How to Make the Perfect Pitch for Your Startup

Having a startup idea isn't enough; every founder should be able to create an engaging startup pitch that piques people's interest in their venture. Usually, it is not about the technology your startup would use, it is more about having a startup idea that comprises three different parts: the problem, the solution, and insight. And the basic part is your problem should be pretty big, pretty inescapable, and have a lot of these features to make it feel like there's a very big market where a lot of people have the problem.?

While entrepreneurs may wish to overwhelm investors with detail in their initial presentation deck, less is sometimes more effective. Simple, well-articulated concepts presented in blurbs and infographics are more engaging, eliciting questions and even follow-up meetings than dense information.

Imagine pitching to a room of elderly investors, you would need to use a projector and put your idea into text and infographics that are legible, readable, and easy to understand while also being audible enough to pique the interest of these investors. As a result, when pitching, you must have legible ideas and solutions while also ensuring that the blind and deaf are interested in what you have to offer as a startup. You are not just going to be communicating with the investors in the first row at a pitch deck, you have to consider the whole room and make your idea reach everyone. Have a legible idea that resonates with people who know nothing about your business and make things very clear to the widest possible audience.

The most important thing to keep in mind all through should be the problem you wish to be solved and the solution that your startup brings with it. “You need to have a deep understanding of the problem you are solving and you need to understand how your target group will respond to your solution,” says Anshu Prasher, General Partner, Whiteboard Capital.

Here is an example of the description Airbnb provided to YCombinator: "Airbnb is the first online marketplace that allows travelers to book rooms with locals rather than hotels." It's brief; it describes the problem and how they intend to solve it in a single sentence.

An average investor is interested in learning about your company and will ask random questions to get talking, if they are a good fit, they may invest. Good investors, on the other hand, do it the other way around. The good investor right from when the problem is defined is already thinking of how impactful solving the problem would be and they use their optimism and imagination to foresee rare occurrences that could make those startups multi-billion-dollar companies in the future which they then pitch back to entrepreneurs. You’ve got to keep an open mind and imagine with them whilst hammering on how your startup solution fits into this image and is open to future innovations.

Another important detail to consider is the market that your company will serve. What do your target market think about the issue you're attempting to solve? Is it unavoidable for them?

Once you've persuaded investors of your target market's near-complete reliance on your business idea, and how your marketing team plans to promote the solution to them, you're almost there.

The last thing you have to enlighten investors about is a clear roadmap, have a business plan that projects into the future. Most investors agree that a clear roadmap of execution wins pitch battles, rather than the uniqueness of an idea.

“A great pitch is concise and exciting! The best pitches I’ve heard clearly explain the problem, solution, why they’re the team to do it and have a BIG vision for the future,” sums up Katie Russel, co-founder of Draper Startup House.

You now have a clear path to creating the perfect startup pitch to help you stand out. My advice to you is to make good use of your time before going for a pitch deck to research in detail about your business, understand the market you are going into, know the audience your startup will cater to, and use all of this knowledge to pull together a perfect startup pitch that makes your investors view your startup as a seed with great potential to grow.