and show off customer testimonials and data that demonstrate traction.
• Marketing & Sales Strategy: outline how you plan to introduce and promote your product and which channels you are planning to test.
• Team & Expertise: discuss your team’s qualifications and experience in the field. Why are you the right team to solve the specific problem you are targeting?
• Financials: mention any significant financial backing you've received so far.
• Competition: explain how you're positioned against competitors and where you excel.
• Future Roadmap: discuss how you plan to grow operations and manage scalability.
• Exit Strategies: talk about potential exit opportunities (e.g IPO, mergers, acquisitions, liquidations) and market comparables.
• Challenges: identify and outline strategies to overcome foreseeable challenges.

Effective pitching is as much about your presentation as it is about content. By refining both, you set the stage for successful engagements with investors. Remember, the goal of your pitch is to ignite interest and open the door for deeper discussions.

Like most skills, it takes lots of practice and preparation before you master it. So, don’t feel discouraged if it takes you some time to get comfortable with your sales pitch.

Also, keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all sales pitch. You need to craft your own and be as authentic as possible.?

Not sure how to apply these tips to your pitch? Schedule a one-on-one session to refine your pitching skills. Contact us at [email protected].