Saying not all pitches look the same is a pretty obvious statement. Of course, you’ll be tailoring your pitches based on the different products and services you’re hoping to promote; your pitch will likely change based on the stage of the pitching process, too.
But did you also know that even when the product remains the same, adapting your pitch deck to suit the audience —whether it’s a peer-to-peer pitch, an angel investor pitch or otherwise — can have a tremendous impact?
Read on to find out why a leading presentation design company would recommend you fine-tune your slides so that they resonate with the type of investor you’re pitching to. While we’re at it, we offer some big-picture pointers on how to go about making these alterations.
Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalists are private investors who generally provide capital to smaller companies and businesses that are pushing new products or services, but they don’t have immediate access to liquid funds.
Finance is the all-encompassing feature here. For this reason, it’s key to make a data-driven pitch that high lights the current and future numbers through carefully assembled graphs and charts.
Angel Investors
If you’ve seen Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank, you’ll have a loose idea of how angel investors operate. They’re big number investors who are primarily focused on launching a business, product, or service, and helping it grow. While finances are important, a personal touch can also steer the pitch in a way that benefits you.
This is a smaller, more intimate meeting, so showcasing the team, individual members, the roles they play, and how your product or service may impact people on a personal level may prove beneficial. Incorporating photos, graphics and a journey through storytelling can heighten the impact of the pitch.
The same tact can be applied to personal investors you’d like to entice, like friends and family.
Incubator and Accelerator Programs
Pitching to one of these programs can be a daunting prospect, with multiple stages and the inability to know precisely who your audience will be.
That said, a pitch in this context should be mission-driven. It should tell a story that’s succinct and clear — if your pitch is online, bullet points and short text will help you amplify your message and high light the key points that you don’t want missed.
Your personal passion, drive and commitment should be celebrated, too. Knowing that you’ve got the energy and appetite to champion your concept through all the hurdles and stumbling blocks is a great selling feature.
Corporate Investors
Sometimes corporate investors offer accelerator programs for smaller fledgling businesses. If your pitch is more organic, know that these types of investors are usually looking to buy into smaller companies to diversify their portfolio and to keep ahead of the curve with industry change.
You may want to focus on your unique selling points, how your concept can affect change, a problem your idea solves, and, of course, financial projections.
The Bottom Line
No matter how you alter your slides, your overarching message will remain the same, and your pitch will be primarily fact-based. However, by tweaking and tailoring specific key components, you’re already well on your way to appealing to different audiences.
