When making a pitch, you usually have only a couple of minutes to get a potential investor interested in your innovation. Facing you, there are people who do not share your interest in technical details and do not have your level of knowledge in the field. "In order for an innovation to reach the market, the existing technical information needs to be refined into communication that the market and potential financiers can understand and put to work," says Ulrika Wahlström, from IMCG and Innovation Project Manager in the EU project InspireWater says.
IMCG is a partner in many international projects where small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) develop innovations with great market potential. The SMEs have detailed technical knowledge and long experience of talking in technical terms. For this reason, it feels natural to continue along the beaten track and talk to potential investors in the same way. You yourself may have used technical information when you have made a pitch and felt afterwards that the information went out, but not in?
"During a pitch, you, as a company, usually have only a couple of minutes to capture the investor's attention. The potential investor does not share your interest in technical details and does not have your knowledge of the field. It is better to focus on revenue and profit," Ulrika Wahlström from IMCG says. The investors are primarily interested in information that can be expressed in revenue and profit.
Four tips to increase the chance of winning a pitch
Here, Ulrika Wahlström shares four simple tips to increase your chances of winning the pitch to the investors.
1. Do not waste time on technical details
Start with the most important. You have so much to say, but so little time. Your idea is perhaps a technical solution. Consider whether the investors really have the necessary technical knowledge to understand a technical presentation of your idea. Assume that the investors do not share your interest in the details of your idea. In other words, you will not be able to use your old PowerPoint presentation, even if you have one.
2. Emphasis on how your idea can generate revenue and profit
Investors are impatient listeners, and you only have a short time to describe your business model. Describe the market and how you will reach it. The investors are primarily interested in information that can be expressed in revenue and profit. Explain what is unique about your idea and the advantages it has compared with the competition. Being able to offer the market's best product is not enough if there isn't a market that is willing to buy.
3. Be prepared for the investor to see the idea's weak points
You are there to explain how good your idea is, but you can expect to receive questions about its bad points. For this reason, it is important that you are aware of the idea's weak points and can also show how any earlier failures have provided you with sufficient experience to develop an even more well-thought-out business plan.
4. Finally, repeat your three most important sales arguments
At the end of the few minutes you have at your disposal, take the opportunity to repeat the most important aspects of your idea. Once again, this is not what is most important for you, but for the investor, that should be emphasised. These arguments will revolve around profit and revenue. The investor is not here for your sake, but only to earn money.
When you need external communication expertise
If your company lacks internal knowledge about how you can change the presentation of your innovation, allowing you to reach the target group of financers and investors, it may be time to engage external communication expertise. Two of IMCG's focus areas, innovation management and strategic communication, are strongly interweaved since innovation does not reach its full potential if it does not come to market.
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