This document provides guidance on creating an effective startup pitch for investors. It discusses common reasons pitches fail, such as solving an unimportant problem or having an unclear business model. An effective pitch tells a story about the problem being solved, target customers, solution features, and what is needed for success. It should leave investors wanting more information by invoking curiosity and emotion over just providing facts and logic. The pitch should address key questions around market size, product-market fit, marketing and revenue plans, team experience, and resource needs.

1. Miami University Proprietary and Confidential
© 2016 Miami University
What’s Your Story? Keys to an
Effective Startup Pitch
Tim R. Holcomb Ph.D.
Cintas Chair in Entrepreneurship

2. Miami University Proprietary and Confidential
© 2016 Miami University
Common reasons why investors say “No”
 You solve a problem that no one cares about
 You fail to identify an addressable market or you target an
addressable market that’s too small or you target the wrong
market altogether
 Your solution to the problem is unclear or your solution is not
technically feasible
 Your solution is not sufficiently unique or you have no clear
barriers to entry
 You have no clear way to monetize the value that your solution
creates or you have no clear way to sufficiently scale the business
 You have underestimated what resources are needed to scale the
business or you have set unrealistic expectations about the
financial returns, growth … or both

3. Miami University Proprietary and Confidential
© 2016 Miami University
What is a pitch?
 A pitch tells a story about your startup:
 what problem you’re trying to solve and why,
 who your target customer is and why,
 what features of your solutions are most valuable
and why,
 what your journey entails, and
 what you need to make it happen
 It crosses the barriers of time and makes others
care about the problem you’re solving

4. IMPRESS INVESTORS
BY… answering their
questions BEFORE they ask
them

5. DRIVE CURIOSITY TO GET A
SECOND MEETING… An
effective startup pitch is not
the end-goal. Securing funding
is. Leave investors wanting
more.

6. THINK STORY FIRST…
People are driven by emotional
resonance, which makes telling a
story in a compelling way at least
as important as having a
compelling story to tell

7. Miami University Proprietary and Confidential
© 2016 Miami University
Every
time you pitch, you’re telling a
Story

8. Filmmaker Andrew Stanton ("Toy Story," "WALL-E") — Key to the Pitch: Make Me Care

9. I’ve learned that people will forget
what you said, people will forget what
you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
~Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights
activist who published seven autobiographies, three books of
essays, several books of poetry

10. Miami University Proprietary and Confidential
© 2016 Miami University
Keys to a compelling story
 Invoke wonder … make the audience care
 Match the worldview of the audience
 Make a promise
 Push the audience to want more
 Don’t simply appeal to logic … appeal to the senses
 Be intentional … make the audience work for their
meal without knowing they’re doing so
 Don’t contradict yourself … be consistent and
authentic
Michael Siebel (Y Combinator Partner) — Keys to a Great Investor Pitch

11. LEAD WITH A NEED
Effective startup pitches begin with a compelling
purpose, a why that helps the audience “feel” the
pain and sets the tone for the pitch. Why should
investors care?
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12. UNIQUE SOLUTION FEATURES
Tell investors what’s unique about your solution.
Describe how you incorporated customer feedback.
How do customers solve the problem today? How
are you different?
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13. LARGE ADDRESSABLE MARKET
Give specifics about your target customers. Also,
investors want to know that a “large enough”
addressable market exists. Help them visualize the
data from your market research. Why did you
select this group of potential customers? How large
is the market? Do you plan to serve more than one
market? If so, why? And how large is each one?
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14. TALK ABOUT MARKETING AND
CUSTOMER VALIDATION
Be sure to incorporate feedback from potential
customers. Tell investors how you will build
awareness about your solution with target
customers and to convert and retain those
customers. How do know they will use it? What are
your assumptions?
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15. DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL
Investors want to know how you will serve the
market and how you plan to make money. How
much are customers willing to pay for the value
you offer? What type of revenue will you produce?
What will it cost you to acquire and retain
customers? How will you protect your advantage?
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16. SCALABILITY AND GROWTH
Investors want to know how many people you
think you can get to use your solution within the
first 12-18 months after launch. How will you grow
the business? How quickly can you generate
positive cash flow? What percentage of your
revenues are considered recurring revenues? What
are your key milestones?
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17. RESOURCE ASSUMPTIONS AND
NEEDS
Tell them what you know about the startup’s
financial and human capital needs. How much
financial capital do you need? When do you need
it? How will it be used? What key positions do you
need to fill in the organization? Why? How do you
plan to manage rapid growth?
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18. DEMONSTRATE WHY THIS TEAM IS
THE TEAM TO DO IT
Inspire confidence in the investors that this this
founding team is the right team to make it happen.
Emphasize the education and experience of each
team member. Does your team have previous
startup experience? Who is your technology lead?
Do you have a board of advisors?
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19. KEEP IT SIMPLE
Make sure your pitch slides are easy to understand,
organized in a way to tell a compelling story that
answers investors’ questions before they ask them,
and free of complicated numbers or highly
technical terms.
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20. BE CONFIDENT, NOT ARROGANT
AND DON’T GET DEFENSIVE
In the end, investors are investing in you.
Demonstrate confidence in your pitch. Answer
each question directly and as quickly as possible.
Know that investors are going to ask questions and
while you may not like what they have to say,
remain calm and keep your voice at an even tone.
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