In this brief talk, we explore the content that needs to be included in a 10 minute startup pitch to earn a follow on meeting with investors. We talk about how to capture the imagination of the audience in the first 60 seconds, the art of using imagery versus text, and discuss other best practices.

1. Elaine Chen
MIT Global
Entrepreneurship
Bootcamp
How to give a great 10
minute pitch
March 2016

2. The Ten Minute Business Plan
• Core slides suggestions
• Apply these suggestions with reason
• Feel free to expand, remove, consolidate
and/or customized to your situation
• In the end, it must tell a compelling & logical
story that covers these key points
• But you have to stay in the time allowed!!!

3. Content to cover in 10 minutes
1. Tell a story – make a connection
2. Introduction (company name, logo, tag line, “ask”)
3. Target Customer / Pain
4. TAM / ROI / Why does this matter
5. Your solution
6. Competitive positioning / advantage
7. Buying process / Go to market strategy / Business model
8. Financials
9. Team
10. Summary and “ask”
3

4. Levels of commitment
1 minute 3 minutes
10 minutes 45 minutes

5. 5Check out the venue and get comfortable with owning the space

6. Know your audience and tailor your pitch for their needs

7. Create an emotional
connection in the
first 60 seconds

8. Use pictures
liberally, use words
sparingly

9. Don’t drown the audience in meaningless minutiae

10. 10Use simple, powerful visuals to help highlight your message

11. Quick tips on effective pitches
• Focus on the audience – what do they need?
• Tell stories – make an emotional connection
• Use powerful images – very few words
• Simplify – less is more
– Don’t cram a 60 minute talk into 15 minutes
– Don’t have 6 speakers in a 15 minute talk
– If more than 1 speaker: Make 1 the lead/MC
• Practice – especially the beginning
• Be prepared for Q&A – have backup data/slides
11

12. Resources on giving great pitches
• “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Health
• James Currier at STIRR FounderHacks II: “Hit it
hard”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtVK066iEIg
• David Rose’s TED talk on how to give a pitch to VC’s
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_s_rose_on_pitching_
to_vcs?language=en
• Nancy Duarte’s TEDx talk on great presentations:
“What is”, “What can be”,and ending with a call to
action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYFpuc2Umk

13. End
Questions?
13