How To Write a Winning Business Pitch

An entrepreneur launching a new business often seeks to bring in capital from outside investors, new business partners, or gain media attention. The first step in developing a relationship with potential sources of influence is to write what is termed a “pitch” – a short presentation of why you believe your new business will succeed and provide investors a positive return on investment. The pitch can be verbal, delivered in person, or it can be submitted in written form. Either way, you must give your pitch a lot of thought as you write it.

Write for your targeted investors

Don’t write a general pitch for everyone, research your potential investors first. Find out who else they’ve invested in, what are their company’s values and mottos. Try to fit into your potential investors’ thought patterns while making your pitch. What kind of language do they use in their own literature and marketing? Dissect and study them.

Write about the benefits

Briefly discuss the problem but focus on the solution. People love having their problems solved and their lives being made easier. Talk about what benefits you can bring to them.

Write about the numbers

Where’s the research data that supports your product or idea’s future success against the competition? Why should investors believe that your product will deliver what you say it will at the agreed time? Time to bring out the graphs, show off the percentages and make the investors aware of the facts that make you worth their time and investment.

Write about a story to create a connection

During the idea validation stage up until now, what story about your journey sticks out to you that is memorable? when you share this story effectively, you will create a stronger connection between you and your investors. This connection is often based on the fact that they can relate to your brand on a personal level, giving them even more reason to buy.

Get to the point

The best-written business pitch gets to the heart of the matter quickly in order to keep investors from losing interest. If investors don’t understand the idea right away, they’ll think customers won’t understand it either.

Armed with the information above, your written pitch should answer and briefly cover all of these questions:

• Company purpose – Define your company in a single declarative sentence.
• Problem – Describe the pain of your customer.
• Solution – Explain your ability to solve the problem
• Why now? – Why are you starting to pursue this venture now?
• Market potential – Identify your customers and your market.
• Competition/alternatives – Who are your direct and indirect competitors and how do you plan to beat them?
• Business model – How do you intend to be successful?
• Team – Tell the story of your founders and key team members.
• Financials – at least for the next 12 months
• Vision – If all goes well, what will you have built-in five years?

Lastly, you should add some Pitfalls that you see and how you hope to mitigate them.