Pitches, Plans, Etc.: Tell Your Story, Please
I’ve been listening to a series of investment pitches lately, most as parts of local contest events related to angel investment. As a reaction to several of these, I have a plea: Please, start by telling me a story. Seriously. Start with the story of a person who has a problem, and how your company...
By Tim Berry
Elevator Pitch Part 5: Nail Your Delivery
In the real world, you know your so-called elevator speech and you use it when appropriate. Every time you do it, you and it get better. I’d recommend taking time out and working on it, but you probably won’t; you’re too busy. Think about it in the shower. Think about it when you’re stuck in...
By Tim Berry
Elevator Pitch Part 4: Finish Strong
(Note: this is taken with permission from Planning Startups Stories) This fourth of five parts in this series depends on who you are, where you are, and what you want. If you’ve personalized in the first part, sold yourself and/or your organization in the second, and established the attractiveness or suitability of the business offering...
By Tim Berry
Elevator Pitch Part 3: Sell Your Offering
(Note: this is taken with permission from Planning Startups Stories) Now explain what that person or organization you’re selling to gets. You’ve personalized the need or want, identified your unique qualities to solve the problem, and now you have to put the need or want in concrete terms that anybody can see. For example: For...
By Tim Berry
The Business Pitch
Business pitches are growing in popularity here in the UK as well as in the US. However, as this article, The Business Pitch by Alan Gleeson illustrates, business pitches are no substitute for the real thing – a thorough business plan! This short article describes the concept of pitching in detail, and argues why pitches...
By Alan Gleeson
Elevator Pitch Part 2: Sell Yourself
(Note: this is taken with permission from Planning Startups Stories) In the next part of your elevator pitch address ‘why you’? Why your business? What’s special about you that makes your offering or solution interesting to the target person or organization you just identified (Part 1 of this series). This is where you bring in...
By Tim Berry
No Business Plan Required: Dumb and Dumber
I’m sorry, but I’m angry this morning. I just saw another blogger, who knows better, bad-mouthing the business plan as part of the startup; because investors want to know you and see your pitch first, instead of just reading a business plan. Are the following points not so obvious that I have a right to...
By Tim Berry
Personalize Your Pitch
(Reposted with permission from Planning Startups Stories) If you can’t say it in 60 seconds, you have a problem. Your strategy isn’t clear enough. Nowadays we call it “the elevator pitch,” meaning a quick description of the business that you could do in the time you share with a stranger in an elevator. It’s becoming...
By Tim Berry
