Perfect Your Pitch

Startup NEXT, 1/27/16Rebecca Lovell

Director of Entrepreneurship & IndustryOffice of Economic Development, City of Seattle

• Goals of the pitch• Techniques and examples

Today’s flight plan

• Breathe • Plant • Modulate • Land • Sell it$1

BILLION

Delivery

• Get and keep their attention

• Visual aid vs. leave-behind• Whet their appetite

Principles of the Pitch

Winning pitches

• Team• Team • Team• Product• Market

Street cred + product/market fit

Value Proposition

• The problem/pain and your solution/remedy

• Why you will win• Your awesome market• The one-sentence litmus

test

WHAT DO YOU DO, FOR WHOM AND HOW?

7

8

• 2m weddings per year, avg 4.3 bridesmaids per wedding • 8m women spend $2bn on dresses they don’t want to own

$1 BILLION

Team

Whole greater than the sum of the parts

$1 BILLION

Team

Nick + Richard: 20 years in tech,2 software patents, 1 wife met online.

$1 BILLION

Winning your investor pitch

• Problem/solution• Market• Team

$1 BILLION

The close

Remind them of why you will win…..

Ingredients of 60-second pitch

• What you do, for whom, and how (this should be 30 words or less)

• Problem and solution• Market size • Monetization strategy• Team (summary of

capabilities)

Example of 60-second pitch

$1 BILLION

FAQ’s: Mitigate risk, maximize opportunity

• Market: who is your customer? sizing the market (stealing market share or greenfields opportunity?)

• Go to market strategy: sales channels/partners? how will you scale the business?

• Revenue model: how much is a customer worth?

• Competition: why are you different and better?• Team: can you execute?

• Traction : does the product work? can you substantiate your claims? page views? conversions? customer validation? signed deals?

$1 BILLION

No matter what…