Pitching is in my innovation experience both within and outside of Swisscom one of the most nerve-wracking and time-intensive parts of the Intrapreneurship journey. It can be difficult to do well and yet, it is also one of the most essential business -skill that every Intra- & Entrepreneur needs to nail. 🔨
In essence, pitching within a business context, is all about persuading someone to do something. In the case of Intrapreneurship, it usually entails presenting your business idea with the view to getting investment or funding to take it to the next level.
This however doesn’t always have to be the case. Pitching isn't just about financing or investment, it is in fact a great business and life skill that can also help you expand your network, gather important feedback, promote your brand and ultimately achieve your objectives.
What makes a great pitch?
Here are 5 top tips to ensure those pitching nerves don't get the better of you.🤯
Research your audience: Knowing who will be sitting in front of you, definitely helps you to fine-tune your pitch to achieve the right level of information and address some of the motivations or concerns that may arise.
Deeply understand your customer problem: Make sure that your audience know what problem it is you are solving with your new business idea. Provide information of feasibility, financial return on investment and evidence of customer acceptance.
Know your product and future market: Show how you have tested your idea in the market and provide solid data to back up your claims. Explain clearly how your target market and your idea are a good fit is important. Finally show your vision and make it clear how you plan to grow your business and take it to the next level. Clearly articulate how your proposed business model will generate revenue
Be yourself: Investors not only invest in the idea but also in the intrapreneur as a person so being authentic, showing passion and highlighting your strengths and experiences will ensure you pitch convincingly.
Build Trust with Investors: Building on point 4, it is important not only to establish rapport but also to establish trust with your future investors and business partners. Being transparent about risks and challenges is highly appreciated. Additionally practicing active listening (which we wrote about in February Blog) to better understand questions and feedback will also be a huge plus in building trust.
"Pitching isn't just about financing or investment, it is in fact a great business and life skill that can also help you expand your network, gather important feedback, promote your brand and ultimately achieve your objectives."
Start your pitching journey
Here a couple of basic tools to get you started on your pitching journey.
One of the common tools is the Elevator Pitch. In a nutshell the elevator pitch is a short (duration of an elevator ride) 90s pitch to introduce yourself, your idea or connect with someone on a topic. The key elements of an elevator pitch can vary depending on the context but usually they start with a strong introduction or opening hook, and finish with engaging call to action.
A second very well-known pitching tool is the NABC (Need, Approach, Benefit, Competition) method. This tool is particularly good for presenting business ideas in a structured essentialist way. If there are various ideas or different business options being presented, the NABC model also helps potential business investors or sponsors evaluate the ideas more easily.
This month, our Intrapreneurship challenge is to practice pitching by using one of the tools above to promote your idea by focusing on the key information you want to communicate. 🚀
You don't have a business idea to pitch yet? Well, as we already mentioned, pitching doesn't have to be just about gaining investment – it can also be used in daily business life to promote a project or even present yourself and your skills in the case that you are joining a new business area or project team.
And remember even if it doesn’t go perfectly the first time! Experimenting, learning and failing are also key intrapreneurship skills that will help you build up your experience and confidence as an Intrapreneur.
Give it a go – practice makes perfect!
Kickbox Recommendations
Want to learn more? Here are some articles and books for further reading:
Book: Life's a Pitch – How to Sell Yourself and Your Brilliant Ideas" by Roger Mavity and Stephen Bayley
TV Show: Höhle der Löwe – This Swiss business TV show is based on Swiss Entrepreneurs pitching their ideas "in the lion's den". Here you can see great and less effective ways to pitch. Remember every Entrepreneur and every business is different and so adaption to your context is key.
To summarize - a great pitch combines passion for your idea, a deep understanding of your customer and your target market as well as clear communication of the message or business proposal you are bringing. 💡
We would love to hear in the comments section how you get on with our monthly pitching challenge - so please feel free to get in touch.
In the meantime, we wish you lots of learning on your journey!
About Swisscom Kickbox Swisscom employees can easily launch and grow their innovative idea at any time with Kickbox. The physical box contains
A starting credit of CHF 1,000
20% of the working time for 2 months
A manual that explains the idea validation process and provides valuable tips
In the multi-stage process, you will be accompanied by a coach to drive your idea forward, learn a lot and, in the best case, make your idea really big!
