How to Deliver an Impactful Pitch
Introduction
Delivering a compelling pitch is a crucial skill for founders seeking to secure investment, partnerships, or clients. A well-crafted pitch can open doors, while a poorly executed one can close them. In this playbook, we'll explore the key elements and techniques that make a pitch memorable and persuasive.
"The best pitches are those that tell a story, a story of the founder's journey, the problem they are solving, and the impact they wish to create. It's not just about the numbers, but the passion and the vision behind them." Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Peak XV Partners
Crafting your story
At the heart of every great pitch is a compelling story. Your story should take the audience on a journey, from the genesis of your idea to the potential future impact of your venture. Here are some key elements to consider:
Problem and Solution
Start by clearly articulating the problem you are solving. Make it relatable and understandable. Then, introduce your solution. Explain how it addresses the problem in a unique and effective way. Use analogies and examples to make your solution easy to grasp.
Traction and Potential
If you have traction, highlight it. Share key metrics, partnerships, or customer testimonials that validate your solution. If you're pre-traction, focus on the potential. Paint a picture of the future you envision and the impact your venture could have.
Team
Investors bet on teams as much as ideas. Highlight the strengths and experience of your core team. Share why you are uniquely positioned to solve this problem and build this business.
"Founders should spend time talking about why they are the right team to solve this problem. What is their unfair advantage? What insights do they have that others don't?" Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
Structuring Your Pitch
A well-structured pitch is easy to follow and makes your key points memorable. We don’t think there is any one right structure for a pitch bit the below covers some must-haves.
💡Structure comes first, timeshare then.
Over the course of building your pitch, you will begin to understand what your core strength is. You want to make sure that you emphasize the points that will drive people to the conviction that they should back your idea. If you believe that the white space you want to operate in is the most compelling thing you have to share, spend more time on it. If you believe that the strength of your team is unmatched, then take the time to dive into their bios and experience.
A potential pitch structure:
Opening: Start with a hook that grabs attention and sets the tone.
Problem: Clearly articulate the problem you're solving.
Solution: Introduce your solution and how it addresses the problem.
Traction/Potential: Share your progress to date or the future potential.
Market: Define your target market and the opportunity size.
Business Model: Explain how you make money.
Competition: Acknowledge the competitive landscape and your differentiation.
Team: Highlight the strength of your team.
Financials: Share your key financial metrics and projections.
Ask: Clearly state what you are asking for - investment, partnership, etc.
Tailor this structure to your specific context and story.
Delivering with Impact
How you say it is as important as what you say. Here are some tips for delivering your pitch with impact:
Be Authentic
Investors can spot inauthenticity from a mile away. Don't try to be someone you're not. Be genuine, honest, and true to yourself. Your passion and belief in what you're doing should shine through.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Pitching is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice. Practice your pitch in front of a mirror, with team members, and with friendly audiences. Seek feedback and iterate.
👩🏽💻 Practice your 1 minute version, 10-minute version and your hour-long version - each one being comprehensive in its own right.
Mind Your Body Language
Your body language communicates as much as your words. Stand tall, make eye contact, and use gestures purposefully. Avoid fidgeting or defensive postures.
Engage with Stories
Stories are powerful tools for engagement. They make your pitch relatable and memorable. Use anecdotes, customer stories, or personal experiences to bring your points to life.
Handle Q&A with Grace
The Q&A section is often where pitches are won or lost. Anticipate potential questions and prepare thoughtful responses. If you don't know the answer, admit it gracefully and commit to finding out.
The Importance of Adaptability
No two pitch situations are exactly alike. It's important to adapt your pitch to your specific audience and context.
💡 Get someone who has little to no understanding of the idea you’re pitching to listen to your pitch. This is someone who gets your enthusiasm but knows very little about the actual technical, financial or business details of your company. Start your pitch and tell them that, by slide 2, they have to interrupt and ask a question that pertains to slide 12. Have them continue to pepper you with questions out of order so you can practice moving the conversation in and out of the various points you’re trying to make.
Know Your Audience
Research your audience beforehand. Understand their background, their interests, and their potential objections. Tailor your pitch to what matters most to them.
Read the Room
During your pitch, pay attention to the room. Are people engaged? Confused? Bored? Be prepared to adapt on the fly. Dive deeper into areas of interest and gloss over points that aren't resonating.
"The best founders are the ones who can read the room and adapt their pitch in real-time. They have the flexibility to go deep where needed and to change course when something isn't working." Shripati Acharya, Prime Venture Partners
Embrace Feedback
After your pitch, seek feedback. Ask what resonated and what didn't. Take constructive criticism in stride and use it to improve for next time.
Crafting and delivering an impactful pitch is an art and a science. It requires a compelling story, a clear structure, authentic delivery, and adaptability to your audience. Mastering these elements will elevate your pitch from mediocre to memorable.
"A great pitch is one that makes us believe - believe in the problem, believe in the solution, believe in the market potential, and most importantly, believe in the founder. When a founder can make us believe, that's when the magic happens." Rajan Anandan, MD, Peak XV Partners
Learn through examples
We think there’s no need to reinvent the wheel if something that works already exists. We are sharing some pitch decks of companies from our portfolio below. These decks did the job (obviously!) but we also asked the founders to share some specific insights about building a solid pitch deck.
Entri's pitch deck is a masterclass in highlighting a startup's impact and growth potential. Let's dive into some key takeaways.
One of the most striking aspects is how they quantify their impact right upfront. Highlighting metrics like 15,000 jobs enabled and $42 million in annual income generated for users immediately showcases the real-world value they are creating.
Another standout element is their growth trajectory. Showcasing 5x year-on-year revenue growth for 2 consecutive years is an incredibly strong signal. Coupled with their improving unit economics, it paints a picture of a business that has found product-market fit and is ready to scale.
"Investors want to back startups that are on a rocket-ship trajectory," Hisamuddin adds. "Our growth numbers spoke for themselves, and we made sure to highlight them prominently."
SimSim's pitch deck is a great example of telling a compelling story while conveying key business insights. Here are a few elements that really stand out.
One powerful aspect is how they draw insights from analogous markets. By showcasing how influencer-led commerce models have taken off in China, they create a mental model for the opportunity they're chasing in India. This helps investors quickly grasp their value proposition.
SimSim also does a great job of painting a vivid picture of their target users. By profiling a typical "internet-based job seeker" persona, they make their potential customers relatable and understandable. This human-centric approach helps bring their market alive.
"Personas are a powerful tool for conveying who you're building for," Bagaria adds. "We wanted investors to really empathize with our users and their challenges."
Another standout element is the clear articulation of their business model. The "virtuous cycle" diagram elegantly explains how the pieces fit together, from attracting influencers to driving transactions. A well-defined business model is a must-have in any pitch deck.
As Bagaria reflects, "Investors need to understand not just what you're building, but how all the pieces work together to create value. Our business model visualization aimed to do just that."
SimSim's pitch deck shines in (1) drawing insights from analogous markets, (2) painting a vivid picture of target users, and (3) articulating a clear, complete business model.
Mind Forest's pitch deck stands out for its focus on a specific niche and its use of india-specific context to make its case. Let's unpack some key lessons.
One powerful element is how they size their addressable market in a detailed, india-specific way. By quantifying the number of affected people and trained professionals in India and comparing it to other markets, they make a strong case for the scale of the opportunity in a relatable way.
Mind Forest also does a great job of breaking down their specific target segments. By profiling urban millennials, children & adolescents, and the elderly, they demonstrate a nuanced understanding of who needs their services and why. This granularity helps investors appreciate the depth of their market analysis.
"Specificity is key when defining your target segments," Kanwar adds. "We wanted to show investors that we've deeply studied the needs of different demographics and built our service offerings accordingly."
Another powerful aspect is their rationale for an offline-first approach. By mapping out mental health approaches on an online-offline and preventive-curative matrix, they make a compelling case for why an offline-first curative model is best positioned to succeed in India.
As Kanwar reflects, "We knew we were taking a contrarian approach by prioritizing offline services. But by visualizing the gap in the market and drawing parallels to successful models in the US, we could make a strong logical case for our strategy."
In essence, Mind Forest's pitch deck excels at (1) India-specific market sizing and benchmarking, (2) defining clear target segments and rationale, and (3) visualizing their positioning and why it's well-suited for the Indian market.
By studying these decks and the specific choices these founders made in crafting their pitches, aspiring entrepreneurs can hone their own storytelling skills. The common threads - a deep and nuanced understanding of their market, demonstrating founder-market fit, showcasing a path to traction, and mapping a clear growth path - provide a playbook for pitch deck success
Resource Bank
With each playbook, we aim to share some valuable resources that can help in taking action-oriented steps in a founder’s startup journey. For this Playbook, we have curated a list of professionals: freelancers, and agencies that can help you build your pitch deck.
