Avoid these 5 mistakes when pitching your idea

When it comes to building your company with the help of an investment, pitching and selling your idea is the first - and many times one of the hardest - steps on your journey. Who would have thought asking strangers for a couple of million dollars is hard? 

Over the years, I have seen countless pitch decks, pitched my ideas many times, and attended dozens of pitching events. After a while, I learned to recognize the winners early and also evaluated what impresses people the most. Ideas will always be important, but first impressions are what makes people see the idea turn into reality. Even though there will always be ways to improve your pitch, here are some of the common “beginner” mistakes you should avoid:

1. Overloaded pitch deck- we learned this in middle school, and yet somehow people still make this grand mistake. If you have five paragraphs of text, or 10 charts, or 15 bullet points, nobody’s mind will be able to focus on what you are saying while trying to read every word on the slide (and still won’t be able to finish before you switch to the next slide). 
2. No passion- I have watched way too many pitch presentations during which the presenter is about to fall asleep. Not even kidding. If you don’t show others how passionate you are about the problem, how is anyone going to trust you in solving it? 
3. Disorganized pitch deck- don’t start with your team and solution, or how big your market is before you have presented the problem. There are many ways to organize your slides, but there is a specific sequence that is generally accepted. Here is a simple list you can follow: 
                     a. Opening: company name + slogan, say one sentence about your company and purpose as an intro.
   

                 b. Problem: what is the problem you are trying to solve and what are the current solutions inefficient?

                 c. Solution: what do you propose? What is the value, why is it unique?

                 d. Timing: why now? 

                 e. Market Size and Potential: present the TAM, SAM and SOM.

                 f. Competitors: compare the current competitors, their solutions, what makes you different.

                g. Product: quick demo or high-level overview of how your solution works.

                h. Business Model: how will you make money? 

                 i. Team: investors invest in people, so make sure to point out any achievements and talents of the core team. 

                 j. Financial Projections 

4. One-person show- sure, it might be impressive that you are the coder, the visionary, the CFO and everything else under the sun, but it doesn’t put investors at ease. Be honest about who is helping you and point out why they belong to the team. Whether it’s an advisor, a professor or an engineer you know from childhood, having a core team of more than one will always be more impressive.
5. Lack of audience knowledge- know who is in your audience and what is important to them. Pitching in front of investors is different from pitching at a pitch competition. Pitching in front of industry experts is different from pitching in front of people who have never heard the industry abbreviations and slang. While the format is similar in all instances, you might want to focus on different parts of the presentation or time of your presentation.