Pitch It To Win It!

A pitch is a presentation of a business idea to potential investors, customers, or partners for the acquisition of resources. When writing a pitch, entrepreneurs need to be able to accomplish two things immediately: knowing who you’re pitching and the ability to tell a story. This article will describe the 10 slides that are common to a pitch deck, how to integrate primary and secondary research, and what tools you can use to craft your pitch deck.

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Tell your business story, simply

A description of the topics for slides to include in your pitch deck is below. Your pitch deck should contain in order at least ten slides. Each slide should contain a header and corresponding slide number. They include:

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1. Your purpose and value proposition framed as a problem statement. We help X to achieve Y for Z.

2. A visual element such as a picture to illustrate your solution. Use Canva and choose from hundreds of images for your pitch deck for free.

3. A description of your competitors. You will cover:

• Who are you competing with?
• How are you different?
• What is your competitive advantage?

4. Your business model. Here is where you want to describe how you will make money, from where, and your pricing model.

5. Your next slide should include your financial projections typically over three to five years.

6. The next slide should describe your metrics. There are at least four key metrics to include:

• How much you spend and earn.
• How many customers you have.
• How you attract and retain customers.
• Your financial goals and projections.

7. Your next slide should position your company in the marketplace. Use facts and insights  to present your Total Addressable Market (TAM) with both top down and bottom up models.

8. The next slide should present your team. Add photos of team members, their names and roles within the team. If you’re still filling positions, mention which positions you need to fill and why they matter.

9. Next, what is your ask? This slide should explain what you need and how you intend to use the funds.

10. The final slide should thank the audience and include your contact information.

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Primary and secondary research for your pitch

In order to support the metrics and market elements of your business you need to be able to back it up with research. Effective market research requires that you understand where to find data to support your assumptions. Use Survey Monkey, to add primary source data responses about potential users of your product. Secondary research is used to describe who your competitors are in a market. Remember to add graphics, icons, and simple diagrams when presenting your research.

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Tools

This article has offered you guidance on how to use storytelling to build an effective pitch both in writing and verbally. Here are some tools for presenting your business pitch:

• ‍Google Slides (Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations)‍
• Slidebean (Online presentation tools)‍
• Statista (Insights and facts across 170 industries and 150+ countries)‍
• Make My Persona (Helps you define what makes your target audience unique)
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Now that you have learned about creating your winning pitch, follow this link to begin your winning Noire Expose application.