This video discusses the important questions investors will ask after reviewing a pitch deck and how to best prepare to answer them. It emphasizes understanding your unique selling proposition and adapting to market obstacles.
What this video covers
There’s a lot of work that goes into putting your pitch deck together. You really want to put the best foot forward. In today’s video, we’re going to be covering every single thing that is really critical when you get in front of investors, when you’re getting asked all these questions, and when you need to address those questions and concerns in the most powerful way. A
How are you different? You need to do that SWOT analysis so that you understand what makes you different and stand out from everyone else because remember: those investors, for the most part, are also meeting with your competitors.
The market is going to be throwing you obstacles, and you’re going to need to be good enough to adapt to those obstacles. For that reason, your skillset, your expertise, and how you’re applying those to execute on your 18 to 24-months roadmap is going to be absolutely everything.
Are you willing to move? This is another one. The investors like to be hands-on. They like to participate. They like to sit on the board so that they can not only represent the investment but also those people that invested in their fund, so that way, they oversee what’s happening on their money.
What do you want to do with this? That’s another one because your why is everything. In the first place, why did you come up with this idea? How did you come across that frustration? How did you think about bringing that frustration to life, and in a world where you could switch it off and switch it back on again, and you were five years ahead of time. What does that world look like?
What does that world look like if your vision was fully realized, and you need to walk the investor through that with the same colors that you’re having in your own mind? Don’t be afraid to walk them through that why, and again, to help them see that future with the same colors that you’re painting in your canvas inside of your own mind.
Why do you think you’re uniquely the best to execute on this idea? That’s another one because it’s all about your expertise; it’s all about your know-how and how you’re able to apply that for the execution of the roadmap that you have in front of you.
What is your marketing plan? This is a tricky one because typically, what people say is, “Well, we’re going to be using Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads. That’s the typical thing. Anyone can do that. Even a monkey can actually raise money to deploy it in those types of channels.
Who needs and must have your product or service? At the end of the day, as human beings, we only have a certain amount of time and a certain amount of attention to use certain things or buy certain things, so you want to walk the investor through the actual reason why customers need to have either your service or your product for whatever problem that they’re coming across, and you need to walk the investor in a very clear way as to what that looks like, what is your addressable market, and how you’re going to be getting in front of this.
What feedback have you received so far? Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of just having an assumption, having an idea, thinking, “This is going to work. This is going to be beautiful,” and then they put it to market, and then it’s a flop. That’s why you don’t want to build your company based on assumptions. You want to build your company based on data that you’re capturing from either customers or potential customers.
How have you funded your business so far? They want to know how you were able to maintain the lights on. Who financed this thing? Here, ideally, you can tell them that you’ve invested a certain amount. Maybe your family also pitched in a little bit so that they can get to see and feel the commitment that you have for the long-term success of this company.
