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1. Dr. Ahmed Tolba
Chair & Professor of Marketing
Department of Management, School of Business
The American University in Cairo
Entrepreneurs’ Society (ES)
How to Pitch Your Idea?

2. PRESENTING THE SOLUTION
 Preparation
 Teamwork
 Communication to Convince
TELL YOUR STORY!

3. Presentation Flow
 Teaser
 Executive Summary
 The Opportunity/Gap
 The Idea
 The Value Proposition
 The Business Model
 Implementation Plan (High-Level)
 Financials
 Risk & Mitigation
 Wrap-up
 Back-up Slides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d8vIxex_N0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEMb9hm2mYc

4. ~20% of businesses fail within their 1st year
~45% of businesses fail within 5 years
~65% of businesses fail within 10 years
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023

5. A Strong Start is Recommended
 Teaser Idea? Facts/Stats, Pics, etc.
 Objective is to grab the attention
 Should lead to realizing the opportunity/gap

6. Executive Summary
 One slide preferably
 Include the opportunity/gap, the idea in brief, the value &
business model & the expected KPIs/outcomes + what is
needed from the audience (e.g. funding)
 Objective is to excite the audience to listen to more details
 Try to aspire that you are coming up with a promising idea that
is worth considering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d8vIxex_N0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEMb9hm2mYc

7. The Opportunity/Gap
42% of them fail when they realize there is no market for their
product or service
A CBS Insights study
 Prove that there is a gap to be filled; thus an
opportunity
 Use Facts & Statistics
 Present Protagonists or Personas

8. The Idea
 Simple Description
 Link it to the opportunity/gap

9. The Value Proposition
 What are you offering to your customer?
 What is your Competitive Advantage?
 What is your distinctive competency?
 What is your differential benefit/value?

10. The Business Model
 Financial Model
 Describe your sources of revenues
 Describe your major costs
 Use margins when appropriate
 Operational Model
 Describe how the operation is run
 You may use simple diagrams

11. Long-Term Implementation Plan
 Develop a Long-Term Phased Solution slide for your
project
 Make sure to include the timeline and milestones of
each phase as well as the rationale for such phases

12. Short-Term Implementation Plan
 Typically for the first year
 Answers the questions of: “So how to start? What
should I do now?”
 Should be specific and supported by data/facts
 Might involve specific recommendations like
partnering with X company for example
 Should be timely and costs should be specified

13. Financials
 Profitability effects of the solution (incremental)
 Cash flow implications (if relevant) + NPV/IRR
 DO NOT PRESENT ALL NUMBERS. FOCUS ON
ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY RESULTS
 Make sure to present the KPIs that you promised to
deliver at the executive summary
 A sensitivity analysis (best, most likely & worst
situations) is recommended if relevant

14. Risks & Mitigation
 List the possible risks that might hinder the success of
your solutions
 These are not challenges that you accounted for in
your previous analysis
 Include a mitigation/contingency plan for each risk
identified

15. Wrap-up
 Similar to the executive summary
 You might talk in more detail here is you have the time
 Make sure to tie things together and showcase that
your solution is integrated and solved the problem
identified
 Make sure to specify what you need from the audience
(e.g. investors)

16. Back-up Slides
 Have as many as possible in order to be ready for
questions
 Hyperlink them (more professional)
 Have as many as you want
 Be smart to select what to present and how to trigger
the client to ask about in the Q&A session

17. EXERCISE
 Develop an Executive Summary slide for your
project
 Prepare a one-minute pitch to present