Start-Up Pitching Advice

Pitching Advice for Early-Stage Startups

As a new entrepreneur, one of the things that is giving you the most anxiety is probably your first few pitches. It’s a nerve-wracking experience to pitch your passion project to experienced companies and veteran CEOS, especially when you are new in the game. In this article, we’ll go over some tested and true advice to have you nailing your pitches for your early-stage startup companies and landing investors and clients.

Practice your Pitch

First thing’s first, practice makes perfect. Once you’ve got your pitch perfected on paper, it’s time to read it out loud. You want to make sure that you are comfortable with the words of your pitch so that you can deliver them in a natural-sounding way. It’s a good idea to record yourself doing your pitch so that you can watch it back. Watch your pitch for any unnatural or distracting body movements and pay attention to your tone of voice: is it shaking or do you sound confident and sure of yourself? Try practicing your pitch in front of a colleague, friend or family member and ask for their feedback as an audience member.

Figure Out the “Who”

Who will you be pitching to? Investors? Clients? Customers? You don’t want one uniform pitch for every type of person you’re pitching to. Adjust your message and wording depending on who the pitch is for.

Keep Your Message Clear and Concise

There’s nothing worse than listening to somebody ramble on and on about a product or service. Decide on a clear message that you want to convey and work on getting that message across as effectively as possible. You don’t need to detail every single aspect of your product and the history of where the materials came from. Just give enough information so that your audience understands the product and is engaged and interested in learning more. Don’t forget to answer the question of “how does my idea/product sold the problems of my audience?” This is key to holding the attention of your audience. Focus on the solution rather than spending a lot of time over explaining the problem during the pitch. Touch on the problem and move on to why the customer needs your service to solve it.

Credibility

You’ll want to include why you are credible in your pitch and what makes you the expert that the clients should turn to. Briefly touch on your life experiences and professional background to prove your credibility.

Tell Your Story

In order to connect with your audience, be vulnerable and share your story. This will help the audience feel like they can relate and connect with you. Share your triumphs and your struggles and how you got to where you are today. Don’t underestimate the value of personal testimony.

Let One Person Talk

It’s best to let one person handle the talking during the pitch. When you parade a lot of employees up for the pitch, things can get confusing. People may start talking over one another and if one person is unprepared it can sink the entire pitch.

Be Prepared to Support

It’s likely that in your pitch you will want to make claims about the greatness and efficiency of your product. This is a great tool while pitching. But, it’s important that you bring evidence to support those claims. What if a potential investor wants to see some proof to back up those claims? You don’t want to have your tail between your legs when this happens. Instead, you want to confidently provide them with data or research backing up the claims you are making.

Dress for the Job

We understand that you may have a casual vibe at your workplace or you may even be doing a virtual pitch in the time of COVID-19. But, in order to put your best self forward, you must dress professionally during a pitch. Your appearance will influence how investors perceive your startup. The most polished presentation can be overshadowed by a sloppy, unkempt presenter.

Pitch Constantly

Pitching is a skill that you will become better at and more comfortable with in time. In order to speed up that process and make sure you are not losing out on valuable investors or clients, try to pitch as much as possible in order to become more experienced and comfortable.

Pitching can cause a lot of anxiety for entrepreneurs who are new to the startup game..and even for seasoned pitchers! Public speaking is a big fear for many of us. But, if you follow our advice for pitching, you will start feeling more comfortable and confident with your pitches. Pitching is an art that will only get better the more it is practiced.