Create a Business Pitch Presentation That Borrows From Venture Capital Fundraising
Or How To Take Advantage Of All That Persuasion Power For Your Technology Product
Investors hit the ground running in 1Q 2018, deploying $28.2 billion in venture-backed companies across 1,683 deals – the highest amount of capital deployed in a single quarter since 2006. – National Venture Capital Association
Seems that a simple pitch deck and a few meetings generates very large numbers. If the venture capital world’s pitch deck process can close that many deals, wouldn’t it be a good idea to take a look under the hood and see how those ideas are sold? Quite possibly you can use some of that juju in your next pitch – for your technology product or solution.
More Science That Art
Thanks to the inside view from a venture capitalist name Oren Klaff, we can start to understand the structure of successful pitch decks for raising capital for very complex deals in industries like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, real estate, and more.
After working with a neuroscientist to understand how the brain works, Mr. Klaff started to apply some of that understanding to how he pitched deals. The result of that work is revealed in his book Pitch Anything, a very good primer on what not to do when trying to raise money. One example: don’t design business presentations without understanding which part of the brain will be used to be influenced by it!
Effective pitch decks have raised a substantial amount of funds for many businesses, and in many cases the deal has to be “sold” just like any product or service. The secret is in the process, or the sequence of information in how that proposition is framed.
High Contrast & Sense of Urgency
For one, there has to be an overarching story idea as to what the product or service does…what is the problem it solves and why is it timely? Secondly, it’s important to articulate social, economic, and technological forces that are dictating change. The human mind, in its most primitive sense, is designed to react to change – especially changes that are seen as a threat and affect large sectors of the economy or population as a whole.
If you think about it for a moment, a lot of our reactions to the environment around us are primal. We respond to sounds, colours, expressions, and other sensory impressions all the time. If ideas are not moving, colourful, and seen to be changing our environment, they will not attract (or keep) our attention.
That’s when the primal brain in your prospect’s head makes a discretionary decision to ignore what you are offering. It’s not psychology at work, but biology performing an efficient function to preserve limited processing power for more pressing, perceived threats.
Do you have a product or service that needs to be communicated effectively? Check out our Killer Pitch Deck services here.
