Stage: The Perfect Pitch Template

View As One Page

This pitch template is derived from one of the top incubators/accelerators in the world, Techstars. You can watch some of them here to get a feeling of how they're like. Before you go on with filling out the template, please read the information below carefully, as they contain the difference between a winning pitch and a boring pitch.


Things to follow:

1. Keep your pitch under 5-7 minutes. This is a industry standard.

2. Your pitch will take a lot of practice and effort to perfect. Incubators spend months preparing startups for the final pitch, so you can imagine how important it is. After you have a product and some traction, the pitch is the only thing between you and the money.


Some great tips to remember:

1. Most importantly: Posture, confidence, and passion is actually worth more than the content itself. 80% style, and 20% content. Lean forward toward the audience when you speak. Use the POWER POSE - spread your arms out, and let them feel the power - scientifically proven.

2. Great pitches start out with a personal story that they can relate to.

3. Make your language succinct and precise - with keywords that resonate with the target audience. Use the UVPs (unique value proposition) and benefits you've developed through our guide.

4. Make your presentation extremely easy to understand. Each slide should only have 1 message and 1 thought.

5. Use images instead of text: Images communicate a lot better than text, and you can keep their attention on you.

6. Huge fonts, and as little text as possible. You want the audience to focus on what you are saying, and not reading the text on the screen.

7. Create credibility at the beginning of your pitch. People may listen to you, but they are not absorbing what you are saying until you tell them why you are the right person to do the job. Tell them your experiences, expertise, and passion if that will help them trust you.

8. Be as specific as you can. Don't give the audience rough estimates, or broad ideas. Tell them exactly what you mean. How many days, how much money, how many people, etc.

9. Despite only given 5 minutes, you need to speak slow, because that puts more gravity onto what you're saying.

10. Make eye contact with the audience. Scan through them and look at each and every one of them in the eye.

11. If possible, always include evidence for validation, traction, or position feedback. When you present these, you immediately win over their attention and trust.

12. (SECRET SAUCE) - End your sentences with words sounding downwards.Most people talk like they are asking a question. That makes the audience feel that you are not confident. When you sound the words downwards, it sounds more certain and they will believe what you are saying.

13. To become instantly more awesome, think about your toes. Scientifically, by doing this, you actually do a quick sweep throughout your body and tell your mind to present your body language in the best way possible.