Plan & Pitch

Move over elevator pitch, Richard Branson has just raised the stakes. The Virgin entrepreneur is giving startups the chance to pitch their business to him via Twitter, in 140 characters or less.

It’s the dawn of the Twitter micro pitch! Sir Richard Branson is offering entrepreneurs the chance to promote their business to him via Twitter.

It’s all part of a campaign to promote a new startup business conference in Los Angeles called Perfect Business. The “micro pitch” is the brainchild of Branson; not for nothing has he built a reputation for killer marketing.

The billionaire entrepreneur will decide on the best micro pitch by 8 September. The winner will receive two free tickets to the conference, flights and coaching to “turn your tweet into a full blown business plan”.

To submit an idea, entrepreneurs must send their micro pitch tweet to @perfectbusiness, including the hashtag #micropitch. Problem is, with these two tags, you’ve lost 27 characters.

Entrepreneurs have to keep their pitches extra short.

In a canny, money-making move, Branson and the Perfect Business lot are allowing less Twitter-savvy entrepreneurs to go over the 140 character limit – for $60. You can submit this slightly longer pitch through the Perfect Business website.

The Perfect Business team will then select three finalists from the web entries to get the chance to pitch their business idea to Branson and a host of other venture capitalists including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Rustic Canyon Partners and August Capital at the conference to be held on 26 October.

Real Business sends special kudos out to the entrepreneurs who are keeping to the 140-character limit.

Here are some of the pitches so far:

1ideaguy @Perfectbusiness #micropitch -pharmaceutical ads on hospital trays – 15% profits please

 Graham_Horton @PerfectBusiness a lottery whose prize is a space flight with virgin galactic (great for a birthday present!) #micropitchRyPi

@perfectbusiness tablet/app to pay restaurant bill – no wait/paper, tipcalc, user can custom split, free up staff, turnover, ads #micropitchepicflowers

@perfectbusiness #micropitch Consumers will see flowers in real time in a florist’s cooler from anywhere in the world & be able to buy them

 stolen from real business

Scott Berkun shares the process of 8, well… 9 steps you have to go through to deliver the perfect business pitch.

Step 0: Create and refine the idea
Step 1: What is the scope of the idea
Step 2: Who has the power to green light the idea
Step 3: Start with their perspective
Step 4: The structure of the pitch
Step 5: Test the pitch
Step 6: Deliver
Step 7: What to do when the pitch fails
Step 8: Do it yourself

The full article is a pretty f**king long read, I prefer reading a book when it’s more then 3 alineas, but perhaps you’re interested.

Anyway, There’s some good stuff in there:

The classic mistake of would be idea pitchers is to pitch the idea well before it’s ready. When most people find an interesting idea, they’re quickly seduced by their egos into doing silly and non productive things, like annoying the pants off of everyone they come into contact with by telling them how amazing their new idea is. The thrill of being clever is so strong that they forget the fact that there are 100 interesting ideas bouncing around for every single truly good idea.

1. Concise. Your pitch should take no longer than 30-60 seconds.
2. Clear. Use language that everyone understands. Don’t use fancy words thinking it will make you sound smarter. Your listener won’t understand you and you’ll have lost your opportunity to hook them.
3. Powerful. Use words that are powerful and strong. Deliver the “Sis-Boom-Bang” to grab their attention!
4. Visual. Use words that create a visual image in your listeners mind. This will make your message memorable.
5. Tell a Story. A short story, that is. A good story is essentially this: someone with a problem either finds a solution or faces tragedy. Either type of story can be used to illuminate what you do.
6. Targeted. A great elevator pitch is aimed for a specific audience. If you have target audiences that are vastly different, you might want to have a unique pitch for each.
7. Goal Oriented. A kick-ass elevator pitch is designed with a specific outcome in mind. What is your desired outcome? You may have different pitches depending on different objectives. For instance do you want to: make a sale, gain a prospect, enlist support for an idea, or earn a referral.
8. Has a Hook. This is the element that literally snags your listener’s interest and makes them want to know more. This is the phrase or words that strike a chord in your listener.

Stolen from dumblittleman.com

Are you pitch ready? Want to get invested? Send your pitch to James Caan, entrepreneur and investor, known from the British Dragon’s Den.

Unfortunately…

“Proposals are assessed by the Investment Team and unfortunately due to the high volume that we receive it is near to impossible to respond to each and everyone and can take several weeks for a response.”

What the hell. What have you got to loose?

http://www.james-caan.com/investments-ideas.php

Pitching your business idea to investors is difficult as it is, so why don’t you make it easier on yourself and your team. Make an effort to get the unfair advantage that you have across. Investors LOVE an unfair advantage.

Think about stuff like:

- a big market lead
- an experienced team (all ex-Google PHD’s for example)
- innovative and breakthrough technology
- defensible IP / patents
- exclusive partnerships
- great sales and marketing
- the 5th ace up your sleeve

Wanna build a succesful startup in 2009? Why don’t you spend 295 dollars and come to The Perfect Pitch 2009, ‘The Entrepreneur & Investor Event of the Year’.

Hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and investors will converge for a day of learning and dealmaking. Powerful speakers and panelists will show you what it takes to build a successful startup in 2009.

Say Hello to Richard for me.

An article on forbes.com tells you how to put some pizazz in your pitch. Yes, that’s pizazz, not pizza’s.

It’s not so much what goes into a pitch that makes it good, but what doesn’t. Whether you’re pitching to friends, investors, angels or venture capitalists, the cardinal rules remain the same: Be brief and be clear.

In other words: a good pitch is a short pitch.

Furthermore, tailor pitches to the occasion:

First, the 30-second pitch, where the only goal is to grab someone’s attention with your idea so they will give you five more minutes.

Second, the five-minute pitch offers just enough time to rattle off a rough outline of your idea so that you will get an hour.

Third, the hour-long pitch is all about details–the business model, the product and the management team.

Hello starting entrepreneur, you probably want to go on for hours when you pitch your business idea to someone. Good, but an investor won’t invest that much time in you or your plan when he first meets you.

Can you make an investor enthusiastic about your product or service in two minutes?

Remember these two things when preparing for an elevator pitch:

1) pain statement: what problem is it that you are trying to solve?

2) value proposition: how does your venture solve that problem?

For the rest:

1) make it precise
2) make it understandable
3) make it greed enducing (investors want to make money)
4) make it impossible to refute

Easy peasy.

What comes first? The pitch or the plan?

Most starting entrepreneurs in need of investment write a business plan first. Because that’s what they feel most comfortable with. Working out their idea in a detailed and thick business plan. After that, they distill a powerpoint presentation from their plan.

As it turns out that’s the wrong order!

Well, if you have to believe the pitchthenplan method.

I do. It makes a lot of sense.

Take a look at the instruction video. It makes you a better starting entrepreneur, I promise!

The proper process

1. Throw together a pitch that contains ten slides

2. Try it out on some mentors, colleagues, relatives, angels and investors. Do this about ten times.

3. get the team together in a room and discuss what you have learned.

4. Fix the pitch.

5. Start creating the plan.

Have fun pitching!

Scott Berkun shares the process of 8, well… 9 steps you have to go through to deliver the perfect business pitch.

Step 0: Create and refine the idea
Step 1: What is the scope of the idea
Step 2: Who has the power to green light the idea
Step 3: Start with their perspective
Step 4: The structure of the pitch
Step 5: Test the pitch
Step 6: Deliver
Step 7: What to do when the pitch fails
Step 8: Do it yourself

The full article is a pretty f**king long read, I prefer reading a book when it’s more then 3 alineas, but perhaps you’re interested.

Anyway, There’s some good stuff in there:

The classic mistake of would be idea pitchers is to pitch the idea well before it’s ready. When most people find an interesting idea, they’re quickly seduced by their egos into doing silly and non productive things, like annoying the pants off of everyone they come into contact with by telling them how amazing their new idea is. The thrill of being clever is so strong that they forget the fact that there are 100 interesting ideas bouncing around for every single truly good idea.