5 Tips On How To Deliver A Persuasive Investor Pitch
Gagan Singh December 15, 2022
Of the many hats a startup founder must wear comes the one that involves presenting your pitch deck to investors. For most founders, this task is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, presenting in a way that will catch investor interest can be quite intimidating, on the other, it is an absolute must if you are to raise those much-needed funds to ensure your company will grow in a structured and healthy way.
With that in mind, let’s take some of the angst out of the process and give you 5 key tips on how to deliver a persuasive investor pitch:
Tip #1 - Keep it Short / Keep it Simple
During your pitch presentation time is of the essence. The amount of time you have to impress investors is very limited. This means you should keep your presentation short but concise. Trying to cram every detail into your presentation is not the way to go.
Providing too much detail or showing slides that are “too busy” is very likely to turn investors off because they will simply tune out. Keeping things simple does not mean you are omitting key aspects of your story. It means you are putting over powerful statements that will impress.
The critical thing for founders to focus on is that their pitch presentation is for the audience they are in front of. It is not about you and everything you know. In short: You need to give your audience what they want.
Tip #2 - Start Strongly - Do not Leave the Best Until Last
The most persuasive investor pitches are those that tell a story and the best ‘stories’ have an attention-grabbing headline. Why? Because it is the headline that immediately catches the eye. This is a long-proven formula. A good headline is concise and relates to the story itself.
What you are aiming for with your headline statement is to draw investors in. This can be done by either giving a taster, a teaser, or a clear indication of what is to come.
Investor feedback from pitch presentations identifies that as much as 80% of a founder's success depends upon their opening line. This means that your aim is to grab the attendees' interest right from the get-go.
Your goal is to make them eager to know more. Achieve that and your prospects of getting that all-important investor follow-on meeting will greatly improve.
Tip #3 - Know Your Audience and Keep Things Conversational
Effective time management is an essential piece of a founder's working life. Investor time is also very precious. This means you must focus on the correct investor audience you intend to reach.
Indeed, many industry insiders will state that the most important factor during investor pitch preparation is to find the right targets for your pitch presentation. That is regardless of what your deck contains or how good that deck is.
Do your homework, and carry out solid research to figure out which investors are the right fit for you and your business. Key elements of this research are:
- Their areas of interest.
- Establish what their investment thesis is.
- Understand their targeted investment size.
- Learn about their existing portfolio.
- Understand the facts, gossip, and any rumors about how these investors treat founders and what type of people they are.
The key here is to get yourself and your company in front of investors who are receptive to the business solution being presented. Failure to achieve that will result in the loss of valuable time (and money!)
Tip #4 - Tell Not Sell!
This may appear counter-intuitive. After all, it is funding that you are after, and during your presentation, you should make clear the amount of funding you are looking for.
However, asking for sums of money should not be your major goal. This is because it is rarely (if ever) the case that funding is offered immediately after an initial pitch presentation. Those discussions will come when you have secured subsequent meetings with interested investors.
This means you should major in telling your story. When putting together your presentation take time to consider what a good story contains in terms of persuasion.
Looking at classical literature the 3 modes of persuasion are:
- Ethos: The presenter’s credibility.
- Pathos: Appealing to emotion.
- Logos: Appealing to logic.
This premise stands as strong today as it ever has. Combine these 3 elements in your pitch presentation and it will greatly increase your chances of securing those all-important investor follow-on discussions.
Tip #5 - Keep the continued discussion door open
Tip #2 advises that you must start your pitch strongly. The same goes when ending your pitch. Your aim here is to summarize your lead talking points.
It will pay you to remember that your pitch invitation to potential investors is not because they want to give you money but because they want you to make them money! That may seem harsh, but it is true.
To do this you need to give details of the investment amount you are looking for, state what you will give in return, and show a clear roadmap of how you intend to use the funds invested.
When closing the pitch presentation, you should ask the audience to give any questions and be prepared to answer them. Two major topics that are likely to be brought up relate to financials and the potential risks involved.
To ensure you are prepared for your persuasive pitch presentations and the Q&A session, carry out dry presentation runs with your colleagues and with any investors or industry experts you know. If your networking contacts include founders that have successfully been through the pitch presentation process see if they are willing to give their input.
Taking onboard any advice or comments during these sessions will help to perfect your pitch presentation. It will also leave you in a far more positive and stronger position when it comes to the real thing.
Help is at hand….
Founders will become increasingly aware of just how important a pitch deck is in their attempts to raise essential funds. While preparing an appealing pitch deck presentation is a must, the actual delivery of it to the right potential investors is even more crucial.
This is where WOWS Global comes in. Our highly experienced team is ready to assist you in all aspects of your startup journey. Our comprehensive knowledge of the startup world and the fundraising process puts us in a unique position to give founders maximum leverage.
Our state-of-the-art digital management system can be taken advantage of. This should be considered a one-stop shop for everything required to build and grow a successful company. That includes exclusive access to match like-minded startups and potential investors.
But our involvement does not stop there. Our hands-on team of specialists is ready to guide you through the pitch presentation process and to give key advice on how to deliver a persuasive investor pitch. One that will increase your chances of grabbing investor interest and heighten opportunities for follow-on investor meetings with the goal being a term sheet.
WOWS Global welcomes any startup founder looking for maximum gain in any area of their business to reach out to us for a no-obligation initial discussion at: