糖心Vlog

糖心Vlog Business School sat down with the Head of Start-Up Support at the 糖心Vlog, Andy Mew, to get advice for students on how to pitch your business idea to investors.

Why is it important to create a business idea pitch?

It鈥檚 important as a business owner to create a pitch because you often know what you do but when you鈥檙e asked to explain it you can struggle to put it in a way that other people understand.

Creating a business pitch helps you to simply, and easily, tell people what you do and how it could help them.

What is an elevator pitch and why should you practice one?

An elevator pitch is a short, punchy and persuasive sixty second verbal presentation of your business, its core values, the problem you鈥檙e solving, and why people should be interested in what you do. Where possible, it should end with a call-to-action from the individual/group you鈥檙e presenting to.

You should practice it often because it will give you confidence and 鈥� the better the delivery 鈥� the more you will impress the audience. You should also practice because sixty seconds goes a lot quicker than you think and you don鈥檛 want to run out of time without telling people crucial information.

What do you need to consider when creating a pitch?

For me the five key aspects should cover you introducing yourself, the need for your product/service, the approach you take to deliver this, the key benefits, and the competition.

Demonstrating these is a great way to show your expertise. It also shows awareness of other people operating in your area, allowing you to define what鈥檚 different 鈥� and better 鈥� about your business than theirs.

What if your business idea isn鈥檛 complete yet?

I don鈥檛 think any business is ever truly 鈥榗omplete鈥�. They all look to grow, scale and establish themselves in new or bigger markets. They constantly evolve.

The key thing is to be honest but also to ensure you鈥檝e done the minimum required to ensure your pitch is about a viable business that is up and running 鈥� or will be shortly 鈥� with a solution that people can take advantage of.

What should you prepare?

If you need to, use a 鈥榬evision card鈥� and put the key bullet points on it to ensure you cover the relevant points, and make sure you鈥檝e got business cards or any useful handouts for people who ask for them afterwards. Don鈥檛 be afraid to follow-up conversations by asking if someone鈥檚 on LinkedIn and connecting with them.

If there鈥檚 someone you know in the audience, ask for feedback. Nobody鈥檚 perfect and you can always be better when it comes to pitching.

How much research should you do?

The biggest mistake I see people make when it comes to their pitch is saying 鈥淭here is no one else doing this right now.鈥� Quite often that鈥檚 not the case and the simplest way to find this out is to do a quick Google search.

When doing research you should look at a wide-range of resources 鈥� search engines, social media, ask friends or family etc. Make sure you鈥檝e done enough research to feel confident about the key pillars of your business.

Final words of wisdom

Relax. People want to hear what you have to say, especially if your business can solve a problem for them. Take your time, be polite and professional, but make it feel like it鈥檚 a conversation.

People hate 鈥榟ard-selling鈥� but if you practice your pitch, practice your delivery, and show that you enjoy what you do, that will come through and the right people will seek you out for follow-up conversations.