Pitching Businesses to Investors

Andrea Cockerton is a UK-based independent pitch expert who has worked with over 350 entrepreneurs. Cockerton suggests three vital components in a business pitch - evidence that your business represents a growing market in need of your product or service, evidence that your team has the ability and talent to provide this product or service, and evidence that there is innovativeness to your product or service. Cockerton also stresses the importance of having long-term strategy when approaching investors, because seeking funding at the last penny is risky behavior.

Kevin Geiger has a similar idea. Geiger is an entertainment industry veteran who has worked as a producer, computer animator, and digital artist since 2009. In his four-part lecture, Geiger stresses the importance of committing your plan, and that deviating from that plan has consequences. If you don't commit to the plan as described in your business plan, you are not doing the work promised to your investor. It's important to be prepared and be careful not to deviate from your plan for the sake of communication with whom you are reporting to, though it's natural that some reasonable adjustments need to be made throughout the process.

Chuck Blakeman, however, looks at it from a different angle. Blakeman is a Colorado-based business success mentor who speaks at more than a hundred workshops a year and has been quoted in major news articles all over the world. He believes that doing is far more important than planning, and that time invested in the plan should be invested in the business because situations change and can't be accurately predicted.

I think there is value in both these point of views and that it relies completely on the perspective of the individual planner. A business plan serves to entice investors, but when it comes to actually operating the business, it is wise to be adaptable to changing conditions. Have a plan, but be prepared for the unexpected.