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Effective communication of what your business does and why it matters is vital for entrepreneurs wanting to raise capital and attract investors. However, today, when most founders receive pitching advice from the same few sources, every pitch has started to sound generic, with the same tone, structure, and reveal.
Today, I want to discuss two tactics that my clients have used to raise millions in venture capital that are not “common practice” and instantly help them improve their pitch by making it clearer, stronger and unique.
Related: 5 Phrases That Kill Your Chances of Receiving Funding
1. Using a perspective framer
99% of pitches start with the problem. You’ll often hear founders dive deep into a problem that they experience or that those around them experience while explaining the pain points to an investor. The problem with this is that if the investor can’t relate to the problem, they immediately become disengaged. This isn’t just an observation; data back it.
Per Harvard University, 11% of investing partners at VC firms are females; consequently, 13% of venture capital investment dollars are given to startups with female founders. Fundamentally, when a woman comes to pitch a solution to a problem faced by women, unless there is a female investor there to hear the pitch, most men don’t understand the problem. The proof is in the data, as when VC firms increase the number of female investors, those firms suddenly see higher returns and more exits on investments in female founders.
So, how can you solve this problem using a perspective framer?
A perspective framer should be the first content slide (the second slide after the title slide) in your pitch. It should tell the investor how to look at the rest of the deck. The objective is to get them to view your company not through the lens of their own experiences and bias but through the lens that best demonstrates its potential and impact.
Here is an example of a perspective framer from a past client:
“Have you recently been sent a news article or seen a link on Twitter and clicked it just to be hit with a paywall? If so, you are not alone. Every day, billions of people like you are blocked from reading the news.
Now, do you remember that headline? Did you share it with someone else? Were you able to verify if it was true?
Today, 76% of publishers use paywalls. They are incentivized to use clickbait headlines to drive purchases. These headlines innocently shared by billions of people just like you are fuelling an epidemic of misinformation causing political instability, promoting violence and, in the last few years, contributing to the death of millions of people.
If someone could alter the incentives for publishers and make complete news articles affordable for all, they would not only revolutionize the $36B news industry but solve a major social crisis.”
This perspective framer instantly reframed the way investors would analyze the business. They would no longer see a news subscription service and decide whether to invest based on their personal interest in using the product. Instead, they saw a company solving a massive social issue in a huge market. The rest of the deck is interpreted through their ability to solve this social issue and capture that market, not the investor’s chances of becoming a customer.
Related: Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money
2. Showcase your offer
The biggest problem I see with many pitches is that no matter how great they are, they always finish with a feeling that the entrepreneur is begging for money. It rarely comes across as a can’t miss investment opportunity, and instead, it feels like I’m being asked to fund someone’s dream.
The reason for this is simply that entrepreneurs have been conditioned to frame their offer as an “ask.” In the venture capital world, it is even common practice to name the slide “The Ask.” This puts the founder at a huge disadvantage. Nobody asks if they can help you make money; they offer to help you make money. They ask for money when they need it.
Instead of having an ask at the end of your pitch, make sure to showcase your offer. What is the difference?
- Don’t present your company as “needing” them money to accomplish anything. Use an active tone to pitch your company, discuss how you are already on a path to $1B+ business and that these funds will accelerate the process (but you are going to get there no matter what).
- Leverage the trends around you to create a fear of missing out. If you make it seem as if this opportunity will only exist for a short period because of technological advancements, legal changes, social trends, etc., then this time-pressure investment seems more like a shrewd opportunity than a donation.
Related: If You Want Your Pitches to Improve, Use These 3 Simple Tips