10 Tips How to Pitch Your Startup to Investors and Convince Everyone That It is Unique

Pitching an idea to your clients can be very nerve-racking. This experience might take you back to your middle school days when you presented a project before your classmates.

The excitement, the anticipation, and the fear of whether your pitch will be liked by your investors can be compared to what you felt before your classmates. You want to know how to pitch a startup to investors and let them understand your ideas. For this, you need to know how you can get through to them. You should also know how to strategize, and your pitch before you present it to your investors. 

There are many ways to approach this presentation. With the right knowledge, you can successfully present your pitch to any and all investors who come your way. Funding is a key aspect of running a business. So, unless you bag the right investors with deep pockets, your business development might come to a screeching halt. Here are a few ways to make sure all your presentations are spot on. Below we will show the best startup pitch tips for you to implement in your practice. And before going into the topic, contact us to discuss all questions you have now. 

10 Tips to Pitch Your Startup Idea to Investors 

Use these simple tips for pitching to investors to hit the home run with all your presentations. 

1. Limit your time

You must focus on how much time you are spending on this presentation. Time is an essential commodity, and you need to respect it when you run a business. You and your investors both value time. So, when you pitch an idea to them, make sure it is short and to the point.

It is advised that you set a time limit and inform your investors about it in advance. This will help you create a structure during your pitch. Your investor might give you a specific amount of time to pitch your idea. If you stick to the time limit and finish your presentation a minute or two before the said time, you leave a good impression on them. 

Ten minutes is the ideal time to pitch a great idea. Make your presentation short, precise, and impactful so that you can blow their minds away in a matter of a few minutes. After that, you can allow a few extra minutes for questions if you wish to. In this time, you will also learn whether your investor is interested or not, so pay close attention to their reaction.

2. Make it interesting

Investors have seen infographics, spreadsheets, and pie charts all their life. They can probably pitch your idea better than you can at this point. So, the key to having a great pitch is to come up with something different and capture your investor’s attention by surprise. 

One of the best ways to ensure your pitch is successful is engagement. Make your presentation engaging and captivating. You could take a slightly different route and turn your business pitch into a story. Stories are known to grab the listener’s attention successfully. 

If you can incorporate the logistics of your business into a story, you could pull off an interesting pitch. However, you need to keep the base of your ideas intact and keep your story business-centric. It is easy to divert from a topic when you tell it like a story. So, make sure you pay close attention to your content in an engaging pitch!

3. Don’t beat around the bush

Time is of the essence for you, and especially for your investors. You must respect the time given to you and treat it like a rare commodity during your pitch. You need to make your sales pitch to the point.

In the beginning, it is difficult to find yourself investors who are willing to give you a chance. Once you find someone who is interested, you must hit the bullseye with your presentation. It needs to be precise and short. No one wants to listen to a business idea for 45 minutes at a stretch. Make sure you have your ideas in place, and you know exactly how to pitch your business to investors before you go ahead with your presentation. 

4. Tell them exactly what you do or plan on doing 

When you think about how to pitch an idea to an investors and with what to start, remember the proposition needs to successfully convey your ideas to the business angels in a matter of 10 minutes or less. You also need to tell them about your business. Your investor needs to see the potential in your ideas. If you can convey all this through a 10-minute pitch, you will land a goldmine. So, you need to be specific in your pitch. 

If you are short on time, you can ditch the story approach. Make pointers that you can quickly go through and explain. Making points of your pitch will work wonders as this approach is fail-proof. Pointers are easier to remember and understand, so your investor will not forget you for a long time after such a pitch.

5. Sell your service being fair

When starting a startup presentation for investors it is essential to be fair. However, you must know that whatever you say needs to reflect positively on your product. You are going to be selling an item to these investors. They need to see the upsides in your business before they can spend their money on it.

 Make sure you put forward both pros and cons of your product but focus on the pros mainly. This will balance out your pitch and make it more believable to the investor. You need to gain their trust before you can expect to get money from them in return for your business. 

6. Research on your target audience

Your investors will want to know how you plan on multiplying their money. Your audience is a prime determining factor of how your profits are going to look in the future. So, before you go ahead with this pitch, you need to learn more about your chief demographic.

Learn about who you are catering to and what they like. This will help you come up with good strategies you can present to your investors. If they see potential in your ideas and these strategies, they are bound to invest in your business. So, make sure you know what your audience is and incorporate this factor in considering how to pitch your idea to investors. One of the best ways to get these logistics is by using psychographic features, demographic features, and by conducting surveys.

7. Have a strong marketing strategy

Only telling your investors about your audience will not suffice. If you want to know how to present a business plan to investors, you must tell them about your marketing strategy. As mentioned earlier, these investors would like to know about how you plan on getting their money back with interest. So, the best way to sell your idea is to dish it out with incentives. 

Tell your investor about your marketing strategy. This way, they will know how you plan on reaching your audience. The more people you cater to, the quicker your business grows. So, you must have a strong marketing campaign so that you please your financers successfully. 

8. Impress them with numbers

Tell business-angels how rich you intend on making them lead with how rich your business can make your investors. These people want to know about the monetary benefits of their investments, so you should tell them. Estimate your profits based on the amount of their investment and tell them how much money they can make off of your business through this investment. 

Sell your idea and make sure your investors know it will be profitable in the future. Once they realize that you have potential, they will waste no time in pulling out their checkbooks. Create a presentable revenue model your investors can inspect and judge. 

9. Exude confidence

Your body language plays an important role in business meetings. If you are just starting with your business, you might have a hard time judging people based on their body language. Your investors are seasoned businessmen who have seen many entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to them. By now, they can judge a man’s potential solely by the way he shakes their hand. 

If you want to know how to get investors interested in your idea, you must portray confidence. Show them that you know what you are doing and are comfortable in your position. Learn how to stay calm in stressful situations, and do not let your nerves show. Stay composed until the meeting ends, irrespective of how nervous you are. 

10. Groom well 

If you want your investors to take you seriously, you need to focus on your grooming. No one wants to invest in a shabby man’s business. They need to know if they can trust you with their money and if you are capable of diligently multiplying it and returning it to them. 

Your clothes and the way you look plays an important role in this judgment. Your investor will assess how serious you are about your business based on how you dress up and show up for the meeting. 

The best way to pitch your startup to overcome competitors with a top-notch look is  shower, shave, and put on your best professional outfit. This is the most you can do when it comes to the outward appearance in business meetings. 

Final words

If you want successful funding for your business, you will need to look far and wide. It is very difficult to come across investors who will understand your business and the potential it holds the way you do. 

The most you can do now is create an immaculate pitch that you believe in. This way, you can be confident in your idea even if your investors are not. However, do not give up and continue trying until you find the perfect financer for your venture. We hope these tips helped you get a clearer understanding of pitching startup to investors. Our Interexy’s team is here to support your project on any stage.

Find out “When To Hire A CTO For A Start-Up” in our new article.

FAQs

1. How to present a business plan to investors

Here we listed 10 best tips for you to understand with aht to start when pitching investors to your company.  All in all, remember to stay confident, make a deep research, keep it engaging and not even a hair out of place look. For more detailed information click here and present your startup successfully. 

2. Does the design of the presentation play a great role?

The short answer is yes. It is a must-have stage for any business who wants to get investments. We brought you an article describing how to develop a great design that will keep your listeners interested till the last page of your presentation.  

3. One tip on how to get investors interested in your idea?

We strongly believe that confidence and love in your project are the main factors affecting an investor’s decision. You should be in love with the idea, design, research and should also believe in the product’s success.