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Given the limited time most entrepreneurs have to present their ideas
to investors, pitches need to be concise and focused on efficiently
delivering essential information. Additional information can be
conveyed through an accompanying mini-plan or appendixes. This
outline describes an investor pitch that can be delivered in about 20
minutes. The slides can be tailored for other audiences, such as
customers, key employees, or partners.20 Slides should focus on
images, graphics, and charts that convey information clearly and
visually. Capture talking points in an accompanying document or in the
Notes section of the PowerPoint presentation.21 Entrepreneurs should
know how to use animation features to build information-rich slides o
fill in key information as they “tell their story.”
The title slide should include the company name, and names, titles,
and contact information for the entrepreneur, the team, and key
partners. During the pitch, the entrepreneur can use the title slide to
egin establishing credibility by
iefly mentioning relevant
iographical information for the entrepreneur, partners, and advisers.
Inform the listeners that detailed biographies are available in the
supplementary documents available with the pitch. While on the title
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slide, let the listeners know that the pitch will take about 20 minutes
and clarify with the listeners how much time they have available for the
pitch. Also, let listeners know that there will be time for questions and
discussion at the end. By letting them know this at the outset, the
entrepreneur can avoid getting drawn into long side discussions that
detract from the compelling story he or she is attempting to tell. Keep
in mind, however, that questions signal interest, and it is important to
avoid dampening listeners’ enthusiasm and interfering with thei
understanding of the opportunity by being too rigid. Taking questions
without allowing the presentation to suffer is part of the art of pitching.
As discussed in the slide descriptions below, it is helpful to provide
additional detail in a set of appendixes or supplements that can be
passed out to accompany the pitch. The entrepreneur can refer to these
appendixes to answer questions that require detail not available on the
slides.
A pitch should start with an executive summary that provides a high
level summary of the problem or opportunity that the entrepreneu
plans to exploit. This summary should describe customers, the pressing
problem the venture intends to solve, the proposed solution and why it
is unique and valuable to customers able and willing to pay, why this
team is ideal for launching the business, and the cu
ent state of the
usiness. In other words, the executive summary does the same job as
an elevator pitch. The speaker should mention any important industry
trends and disruptors (e.g., technologies or changes in regulations,
demographics, or society) that have created a window of opportunity.
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This slide should be geared to the audience and the purpose of the
meeting. Investors often want to know at the beginning of the pitch
how much money the entrepreneurs are attempting to raise. When
pitching to potential partners or key employees, it is important to let
them know what role they will play and what value they will receive. By
the end of this introduction, the listeners should be thinking: “This is a
great opportunity”; “This is the right time to invest (or join)”; and most
important, “This is the right team to exploit the opportunity.” A
compelling executive summary generates interest and sets the stage fo
the rest of the presentation.
Describe the market and the problem (“pain”) that customers
experience today and provide information on the size and growth rate
of the total addressable market. This slide should also describe specific
market segments, with each segment’s size and growth rate, and
highlight the segment that the entrepreneur plans to address at the
time of launch. Inform the audience of the founder’s expectations
about how fast the venture will grow and the approach that will be used
to gain the interest and participation of early adopters. Toward the end
of the discussion of this slide the presenter can also highlight how the
venture’s market position might evolve over time to include
mainstream and new customer segments.
Explain the product or service and how it will address the market
opportunity or alleviate the “pain” described in Slide 2. Provide more
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detail on the window of opportunity for entering the market and how
long it will be open. This slide should provide a high-level description
of any new technologies or features that differentiate the solution from
those available today or those that will be available soon. Unless
presenting to a knowledgeable audience, the presenter should avoid
highly technical language and industry jargon. The slide can refer the
audience to a technical appendix or to a white paper for a more
detailed description of key technologies.
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Show a diagram of the business network or ecosystem that identifies
key customers, suppliers, partners, and other players that must
participate to make the venture successful. Use this slide to discuss the
ole the venture will play and how the new business changes (and
hopefully improves) relationships and economics among the players. If
the venture decreases the power or positioning of a powerful player,
the entrepreneur should be prepared to explain how the risk of
etaliation will be mitigated. Once again, the description of the
usiness ecosystem should be high level and should refer to an
appendix for more detail. The entrepreneur can also use this slide to
cover key relationships and connections that the founders have in the
industry and the plan to establish additional critical connections. The
appendix can show the details of any key partnership agreements that
have already been made.
Discuss key competitors and substitutes and how you will differentiate
your offering from available (or potential) alternatives. If appropriate,
the slide can use a product-market positioning matrix or other graphic
to highlight relationships among the key competitors and the
differentiating features of the entrepreneur’s offering versus those
available in or entering the market. Engage in a more in-depth
discussion of how to attract key suppliers, channel partners and
customers to switch from a competitor or substitute product to you
offering. By this point in the pitch, the entrepreneur should have
demonstrated a thorough understanding of the industry and
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competition, and how the proposed product or service clearly differs
from existing offerings in ways that matter to customers. Provide
additional details on competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, and offerings
in a supplemental business plan or appendixes.
Describe the benefits that will be delivered, who will receive them, and
when. By this point in the pitch, it is important to ensure that everyone
understands the size of the market and growth trajectory, exactly what
the new venture will sell to whom, and how much customers will be
willing and able to pay ( e.g., key revenue models and drivers). If the
people who will use the product are not the same as those who will be
uying it, address this point here and/or in the market-positioning
slide. By this point, listeners should have all the information they need
to understand the revenue model and the assumptions behind the
evenue projections, which will be presented in a later slide.
Identify the capabilities and resources needed to design and launch the
initial product and service offerings and those needed to grow the
usiness over the next five years. The slide should include product
development, production, marketing, sales, customer acquisition and
etention, service delivery, partnerships, and any key administrative
activities such as finance, human resources (HR), information
technology (IT). Identify key people that need to be hired, outsourcing
partnerships, capital equipment, IT infrastructure and systems,
facilities, and so on. Show progress to date in acquiring the resources
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and building the capabilities needed to operate the business, and
discuss plans to acquire additional resources. This slide may be
accompanied by an appendix or supplement that provides additional
detail on operating plans and costs. By this point, investors should
have all the information they need to understand the cost assumptions
of the financial projections.
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Provide high-level cash flow projections and identify the key
assumptions behind them. Show best-case and worst-case scenarios
around important assumptions and discuss the influence of changes in
key assumptions on revenue and cost projections. More detailed
financial information will be required when presenting to sophisticated
investors and partners during the due diligence phase of the
investment decision. The goal in the initial pitch is to provide enough
detail to convey that the founders understand the financial risks and
eturns, and can defend the business model and produce the data
needed for due diligence.
Discuss key areas of risk and how they will be managed. Demonstrate
an understanding of all categories of risk, including: (1) financial and
investment risk, (2) strategic risk (e.g., market uncertainty,
technological/product uncertainty, industry and regulatory risks,
capital intensity) and (3) operating risk (e.g., hiring and retaining
talent, developing entry-level and follow-up products, acquiring and
etaining customers). Discuss approaches that the venture has taken
and will take to manage those risks, including planned experiments.
Articulate key milestones (e.g., product development deadlines, beta
tests, market launch, follow-on launches, and potential market
expansions). Discuss the cu
ent status of the business and provide
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estimates for when key milestones will be achieved and key
isks/uncertainties that will be addressed. Discuss experiments that are
planned to test assumptions and reduce uncertainty and metrics that
can be used to measure insights gained from those experiments. If
possible, identify the minimal viable product (MVP) that could be built
to begin to engage the market, the resources (including financing) that
are needed to build the MVP, and progress made toward securing those
esources. Show the team’s cu
ent estimate for the total investment
that will be required, cu
ent plans for how the investment will be
staged within rounds of financing, the timing between rounds, and
expectations for how the funds will be used at each stage. Mention that
these numbers may change based on what the team learns during
implementation and reiterate some of the key areas of uncertainty that
must be resolved. By this point in the presentation, investors should be
confident that the entrepreneur understands how to implement the
series of experiments needed to achieve key milestones and mitigate
isk.
End by returning to the opening slide (or a variation of it) and
summarize the business