VC PITCH

NWVentureVoice blog writes about tips for a VC Pitch.

VC Pitch Tips



The most important thing in having a successful pitch to a VC is to have a great business and a great team, but even if you have both it doesn't hurt to have a super crisp, logical, compelling pitch. Here are 5 basic tips that I have seen really work.



1. Outline

First, have an outline. Be organized. The best top level outline I have heard it from one of the super masters of presentations, Jerry Weissman. Before you focus on all the snazzy charts, make sure you do the following:

• Tell them what you are going to tell them: Show them where you are going to take them, on the title slide.

• Tell them how you are going to tell them: Have an agenda slide and stick to it.

• Tell them: make sure the body of your presentation always reinforces your opening point.

• Tell them what you told them: wrap up, recap and go for the close.



2. In a nutshell

One great tool for making this organzation stick is what I call the "in a nutshell" slide. This is using your agenda slide to tell the skeleton of your whole arguement. When presenting to Steve Ballmer it often happened that you never got off the first slide after the title, so make sure it really works for you.



Normally, I like to see In A Nutshell slides that act as a template. On one side they highlight, even number the key elements of your story/pitch/arguement and in parallel on the other side they give the top support points in summary. As you then move through the deck you keep the left hand template to reinforce the whole arguement and help people remember where you are in it.



3. Clear, simple case

Show why your company/investment should exist in the first place. Do the simple case using what we call your ABCs or situation/gap analysis. Where:

• A = Today: the current situation in the market/big growing

• B = Tommorrow: the place the market should be/juicy opportunity

• C = Gap: what's missing to get to B/the special play you are poised to make to fill it and win



4. Simple positioning and proposal

Then tell why your way of filling this gap is better than everyone else's. One simple outline for this is what we call the XYZs - "We are the only X company/product that solves Y customer problem in Z unique way," where

• X = your category: critical for VCs, we need to put you in some box, to make comparisons; never invent a category, improve one.

• Y = the target: the buyer, the person who actually writes the check, great if you actually have some.

• Z = your differentiation: your advantage, or the key positive distinction you have over your competition.



It also helps if you can back all this up with real support, like your team's track record, customer traction, a real competitive analysis (thier ABCs), etc. A demo is not enough. Proof is better than claims.



5. Best foot forward first and strongest

Tune the organization of your story to the stage of your company. And always put the strongest stuff upfront.

• An EIR: It's all about YOU and the market opportunity/competitive gap.

• A seed: It's all about initial market validation (quotes from friends with important job titles in your target customer's industry), then about the product spec, the team and the above.

• A round: It's all about initial customer traction and economics - some demonstrated willingness to try and pay - show the best real numbers you have, then about the product itself relative to others, then the above/

• B round: It's about momentum - show the sales numbers, the trends and the economics, then all the above.