If you are B-school or IT Graduate, or any other Chatur, who has a great new business plan, you should know that by just coming up with financial projection of ‘X' amount itself will not make your investors eat out of your hands. And if you think this way! Then let me just burst your bubble right here. To help your business plan mold into a successful reality, you must know how to make an impressive pitch to you investors.
After speaking to many Chatur's in the industry and understanding the process extensively here, are four ways to make an effective and impressive business pitch…
a) Only facts, no fiction…
If you were an investor what would you prefer the risk to invest in a business plan forecasting huge returns or a company with proven managers, steady cash flow and a real world experience. If you think like me you would go with the later. Almost all investors will seek facts over fiction. So make your business functional before approaching your investors and present them tangible evidence, circumstantial and projections will always be considered less attractive for them.
b) K.I.S.S it…
Well, there is no need to take your imagination to a different tangent here! K.I.S.S is the golden rule of any kind of pitch. K.I.S.S stands for 'keep it simple, silly!' The modern term for this is 'the elevator pitch.' Your investors will not be keen to go through a presentation, which is very lengthy. One should present one's business idea in a short and simple way. Why would your investors invest in something, which they themselves took a long time to grasp, they would naturally feel that customers might also feel the same way about your business.
c) Talk with a tone that transcends financial responsibility….
The commodities are getting costlier every single day. You need to show that you are a type of manager who understands the value of a single rupee and knows how to manage your business financially. Give yourself the leg space to not hamper the inventiveness, but make sure you don't go overboard on those expenses. DO NOT EVER, EVER ask for heavy salary package or large budgets. Investors should be able to trust you that you can keep the ducks in the row fiscally.
d) Show them you can walk, before you run…
It's been one of the prime reasons why your business will not get any funding, although you have a great idea, and your business plan is excellent. Investors get very much turned down when an entrepreneur bites on something they can't chew. Before you ask for the funding of multiple business divisions or a massive expansion of 400 products categories, show them that you can sell those 10 products efficiently and or create the demand for that one golden product. Show them that you can walk, before you start running.
Ted Jenkins of Oxygen Financials correctly says, "Time is never in your side when you're pitching, so get to the point. The clearer the real picture is to your investors; keener they will be to invest in your business.
