{"id":22091,"date":"2025-03-25T16:56:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T16:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091"},"modified":"2025-03-25T16:56:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T16:56:47","slug":"how-to-pitch-to-investors-beyond-the-pitch-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091","title":{"rendered":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck<\/strong> to potential investors for equity funding, you\u2019re selling the probability of a successful exit in a few years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

Whilst every business is different (and so there will be emphasis on different elements), the key content for how to pitch to investors usually covers these bases:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Market insight:<\/strong> What is the problem to be solved or the opportunity that suggests there is a market for the new business? How large and valuable a market could it be? It is growing and are the participants relatively easy to find and communicate with?<\/li>\n
  2. Big idea:<\/strong> What\u2019s the innovation that addresses the market need? Why it is different & how can it be protected from competition?<\/li>\n
  3. Commercial model:<\/strong> Do you have rough idea of how to make some money from the innovation? Possibly not at the stage that this is buttoned down but are there a few potential models to experiment with?<\/li>\n
  4. Brand & marketing:<\/strong> Particularly for consumer businesses (but also for any other), how are you proposing to excite your audience and articulate your proposition?<\/li>\n
  5. Financial projections:<\/strong> Can you provide a three-year profit & loss account and at least a 12-month cash flow forecast?<\/li>\n
  6. The team:<\/strong> Do you have relevant experience in the market and evidence of the energy, tenacity & communication skills needed to grow a business from the ground up?<\/li>\n
  7. The deal:<\/strong> How much is being raised and at what valuation? How are those funds are going to be deployed and what runway that will give the business until the next raise? Can you provide a sense as to how investors could expect to see a return on their investment (dividends or an exit for equity investors; interest for lenders)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The pitch deck isn\u2019t always the answer<\/h2>\n

    However, the content is only half the story. The way that this is put across is just as important for engaging a potential investor.<\/p>\n

    The cliched communication for communicating investment proposals is the \u2018pitch deck\u2019. You can easily Google \u2018pitch decks\u2019 for various sites with lots of examples. Although it\u2019s easy to see these are mostly for tech solutions and generally have a Silicon Valley bias.<\/p>\n

    The big watch-out\u2026 Whilst the \u2018pitch deck\u2019 has become ubiquitous because it is useful, it is not the answer for all situations. An entrepreneur should think carefully about their investor target, what would work for them and adapt their materials accordingly. For example\u2026<\/p>\n

    If an investor is a specialist in a given market then the hook might be different to an investor that is unaware of the market. An investor that is of the target customer demographic should be able to \u2018feel\u2019 how good the solution is as a potential user (and you\u2019ve no chance if they can\u2019t see themselves using it). Whereas an investor that has no empathy with the market will need to be taken through a more logical explanation.<\/p>\n

    Then there are practicalities. Someone who receives dozens of pitches a week (as we do at Worth Capital) will not be reading every deck in detail. Better to give them a one or two page summary and let them ask for more. We actually ask for a two-page summary or a two-minute video as the initial entry into our competition. It amazes us that we frequently get long pitch decks or business plans \u2013 with no thought given to the impact (or lack of impact) those will make.<\/p>\n

    A pitch deck can too often fall between two stools. Sometimes it is sent for an investor to read with illustrations suitable for a stand-up pitch, but when lacking a voice-over there is no meat on the bone. Other times, a pitch deck made for reading is used for a stand-up pitch \u2013 just confusing and overwhelming for everyone.<\/p>\n

    Often a completely different format is needed. Video is a great way of showing off the characteristics and communication skills of the team. As it has ever been, every entrepreneur should have their \u2018elevator pitch\u2019 \u2013 the 30 second articulation of their idea and how it could make money \u2013 ready for whenever they are fortunate to stumble across a potential investor.<\/p>\n

    Fundamentally, when choosing the content and the method for selling their investment, if an entrepreneur can\u2019t demonstrate empathy with an investor what confidence does that give in the empathy and effort made for their customers? Whereas an entrepreneur that has thought about their investor\u2019s context and tailored their approach will have a much better chance of engaging them with the content and giving confidence in their ability to listen and react to their market.<\/p>\n

    Are you seeking investment? Startups.co.uk, with Worth Capital, has the Start-Up Series, monthly competitions to give a new business the chance to win equity investment of up to \u00a3250,000. To find out more visit: www.startups.co.uk\/thestartupseries<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck to potential investors for equity funding, you\u2019re selling the probability of a successful exit in a few years\u2019 time. Whilst every business is different (and so there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-funding"},"yoast_head":"\nHow to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/How-to-pitch-to-investors.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\"},\"headline\":\"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\"},\"wordCount\":844,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Funding\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\",\"name\":\"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"description\":\"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"width\":381,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Brandiary\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary","description":"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary","og_description":"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck","og_url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091","og_site_name":"Brandiary","article_published_time":"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":390,"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/How-to-pitch-to-investors.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4"},"headline":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026","datePublished":"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091"},"wordCount":844,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Funding"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091","name":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026 | Brandiary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-25T16:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-25T16:56:47+00:00","description":"Successful selling to anyone is always a result of both the message you are giving and the way you\u2019ve chosen to communicate it. When writing a pitch deck","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=22091#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to pitch to investors \u2013 beyond the pitch deck\u2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","name":"Brandiary","description":"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization","name":"Brandiary","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","width":381,"height":100,"caption":"Brandiary"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com"],"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22093,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22091\/revisions\/22093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}