How to pitch a business idea

You have an idea for a business and you know it’s a great one. You also know you want to approach potential business partners in a way that’s compelling. Are you wondering how to pitch a business idea to investors now? Being able to build a winning business pitch is a major part of scaling a startup - and it can be very stressful. To help, we’ve lined up eight great tips on how to pitch a business idea. We hope these drive you to successful fundraising.

Tip #1: Show confidence 

And win people over with your evident expertise. One main aspect you need to remember in regards to pitch deck presentations is confidence. You need to be confident about what you present. Be self-assured to inspire in investors that same level of trust in your startup.  

You must know what you’re talking about, so make sure that shows. Let knowledge be your booster. Show your audience how well you’ve done your research and impress them with your market wisdom.

Tip #2: Stay real with probable goals

Tied to inspiring confidence, you must be realistic about your business. For that, achievable goals are key. Investors know what they need to see from a startup business in its preliminary stages. And they certainly don’t want to hear anyone upselling how they’ll be rich in no time. 

You’ll in fact get more impressive results with minimum expenses at the start of your business than talking about a flurry of them during your initial stages. Don’t reflect big money expenditure on fat salaries, for example, nor on state-of-the-art technology if you don’t need it. On the contrary, you want to prove you know how to use money wisely and that you can make the best of it. 

Knowing how to pitch a business idea starts by using the data you have at hand very wisely. Show statistics and figures that are a realistic part of your business plan. Don’t make up grand figures you don’t know how you’ll ever achieve. Those don’t make you look well. 

Instead, give investors a quick glance at your current and real figures. Explain how you envision being able to achieve your financial goals and how much money you need for that. VCs are more likely to fund you if they have a true sense of what your accurate business figures are, and if they believe the startup story you’re giving them.

Tip #3: Know your audience

Research your investors. You will need that background information anyhow for follow-up investment stages. So look up every piece of information you can on your potential audience. 

Defining ahead of time who might be interested in your business is a clever start to knowing how to pitch a business idea. So plan ahead and tailor your pitch deck content to the people to whom you’re pitching. 

Tip #4: Keep your pitch as simple as possible

Keep your pitch deck simple, understandable, and inclusive. Do not overload your slides with text and don’t go up on stage thinking there are tons for you to do to get investors interested in your business. An impressive pitch does not mean extravagant nor flamboyant lingo, nor does it mean flashy figures or actions. 

On the contrary, keep your slides clean and simple. Use visuals and the right font size. Our co-founder designer, Vinicio, expanded on font size and other design-related items through a guide to an outstanding presentation deck in case you’d like to read more on that. 

The plus side to a simple deck is that you can create your different pitch deck variations with minimum or no changes before you share it in different case scenarios. 

Tip #5: Practice makes perfect

Tied to above, consider a great business presentation a mastery. Doing a good job at pitching your idea is indeed a craft and a work of art, and the art of storytelling is a big part of delivering a successful pitch. 

You need to make your business presentation interesting, and leave your audience wanting to hear more. Like all other art forms, practice is fundamental. 

Keep working on your pitch and practice it every chance you get. As we said, you want to make it understandable, knowledgeable and compelling.

Tip #6: Polish your elevator pitch

Have you heard of elevator pitches? If you haven’t, we made an article with an explanation of examples to write elevator pitches. The reason those are important is you should definitely work on the concise thirty seconds you need to make a good impression. 

As your elevator pitch requires a very succinct approach to your business idea, it helps clarify your business differentiator and business need. It will help simplify all your diverse pitch deck versions, as well. 

Working on your elevator pitch will also help attract people by using a real story with something personal that is quick and utterly effective.

Tip #7: Stay on track

Sometimes founders can get very caught up on the competition or financial and market details. It’s normal since those have probably been very relevant to them over the course of business. However, they’re not necessarily relevant to an effective business pitch. Bring it back to what matters. 

Stay focused on your business. Show your product, if you have it, or display a mock-up. You can even present an illustration. That’s what you want people to remember. 

Tip #8: Define your competitors

When you’re talking about your business idea, certainly address your competition. A lot of entrepreneurs strangely choose to ignore their competition when delivering a pitch. That’s a big mistake. 

We all know competition exists, so just be on top of it and explain how your idea is different from what is already out there. Clarify what makes your idea unique. 

You probably won’t move all of Amazon’s clients over to your startup, so we hope your business projections don’t rely on that. But you can talk about what differentiates you from any market and the precise niche you’re targeting. 

Summary

To sum up, be confident about what you’re doing when you go up on stage or in front of VCs to deliver your business pitch. Go straight to the point and show how realistic figures will be better boosted with the right amount of funding. 

Make it clear how an investment will help you go forward. And do so simply, in a very concise manner. You want investors to know where their money is going and how you plan to make it grow.  

Also, practice your business pitch non-stop in front of others. Then use questions, recaps, and observations to keep your pitch simple. Personalize your deck with your own style and make sure you keep it real.  

If you need the best of pitch deck designs to ensure a winning deck, know you have outstanding business presentation designs right here at Slidebean. Consult our pitch deck design services or rely on our business templates to make the very best of your upcoming pitch deck presentation.