How to pitch to an audience

On Wednesday, 10 companies are going to pitch to an audience at HealthInnovation@50+ in Sunnyvale.

I can’t wait to see the 2 companies that totally nail their pitch.

They will do 3 things perfectly in the first 60 seconds:

• Grab my attention with one amazing fact, such as they sold their last 2 companies, or developed a prototype for the marines
• Demo their product with a live demo, a video demo, screenshots or wireframes
• Tell me why customers love it

During the first 60 seconds, the audience is at maximum attention.

The company that “nails it” will then tell us:

• Pricing, a Holy Cow ROI for businesses, or an “I’d buy that” price for consumers
• Distribution strategy, because a great product is nothing without customers

Now, the founder is 2 minutes into a 4 minute pitch. Next up is:

• The backstory on how she developed the product (this is step #6, not step #1)
• Their competitive advantage or protected IP
• Her team highlights
• Demo a great use case or customer story

Then she stops!

Always leave them wanting more.

This founder will win over the audience, as my client did last year:

How to pitch investors (not)

The presenters that get it wrong will start the pitch with a build-up to their big reveal. Their audience will look like this:

When presenters delay the big reveal, they lose audience attention.

In my work with companies and non-profits, I am frequently a pitch coach.

Last year, my client Oneva — which provides in-home elder companions and nannies — won “Best Startup in Silicon Valley, 2015” at The Startup Conference. I coached Oneva on their pitch to investors and media. The founders are pictured above accepting their award from Bill Reichert of Garage Ventures.

I’ve worked with over a hundred executives to develop their pitches to institutional investors, analysts and top-tier journalists.

My career began as an investment banker on Wall Street, developing M&A pitches on multi-million dollar deals.

I successfully raised several hundred thousand dollars in equity for my own ventures.

The hot seat is a hard place, I know. You need objective coaching and a professional presentation.

A lot of founders think they should ask venture capitalists how to pitch, and that doesn’t work out well. If that worked out, there would not be so many mediocre pitches. Can you ask a car buyer to show you how to sell them a car? No.

Always demo the product first.

If you can’t do a live demo, then simulate a demo through screenshots, a series of photographs, or infographics.

Sizzle first, then steak.

Want to know how to pitch investors for your company?

If you’d like to develop a compelling, grab them by the lapels pitch to investors, partners or the press, contact lisa@getgenerations.com.

Good luck to these companies:

 

Want to know how to pitch an audience?

or How to pitch investors in private meetings?

4 months lead time: Let’s build your pitch and practice

4 days lead time? Call my coaching hotline.