What could kill your startup pitch

A startup ends up pitching at multiple points to a variety of stakeholders on a constant basis. One of the important pitches any startup considers would be with the Investor. This infuses money into the startup and helps it handle expenses and also expansion. As a startup founder, you have to be careful on a few aspects of your pitch.

This is because your investors are being solicited by many startup founders. The investors are continuously asked to attend the presentations of the founders on a daily basis. The investors are hence a little hesitant to come in for the presentations. Their fuse is also very short when they listen to the pitch. You will have to ensure that you say what your investors would like to listen to. These are the pointers you would need to watch out for in your startup pitch. Not adhering to this will lead to the investors losing interest in the pitch.

• Solving a real problem

The investors look out for startups that solve real life problems at scale. This is important because, identification of a real problem to solve is half the problem solved. The product development is then based on scientific inputs from the problem statement. The startup has a higher chance to succeed than the ones who are working on an assumed problem.

• Solving it for a larger market

The investors also look into the fitment of the problem with a larger market. This will give them the confidence that they are dealing with a company that has the capability to become a bigger organization. The investors will be a little uneasy to proceed if the market size is smaller. This is because, the startup needs to identify another product to cater to a larger market if the start up needs to scale later.

• Having a good value proposition

In addition to solving a real problem for a large market, it is also important that the solution you are building has a strong value proposition. This is important because a startup cannot scale unless it has a strong value proposition. You have to give a reason why your customers should do business with you than with your competitors.

• Having a differentiator

Every one looks into your product or service and see if there is one differentiator that is unique to you. This helps the investors decide how the unique benefits of your product will help you to position yourself in a strong quadrant when compared with your competitors.

• Customer acquisition strategy

This slide helps you to describe your Go To Market strategy. The investors will be keen to know who your ideal buyer persona is and how well do you know them. They would also like to see how you plan to reach out them in terms of multiple channels (Virtual and Physical). They would also like to know your thoughts on how you would establish your sales team

• Acknowledging Competition

No company is unique. Every company has their sets of competitors or at least a set of companies that offer similar services.

• Right founders’ team

The next aspect that the investors would like to look at is the composition of the founding team. It is always idea to have a complementary set of skills within the founders. This will help the organization scale faster.

Conclusion

Your startup pitch becomes uninteresting to the investors if you would make mistakes in the above-mentioned aspects. Your pitch will be considered as one more company without any scientific basis to succeed and scale.