Pitch decks can make or break a start-up looking to attract crucial early stage funding, and experts at the AB Start-up Forum provided crucial tips for start-ups looking to nail their pitch.
“The investment desk has to tell a story – it must be pitched and told in a story form…. you are essentially selling your dream to them,” Genny Ghanimeh, founder and CEO of Mind Academy Tribe and Mind Cloud Academy said during the AB Start-up Forum – Arabian Business’s daytime event at the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai, which also features the highly anticipated Future Falcons pitch contest.
To attract partners and funding, there are key elements that should be included in every start-up pitch deck as the race to attract investment intensifies.
“You are selling a company, not a product, and this is a mistake that start-ups do. You are selling a long-term vision and that’s why you should tell a story,” Marwan Salem of the Mind Cloud Tribe said during the first of two master classes, titled ‘Pitch Perfect: Masterclass on how to create pitch decks and pitch to investors’.
Emphasising on what investors expect, Salem added: “they really want to see a vision, a team behind it, and a company – not just a product that could be amazing or not, but really a long term vision – and this is where the storytelling part is very important.”
Starting with a “big bang” is crucial for every pitch deck, according to Ghanimeh.
“This is the part of your pitch where you are seeking the attention of your audience. This is very important. In the first two minutes you need to be very decisive in catching their attention. Try to start with a big bang, it’s really about giving something, either about information that they didn’t know,” she said.
“You need to have a very strong high at the beginning [of your pitch] in order to have those first two minutes when people are engaged,” Ghanimeh emphasised.
Following the ‘big bang’, Ghanimeh explained the importance of identifying the core problem the start-up is trying to solve, the proposed solution, as well as the company’s value proposition – a vital element for investors.
Through these elements, she said: “It shows you know what you are doing, what your promise is, you know how to connect, what messaging you’re going to use, and what’s unique about you.”
Other key components of the pitch deck, include data around the market target and size, as well as a sweep of the competitive landscape to assess how the product can be positioned in the market.
With that, Salem advised entrepreneurs to “try to be candid with your competitive analysis; it gives you credibility, you are not going to conquer the market from day one”.
Tying in all the above elements, Ghanimeh continued to explain the importance of having a realistic and detailed business revenue model.
In a highly saturated market, “one tweak that is different in the business model can allow start-ups to penetrate in the market… the key success is always in the business model,” she added, using the example of Apple as a successful brand in creating advocacy and shifting the market in their favour.
“Sometimes your business model is the unique selling point,” Salem added.
On what start-ups should include in their financial model, Salem said: “You need to show the cash flow at least and some of the assumptions … when pitching really what they want to see is a summary an see that this company has potential and can become a multimillion company.”
“When pitching you need to know your data, do not look at your slides … this is something you need to know beforehand … with the assumptions that you are not going to conquer the world in three years, you are being realistic,” he added.
Offering advice to emerging start-ups and entrepreneurs, Salem said: “Regarding the delivery please remember you are not just seeking money, you are seeking a business partner…you need to be very enthusiastic, this is something everyone wants to see in a pitch deck and in life, someone in front of them that is passionate about their project, and please be candid.”
“You are not expected to know everything, you are expected to be someone who is a driver, who knows what they want, who knows what the path is, who has a good team, who knows what the strategy is … and just enjoy it, it’s part of the process, it’s sometimes very stressful, but you’ll get better and better at it,” he added.
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