How to pitch to an investor

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Whether this is to a potential investor or to a company who might sell or stock your product, the basic idea is the same. Here are some ways you can pitch and maximise your chances of getting funding.

Successful pitches are not just about a great business plan. They are about confidence, coherence, and knowing your product inside out. The pitch requires both you and your business to be top notch; smooth talking won't save a bad business, and a great business won't save somebody with no communication skills and no facts to hand.

Make sure you are confident and prepared. Think of some possible questions and have an idea of answers, although don't rehearse them because you will come across as very wooden.

Demonstrate that your business has the potential to grow and expand, and that it is a viable business. This depends on your business, but you need to show the potential investors that you are solving a problem, addressing a market gap, or improving upon an already existing idea or product. Your pitch has to stand out amongst hundreds, so make sure you market yourself properly and leave investors with something to think about.

Keep it short. Richard Branson suggests that any pitch should be as short as humanly possible. Your pitch should be fifteen minutes at the very most, but the shorter the better. Try to aim for ten minutes or less. This is plenty of time to get your message across and demonstrate why you and your business are investable. Investors will drift off and lose concentration during a long pitch. If your pitch is short, interesting and to the point investors will remember more and be more likely to ask questions and offer funding. Remember, they want to invest in you as well as your business, so keep them interested rather than sending them to sleep.

Finally, make sure you have hard figures including the amount of funding you require, and how it will be spent. Offer hard numbers in the forms of financial projections, percentage of growth expected, your production costs, overheads, net profit and gross profit and similar. Be precise and memorise those figures so that you can answer any financial questions with assurance.