To start a business, what you need more than money is a plan and a whole lot of hustle. A plan that will attract the people, funds, and resources essential to bringing your business to life. As an entrepreneur, you’ll need to be able to represent that plan in a pitch.

The word pitch often refers to a presentation that encapsulates all the details about your startup. It illustrates your passion, aspirations and your business model, usually both verbally and with an accompanying document called the ‘pitch deck’.

The objective of a pitch is to explain the core elements of the business and to engage the audience, leaving them wanting to know more about the startup’s core idea. Pitches often have time constraints attached and some have specific requirements for the content. Irrespective of if you’re pitching for investment, funding, or to find partners, it’s useful to create a pitch so that you can quickly explain your idea to others. Just remember— like everything in your startup, your pitch can (and should) change over time.

 

Your Pitch should address these questions:

 

What is the problem you’re trying to address?

Here is your opportunity to explain where the gap in the market is by explaining the problem you’re trying to solve. If your product is a solution for multiple problems at the same time, the pitch has to be focused on the most painful one. You need to make that core problem your cause and the audience needs to see it.

Who is your target market?

In this part, you present how much potential for growth your business holds. What is the size and growth rate of that market, as in the number of people who face the problem you are addressing?

How much of that market can you realistically reach, and in turn what are the profits you would expect from capturing that portion of the market? If you’re a not-for-profit, what is the size of the impact you can make?

What is your solution?

Whether it’s a service, product or platform, explain how your solution works or even better, demonstrate your solution in action. Explain why it is a fit for the problem and audience you’re addressing. One of the most important features investors look for in startups is the scalability of your solution, so make sure to address how given more resources you are capable of growing your business to accommodate an increase in demand.

Why is your solution better than others?

A competitor is any party competing over solving the same problem regardless of their solution. List the closest competitors in a table or graph and present how you compare in regards to product features, overall offering, market positioning, and market share. Your objective here is to show your strengths in terms of your points of difference. If you’re pitching for investors, include how much capital each of the competitors has raised along with their market valuation. This will show the investors how attractive your target market is in terms of ROI.

What are you pitching for?

Whether it’s for a partner, co-founder, or investor make your demands clear and explain what the resources obtained will go towards and what their impact will be as well as what you are offering in return.

Who’s on the team?

As many competitors strive to solve the same problem, it is your team’s ability to bring your solution to the market that drives success. In this part, list the members of the founding team and include their past achievements and the capabilities that will enable your startup to achieve its goals.

Note: Test your pitch with at least 3 people. They can be family and friends, but preferably someone who doesn’t have a strong personal relationship with you, so they can give you unbiased feedback. For a professional opinion send your pitch to [email protected] and we’ll have a look, on the house.

 

Good luck on your entrepreneurial journey and for more insight into what it takes to start a startup in Victoria, download our free playbook. Hatch Quarter’s playbook takes you through the steps you need to take as a founder to bring your startup to life and includes a comprehensive guide to the startup communities and resources available to you in Victoria.