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Tips on how to pitch a VC

Written by Nuzhat Sheikh ·  3 min read >
PitchAVC

Startup anticipated? Worrying and looking for ideas to make a perfect pitch to a Venture Capitalists or angel investors initially? Well, now your hunt is over!

Pitching, as the word suggests sounds very thrilling, but it is rather a nerve-racking experience for some entrepreneurs. Therefore, for your feasibility we’ve outlined the nuts and bolts of making a high-end pitch. To leave an everlasting impression on VC, you need to project these key features while pitching.

  • Integrity
  • Passion
  • Knowledge
  • Skills
  • Leadership
  • Vision
  • Realism
  • Coachability
  • Commitment

So, how do you know what the VC would be anticipating? you’ve got to figure out in what the VC would invest in.
Well, believe it or not the single most important thing the VC is going to invest in is YOU! The one with the idea of a venture – that’s it.
The whole purpose of your VC pitch is to convince them that you’re the entrepreneur in whom they are going to invest their money and make a lot of money in return.

How do you do this?

You know, you can’t just walk up and say: “Hi, my name is so and so, I’m a good guy or girl. So, you should be investing in me.” That’s utterly dumb!

There are whole fanfares of things that you’ve to present, in order to wrap up in this package. In the course of your VC pitch, you have a very short span of time, to presume a whole bunch of different characteristics and deliver your best. Within those few minutes you’ve got to impart these far-reaching traits to VC.

  • Your totally honest approach

Your integrity will allow the VC to feel comfortable every step of the way. This is the single most important thing you need to convey as a whole, that you’re straight, and that the VC can take a chance on you– invest in your start-up. Avoid boasting, be yourself!

  • Your need-for-achievement

The second most important thing after integrity is your readiness to venture. Entrepreneurs are known for their staking nature, leaving everything behind, in the course of creation, and putting lifeblood into something they badly want. You’ve got to convey passion.
If you’re not passionate about your own start-up, why on earth anyone else would be? Why VC should put money in your venture. Unleash your passion!

  • You don’t miss any cue

If you say you’re going to be the great developer of the map of the human genome, for instance. You’d better know what a human genome is. VC would want you to have domain expertise. Investors wouldn’t want somebody who says: “Hey, I’ve got a great idea in business, I know nothing about…I don’t know who the players are, what the market is like and this entire hotchpotch” That’s ridiculous!
‘Don’t underestimate the power of knowledge’. I’m not saying it just-like-that”.  You’ve to have an understanding besides an aesthetic sense of what you speak about. Or else, get yourself ready for a kick out from VC.

  • Proficiency

All successful entrepreneurs out there acquire some unique skills and expertise. These include technical skills, to marketing, sales, management and so on, if it’s a technology start-up. But there are lucky very few people who possess full set of skills, which it takes to run a company. So, what else do your require? Well

  • Ability to lead

A ‘team of experts’ is the basic requirement for any start-up. You should be able to convince VC that you either have developed a team that has all those factors in it, or else you can, that you have the charisma, the management style and the ability to get people to follow your lead, to inspire them, motivate them to be a part of your team

  • Optimism

And that’s what you actually do when you pitch – you sell your idea or vision to someone. While pitching to VC you’ve got to be able to convey where this is going, because most VCs or angel investors don’t want another “me too” product. You need to be visionary that you can change the world.

  • Realistic

While you are optimistic, you should also have realism on top. Because, they need to know that you know that, although changing the world is great, yet it doesn’t always happen. And before you get to change the world, bad things are going to take place. You should have the ability to deal with that and have to have rational projections and stuff.

  •  Following CSC

Finally, you’re asking for their money, not just because it’s their money, because it’s them. You need to be coachable, and they key to coachability is the willingness to awaken the true sense of awareness in the person. Imply formula CSC (Clean Simple Concise). Sure, there’s a lot more to it, but unless you grab VC’s attention, how are you going to convince?

  • Never giving up

Angel Investors or VCs want you to say or convey that the money they’ll invest in you, you’re going to make the most from it. You got to plight them, that you’ll keep their money alive. There’s never been an angel or venture funded company where bad things didn’t happen. What these venture capitalists or angel investors want from you is to be committed till the end.

Written by Nuzhat Sheikh
An Engineering student who wants to explore Universe. She'd travelled to Mars 'in her fantasy'. Avid reader and researcher, She's a keen knowledge-seeker. You'll find her helpful. Follow her @NutzNb at twitter. Profile