Top 10 Tips for Pitching Your MVP

You don’t just need a successful MVP, you also need to know how to sell the concept to other people. 

Pitching is a whole different skill set. If you’re not used to pitching, it can feel frustrating trying to condense the enormity of what you’re trying to accomplish down into one sentence or one pitch deck. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Tell a story

Think about what we spoke about in Chapter 2, with successful storytelling. You need a persona (you), a theme (why now?), the plot (what’s the journey you’ve been on?) and setting (what’s the wider context for your demographic right now?). 

2. Make it personal

I was told by an investor that they are most interested in the person or people behind the business, so put your story right up front.

3. Practice your elevator pitch first

If you can nail your elevator pitch, you can feed this into your pitch. Maybe it’s a strap-line or three key points, but it needs to be snappy (I find this the hardest by the way)

4. Get those stats

Use a piece of tech like pitch.com to help you figure out what parts of your pitch deck kept people’s attention and if and where they dropped off. This nifty software can give you a detailed breakdown of who read what and help you improve for the next version. 

5. About us page

Analytics show that the longest read slide is always the one with the founder or co-founders on. So pay special attention to that page and put it up front.

6. It needs to be designed

Even if you haven’t branded your company yet, try to make the design as slick as possible. If you’re not from a design background, you can easily use free templates like Canva 

7. Keep it simple

This goes for the design and copywriting. People like to over complicate their pitch decks as they know their business plan inside out. So do the Mom-test or show it to someone who knows nothing, if they can understand it from start to finish then you’re good to go. 

8. Maximum 15 slides

Ideally you want to make a pitch deck in under 10 slides, but it’s a challenge. If an investor has 5 minutes to look through, they might not get all the way through. Make sure the first few slides really pitches your story and then the rest can support the idea for anyone who reads on. 

9. Have different versions

Maybe you need a US version and a European one, or pitch decks of different investment value. The content should be tailored but also the design. I have a client who changes the design depending on the sector they are pitching for.

10. Add a dash of character

We’re all human after all!
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This is the part where you finally dive in and start building - creating your Minimum Viable Product is exciting, but also nerve wracking. In our eBook “How to Build Your Digital Community From Research to MVP” head to Chapter Three to read all about building your MVP.

You can find it on the resources page of our website, download and take a read!