ECONOMY AND FINANCE : PITCHING YOUR BUSINESS: FORMULA FOR EFFECTIVE PITCHING

BY ROBIN GHOSH ,

ECONOMIST AND BUSINESS MENTOR

KOLKATA, 9 OCTOBER 2024;

To start with, let me first clarify what it means to pitch.

Pitching means effectively communicating what your company does and how it provides value to your customers and stakeholders.

3 or 10 slides:

Generally speaking, when you have to present your pitch to the investors, you have to be short and sweet.

You get only 3 or a maximum of 10 slides to present your case.

Presenting your business idea in 3 or even in 10 slides is often a bit difficult.

But that is the challenge – and you have to accept it.

If you study business pitches, you will find, that in case you have to pitch your proposal in 3 slides — the best way would be to structure it in 3 sections, like

1 The Problem

2 The Solution

3 The Traction

2 Things:

While crafting the pitch, the entrepreneur must realize two things.

1 You are not simply creating a product or a service, you are leveraging it to solve a real problem for your customers.

2 You are also clearly demonstrating that the problem exists, and that customers are ready to pay for your solution.

Startup Pitch:

Now, let us try to construct a start-up pitch to persuade investors to provide seed funds or venture capital and or any other form of financial support.

Mealcraft:

Let us visualize a company and name it as Mealcraft.

The Mealcraft is looking for Rs. 30 lacs fund support for future growth and development.

A 3 Slide Presentation will look like this:

SLIDE 1 THE PROBLEM

* In Metro cities and Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns, there has now emerged a rising demand for hygienic, home-cooked, affordable meals. Meals to be delivered to customers’ doorsteps.

* The customers looking for meals are senior citizens, working couples, PG residents, and students.

* Institutional customers like corporate offices, banks, hospitals, and nursing homes are also looking for staff meals.

* Most organized offices are now willing to provide lunch to their staff as the expense is entitled to tax credit. However, they are unable to find a professional food supplier with quality assurance and at an affordable price.

SLIDE 2 THE SOLUTION

Mealcraft has identified a business opportunity, and a market space to promote and market meals to individuals and Institutional customers.

* To cover and serve the market, Mealcraft has set up a base kitchen , a network of Women Kitchen Partners across the Metro, and Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns.

A comprehensive package has been developed comprising professional delivery partners, an advanced proprietary software and a crack team for social media advertising.

* To entice customers, a research team has been commissioned to identify a bouquet of veg and non-veg meals for daily consumption and special meals for various occasions and events.

* The core focus has been to identify a differential or a unique product that can be leveraged to develop a QSR kiosk chain to ensure ready cash flow in the form of royalty and fees against Franchisee Management.

SLIDE 3 TRACTION

* Mealcraft started its operation in 2023 and it has gathered major traction.

• *The key figures are number of Meals served to individual customers

*No. of Meals served to Institutional customers.

*Total Revenue from individual customers.

*Total Revenue from Institutional customers

Projected Revenue 2025 – 26

Projected Revenue 2026 – 27

Projected Revenue 2027 – 28.

10 SLIDE Presentation

Now, to create a 10-slide presentation for pitching to venture capitalists — a rough structure will be

SLIDE 1 Mealcraft story

SLIDE 2 The Mealcraft product and the services

SLIDE 3 The Promoters

SLIDE 4 The Problem

SLIDE 5 The Solution

SLIDE 6 The Traction

SLIDE 7 The Future

SLIDE 8 The Strategy

SLIDE 9 The Projected Revenue and Profitability

SLIDE 10 Funds Required

What investors want to know:

1. How large your business can become

2. How profitable it is going to be in the future.

What I have described is the structure of an investment pitch to venture capitalists, funding institutions and financial institutions.
The presentation or the pitch will have to be designed keeping in mind the product or the service, the product-market fit, the addressable market, and the scope for growth.