Welcome back to Part 2 of the Pitching series! In this installment, I’ll explore the art of creating a concise 2-3 minute pitch for events where you’ll have a Q&A session at the end. This time constraint demands a focused approach, so spend the most time on the Pain & Gain and Solution slides, which form the core of your pitch. Let’s dive in and see how we can make the most of this brief window to captivate our audience.
NOTE: If you are sharing your pitch with someone through an email attachment use this version. A lot of people tend to add more details and paragraphs to the slides because they are not actively doing the talking and want to fit all the information, but this means you are likely to reduce the text font size and make it hard to read on a laptop the other person is on. You can also, record a 2-3min video of you pitching and showcasing the demo if possible, and share the link of that unlisted youtube video instead.
Combine story and flow of the slides mentioned in Part 1 and rearrange them as:
- Slide 1: Intro + Team (mention high level team details when you begin)
- Slide 2: Pain & Gain + Solution (focus most of the time here)
- Slide 3: Demo + USP (less detail or skip)
- Slide 4: Traction + Business Model (less detail or skip)
- Slide 5: Investment + Call to Action at the very end of the presentation
IF you delete slides from your presentation, add detail from that slide in 1-2 lines in your story in the notes and let the audience ask questions for more details they want to know during Q&A.
Remove the demo videos or animations if needed and cut down on any lengthy descriptions in your speech. Practice to get the timing right for speech, and slides will automatically flow.
Introduction
Hi, I am [Your Name], [your title or role] of [Your Business Name] [Tagline] built by me and [team description, eg: “2 other cofounders and 10 engineers”] dedicated to [solving the problem] for [target customers. If everyone in the audience is the ideal customer, say “you”].
Pain & Gain
[Describe the problem and its impact on customer segment in 2 lines]. This affects [quantify the number of people or businesses affected OR mention TAM or SOM] globally. Imagine what would happen if we could [describe the outcome after the problem is solved].
Solution
Our solution is to address this by [describe what the solution does in less than 2 lines]. This works by [briefly describe how it works and the benefits it brings to people’s lives].
Demo
Which works like this [show demo only it if is less than 10 seconds].
USP
[Startup Name] stands out by providing [USP]. It is unique in that it [describe in 1-2 lines how having the USP impacts the solution].
For example: By using AI (USP), we are able to achieve this task faster, better, more accurately (impact).
We present our results as [describe in 1 line what the demo might do so the user gets a sense of it IF you did not show the actual demo].
Traction and Business Model
In the [Progress made on the product in last 3 months and what is expected to happen in the next 3 months IF you are in the early stages].
We have already [Mention notable achievements, facts, and data].
Within [x] months/years [When will you generate revenue if you are not doing so right now] and with a margin of [What the profit margin will be] we will break even once we reach [What will it take to reach break-even point whether it is the number of customers or time] with dividends/returns for investors and a potential [exit strategy] by year [x].
Investment
We are raising [x] dollars to fund the [what will it be used for and what will it help you achieve in how much time].
Call to Action
So invest in [Startup Name], and together we will [Vision for the company].
Q&A Session: Unleashing the Details
I’d love to answer any questions you have regarding our capital requirements, technical details], or how we got here in the last [x] months/years.
Practice Makes Perfect
As you fill these blanks you may notice that parts of it don’t apply to your business strategy, current stage, or plans. Feel free to skip and rephrase the sentences according to the flow of the story you have and for the information that applies to your business.
As you prepare for your pitch, remember to practice diligently to ensure your speech fits within the time frame. Crafting a compelling 2-3 minute pitch is a challenge, but with careful planning and practice, you can deliver a powerful and persuasive message to your audience.
Fit each of the slides into 1-3 sentences and use ChatGPT for assistance if needed by using the simple prompt “reduce words:” or “rephrase:”
Additional Tips:
Remember, the Q&A session allows you to fill in any gaps and provide more in-depth information as needed.
For example, if you are not pitching to investors you can reduce the amount of time you spend on the details of investments and financials and focus more on the features of the product. If you are trying to sell it to people in a networking event setting your call to action will also change accordingly.
Always stay to the point and do not go off on tangents when answering a question. Being questioned means someone is showing interest.
Anticipate inquiries about your team, market, finances, risks, competition, funding use, and more. Prepare how you will answer some of the common questions that your audience will ask. Be short and to the point, because time is limited in that scenario. Don’t take the listener on a journey in Q&A, the importance of storytelling is over after the pitch.
For example, if someone asks “how did your team come together to build this”, don’t tell them how you “I started networking with people in college and then um went to hackathons and kept running into these people at hackathons and um slowly created this new team for hackathons that went on to participate in several cities around the country and then um I had the idea and decided to build this at the last hackathon we attended and it ended up winning the hackathon and so um we’re pursuing the idea as a startup now“. No one will stop you when you’re talking because they don’t want to be rude, but they will lose interest. So stay to the point as much as possible “We’ve participated and won multiple hackathons together in college including one where this idea was voted #1“.
But sometimes you only have a few seconds to impress someone when you meet them or only a few lines when you reach out to investors through cold email, that’s where the Elevator Pitch comes into play and it covers everything you want the other person to know.
Even people I teach in incubators or work with to refine their pitches have gone on to win competitions, and frequently people send me their pitches on LinkedIn only to ask for improvements I think they can make.