InnoVits  Workshop  March  19th  2013    

 

on  pitching  

OPEN TALK ON SELLING BUSINESS IDEAS

what  is  a  pitch?  

In baseball a pitch is the act of throwing a baseball toward home plate to start a play.

A pitch is one of the most important tools you have to convince investors about the value of your

business ideas

How?    A  pitch  in  a  elevator   You never know

when you’ll have the right chance with the right people to share you ideas

so if it happens

You must be prepared and ready!

You are in a elevator, “coincidentally” agaist the

person that you always want to meet.

The elevator button lights up to

the eight floor so you have thirthy seconds to tell your story:

your elevator pitch. Does this situation happen

often? Maybe not. The elevator is too

full or your partner must already get off at the third floor.

But it’s not the case to improvise

Training this competence will help you get the most out of any chance you might have … to pitch

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anything  but  a  perfect  science!  

a  good  pitch  needs  “design”  

context

be  comfortable  with  the  context  …  … not just the environment

How much available time?

What situation are you in?

Know your audience: is there any particular

subject they pay attention to?

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OBJECTIVES What do you want out of the

conversation/speech

CONSTRAINTS Short available time

Uncomfortable location How much attention by your

interlocutor?

FOCUS What problems of your customers

help you solve?

PASSION It’s contagious

Be positive and look comfortable

which  ingredients  for  your  recipe?  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_baseball

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Start with an attention grabber sum up your proposition in one line e.g.: You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation. A kind of justification to spend a tremendous amount of money on one time piece that could have bought you half a dozen other Swiss quality watches

get  straight  to  the  point  

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stairway  to  heaven:  a  logical  path  

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[1] The PAIN explain the needs of a potential customer base. Here you define the nature of the demand. Identify the target.

[2] The SOLUTION – Value Proposition Describe how you will solve the pain from a user viewpoint (users first)

[3] The BUSINESS MODEL You have to explain your business model, that is he way you think you create create value. This is related to partners, activities, resources, customer relationships, distribution channels, customer segments, cost structure, revenue streams.

[4] The TEAM The set of competence needs to be balanced

be  impressive:  a  matter  of  style  

Be direct, persuasive and enthusiastic Irony works and is for free! Do not use overly language Clearly express your differentiating value What is in it for me? That is … why should the listener spend his time listening to you?

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perfection  is  not  of  this  world  

Being prepared will make the difference.

The main real value of a business plan is in making your business proposition believable to a potential investor.

The BP is useful to prepare you.

Never miss a chance to pitch and gather feedbacks. This will prepare you for the next pitch.

The perfect pitch … simply does not exist. You have to adapt to any potential situation the get the result.

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Daniele Pes daniele.pes@gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/danpes

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