If you’re preparing to pitch investors, you should be able to answer these six questions clearly and without jargon. I’ve screened more than 30 pitches for Keiretsu Forum London, and I keep seeing the same problem. The founder knows the business inside out but can’t explain it clearly to investors, and that can cost them the funding.
Work through the questions in order. Wherever you hesitate, that’s where your pitch needs work.
1. Who are you?
Introduce the company and the people behind it. Show the experience that gives your team a credible chance of delivering the plan. Skip the full biography and choose only the evidence that matters to this venture.
2. What problem are you solving?
Name the customer, the problem and why existing alternatives fall short. Explain your solution without assuming specialist knowledge. Aim for understanding before admiration.
3. What progress have you made?
Show what has happened, not what you expect to happen. Product development, trials, revenue, customer adoption and independent validation all count, as long as you present them accurately and in context.
4. How does the business make money?
Say who pays, what they buy, how you price it and what you know about the economics. If customers and users are different people, explain the difference.
5. How much do you need, and what will you do with it?
State the amount, the main uses of the money and the milestones it should reach. Link the spending to progress you can measure.
6. What’s in it for the investor?
Explain how value could grow and what credible routes to a return might exist, while acknowledging risk and uncertainty. Don’t promise an outcome or invent an exit timeline.
Test your pitch
Ask someone to listen without interrupting, then ask them to answer all six questions in a sentence each. Anything they can’t answer shows you where to work: the story, the evidence or both.
Couldn’t answer all six?
Send me your pitch deck along with a short summary and I’ll tell you which questions your pitch isn’t answering yet.