By: Originally appeared on Supercharged Startups.
You have an idea for a technical innovation. An idea that will change the world and make you a lot of money. You have a prototype and are ready to show it to investors and use their money to ride into the sunset of prosperity. There’s just one problem – you’re an engineer and the idea of pitching in front of people scares the bejeebers out of you. This was me 5 months ago. Last night I successfully gave an engaging and enticing pitch to investors thanks to a volunteer pitch coaching team. My community, probably like yours, has an active entrepreneurial spirit of people helping each other. One that you should make sure to take advantage of.
Why Coaching?
I am a seasoned entrepreneur having spent the last 10 years in tech based startups. However, one of my co-founders was always the one to pitch and talk to investors. I was always on the product/development side. Now that I am soloing it, I need to be able to do the pitching. Pitch coaching helps all entrepreneurs but is especially important for those of us more comfortable behind the screen than in front of a group of shark investors.
You often have just one shot with an investor group and pitch coaching can help prepare you in putting your best foot forward. Even the first 20 seconds of the pitch is critical in hooking your audience. You know the old adage about first impressions? Coaches can make sure your pitch comes off as professional and engaging.
There are a number of best practices for your slide deck and coaches can help you with them. The background, font size, number of bullet points, and even the color choice all help in ensuring your presentation is readable, professional, and sends the right message. You’ll want your audience focusing on you and what you’re saying. A good coach will help make sure your pitch deck compliments your presentation.
Public speaking is not easy, especially for those of us not accustomed to it. My biggest fear is losing my place and getting stuck with the “dear in the headlights” look. However, it’s really just about practice. And not just practice at home by yourself. I could always ace my pitch alone. But doing it in front of your coaching team gives you the practice you need to speak in front of a group.
Are you ready for Coaching?
Now that you know you need it – are you ready for it? Your pitch deck is your business plan boiled down to around 10-12 slides over a 10-minute presentation. You must know your business from the problem you’re solving to how you’re going to get your first customers. Your pitch tells a story. And at the root of the story is the problem. So, you must completely understand the pain you are solving. A great way to validate or find potential pain points is through the process of Customer Discovery.
If I’ve learned anything from coaching, it’s been to narrow my initial target market. My company, Odeum, makes virtual worlds for education. This is where I started, and it’s very broad. So, I removed corporate training and higher education to just focus on K12. I then narrowed further to just secondary education. When my coaches asked how I’m going to make the first 10 sales I realized I needed to narrow even further. I had a final beachhead market of middle school social studies teachers who use social media here in the US. That’s what you need to do – make sure you’ve narrowed your target market and know how you will reach your first customers.
In order to create your pitch deck you will need to have really thought about and have answers for the following questions:
- What is the problem and pain you are solving for?
- What is the solution and benefits (not features) you provide?
- What is your Total Addressable Market?
- Who is your first customer? How will you reach them? How will you reach your first 10 customers? First 100?
- How do you make money?
- Who is your competition and how do your benefits (not features) compare to them? What is your advantage?
- Have you looked at your expenses and revenue projections for the first 5 years? Do you have it all detailed in an excel spreadsheet including hiring, marketing, and selling costs?
- How exactly will you use the funds you are raising? What percentage goes towards marketing, selling, operations, and technology?
These are just a few of the items you’ll need ready when meeting your pitch coaching team for the first time and creating your pitch deck. You need to know the details of each of these or at least know where you need help. Coaches are more than willing to help as long as you’ve given it some initial thought. I created a pitch deck for my first meeting and gave a stab at presenting it. Almost the entire pitch ended up changing, but you need a starting point.
The Process
The business community here in Ann Arbor is a local tech hub and has a thriving community of fellow entrepreneurs willing to share their experiences and help others. I found the New Enterprise Forum (NEF) through a regional entrepreneur conference. NEF forms coaching teams for entrepreneurs to help them pitch and connect to investors. NEF teams are all volunteer so there was no charge for me. I gave a 3-minute pitch to their program committee to apply for their program and they decided I wasn’t ready. They felt I would be in a much better position to attract investors after I had an MVP (minimum viable product). I spent the next 3 months building an MVP using the customer discovery method and returned to the NEF program board with my results. They then formed a pitch team of five industry experts who worked with me to perfect my pitch deck and presentation skills. You’ll want to make sure you’re really ready to start talking to investors before getting coaching. So apply and don’t get discouraged if you get rejected. Listen to their feedback, correct, and re-apply.
Your coaching team should be striving to help you effectively communicate the value of your business to potential investors. I met with my team about once every 2-3 weeks. As soon as I got home from a coaching session I would immediately decide which recommended changes to make. I would then practice with the changes and continue making revisions until it sounded right. This would take about a week to fit in with my busy schedule. I’d then have a meeting setup within the following two weeks and practice the pitch. Make sure you practice. I probably practiced 20 hours before each meeting. You don’t want to waste your money or coach’s time.
A typical coaching session for me started with presenting my 10-minute pitch in full without interruption. They would then take turns giving overall feedback. Then we would go through the deck one slide at a time and they would offer feedback. I had a printed version of the deck and would write/draw changes directly on it. Don’t be surprised if sometimes they have you revert changes they had you previously make. It’s all part of the process of making a single coherent presentation.
By the time you finish your coaching you will have presented so many times you will deeply understand your pitch. You will have given it in front of groups to build confidence that you can speak in front of investors. There is truth behind practice making perfect.
Finding a coaching team
Finding pitch coaches or pitch organizations in your community is really about tapping into your available network. If you don’t belong to a local business accelerator you may be missing out on a wealth of knowledge and possibly grant help. My local accelerator helped with funding for branding and customer discovery bootcamp. Finding a mentor is also critical. I have a mentor I meet with every week who helps with strategy. Your mentor, business accelerator, or small business development center should be able to help connect you to a pitch coach or coaching team.
One final note on coaching. And this probably applies to any type of coaching/mentoring. You must be coachable for this to work. You must be able to listen and take advice and incorporate it. You don’t have to agree and use all advice. But you must be able to understand the advice and know why/how it does or doesn’t apply to you. Nothing will turn off a coach more then you not listening to their advice. So, get connected with your business community, don’t give up, and most of all listen to the feedback you’re given. People are willing to help you, you just have to reach out and ask for it.
