Dragons Den – Pitch Guidance Document

Contacts: Thomas De Souza, Nathan O’Reilly, Aman Kohli, Mark Mccormack

London, March 2013

upStart

Things to think about as you create your pitch

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Remember to structure your pitch and slides, a story line will be easier for people to follow and remember

Try and keep it simple and succinct – refine your messages down to its absolute essence If your audience can visualise what you are trying to say, it will be more powerful than words

alone: prepare high quality graphics, it will take more effort but the impact is worth it Incorporate your personalities in your pitch – write as you would say it and always remember to

be very clear and to the point for your audience Its ok to use humour and be light hearted but make sure its not over the top Tailor your pitch to the audience, it is important to find out as much as possible about them – we

will be providing profiles for all panellists to allow you to do your research Design your pitch so that you can present and discuss interactively – you may not get to present

one slide after another; be prepared for this, it happens a lot! Always remember, your potential investors are there to make money and the bottom line is that

you need to reflect this in all aspects of your pitch (greed is good;) “Beware of the demo” the pitch structure and the limited timing makes doing a demo impractical;

a demo area will be provided during lunch break Most of all incorporate your vision, enthusiasm and drive to succeed in your pitch

When preparing your pitch its important that you keep in mind some these key ideas and principles

The Pitch Structure

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The pitch structure has been designed to provide a short and concise model to help you present your venture to the panel and engage them in discussion

Tell the panel what your venture does with no room for doubt

Establishing a point of reference as quick as possible can help e.g. we are Facebook for gamers!

You have just 15 Minutes to sell yourselves, the idea and get the backing

What Does Your Venture Do

What is the Problem & Solution

Tell Them About The Market Opportunity

(optional)

How is my Venture Going Make

Money... What’s the Model

Brief Introductionto the Team

1 Minute 1 Minute 1 Minute 1 Minute 1 Minute 10 Minutes

Discussion with the Panel

Describing the need, the gap or problem and the solution your venture provides

If possible, provide some background to the market opportunity

This slide is the most important: it describes your business model and ultimately how you will make money

Briefly introduce yourselves

The panellists will have your full details in the deck

1 2 3

15 Minutes

Be confident and persuasive when discussing key aspects of your pitch

Brief Introduction to the Team

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1 Minute to present the content

You will briefly introduce yourselves to the panel. This slide will provide a more detailed profile of your background

Your venture may not be successful and you may need job! You will be pitching to a senior audience and this is your opportunity to also pitch yourselves

Let us know the role you play in the e.g. Engineer, business person, designer...

Remember not everyone can be the CEO or wants to be

Provide you contact details with emails as they may want to follow up directly with you after the presentation

Provide some background and relevant facts about yourself and what you bring to the venture

For example – I’m an expert software designer

Photo’s are optional but makes it more engaging and easier for the panellist to know who you are

What does the venture do

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Focus on being able to describe what your venture does in a single sentence

Additional detail should be presented in no more than three bullet points

Keep details as concise and clean as possible

1 Minute to present the content

If you can use visuals or a graphic that describes your venture this will usually work better than words

Complex ideas are often easier to represent in pictures

Its important to be able to create a reference point that your audience can relate to as soon as possible e.g. we are Facebook for gamers, we are like eBay but better and here is how we do, we are a mix of four squared and second life...

If possible create a logo that represents your venture and its brand

Focus on creating a short, sharp reference point as soon as possible and use this as a basis to communicate key aspects of your venture

What is the Problem and Solution

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Clearly define the gap in the market, pain point, problem, etc that you see as an opportunity

Ideally you should be able to articulate this in no more than three bullet points

Help communicate your model using diagrams or graphics

Showing this graphically will also make it easier for the audience to remember it

1 Minute to present the content

A good way of presenting this is to use an example to illustrate what you trying to solve – this could be how an innovative product provided a solution to a common problem; although this is similar to your approach, you have an interesting model around it...

The solution should high-light key aspects of your approach

For example: why is our solution unique, why its smart or clever...Problem Solution

NB: We use the term problem in a positive context but have found that the problem solution metaphor helps to frame the opportunity

Think about using an example as the basis to illustrate how your venture provides a solution to a problem: it will make it easier to understand your model

Tell Them About The Market Opportunity

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Data can be accessed from a number of online sources

Where possible please attribute the data and market analysis e.g. Mckinsey a top management consultancy has analysed the market...

If possible, high-light competitors in your target market

Remember there will always be competition – when Google started Yahoo was its major competitor and it still succeeded

1 Minute to present the Content

If you can use a visual, graphics and charts can help to illustrate your point

Complex data is always easier to understand when presented graphically

Focus on defining your market as simply as possible

Cover things like how big it is and how much of it you think you can capture

Keep it simple! At this point your audience will only be interested in determining if there is a credible market opportunity for your venture

How is my Venture Going Make Money... What’s the Model

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Keep the description of your business model as short as possible three or four bullets points should be enough – keep details as concise and clean

Highlight key points, such as: potential growth, partnerships, expected revenue per customer...

1 Minute to present the content Help the audience to

clearly understand the essence of your pitch – think about using diagrams to explain how the parts the business model work together

This slide will be the segway into the main discussion with the panel so its key that the points made in this slide set the right tone e.g. OK I understand how the business model works, how you are going to make money and it looks like a really big opportunity

This is the most important slide as it will describe what your venture’s business model is and how it makes money

Tell the audience how you model works in a single sentence

For example: we give away the base service and charge for the premium services; we use revenue from advertising to fund the core platform and sell virtual goods; we charge our partners a fee to access our customers...

Use screen shots from you product / service to illustrate your pitch

Remember to mention that you would be happy to show a live demo during lunch session

NB: There is no need to cover any of the financial aspects of your venture, this is a soft pitch so you do need to ask for a specific investment

Making an Impact

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You and your delivery style Appearance – think about this carefully and be deliberate: first impressions count Body language – making your gestures fit the story can have a great impact

Your Voice Be aware of how you use your voice to affect the mood – the speed volume and pitch of your

voice will all have an impact

Interaction and facilitation All good stories – the shorter and crisper the message the more powerful the story Stories and scenarios all help people to visualise what you are talking about Listen with your eyes and your ears. Allow people to think – if people look like they have a

question, they probably do...

Delivering as a team and preparation Be clear on who does what – who is the MC and who delivers which part of the presentation; how

does one part of the presentation lead into another and how are they seamlessly introduced Practice, practice and when you have practiced enough, practice again... it will not go to plan and

the more rehearsed the more you will be able to adapt when you pitch

Why do brilliantly designed pitches so often fail to deliver the impact you hope for?