A pitch is a performance, an oral presentation. But too often, entrepreneurs think they're doing the audio version of their business plan. (Think Books on Tape) instead of doing the movie version (or better yet - the movie preview) of their book. (Think more action and highlights, less exposition)

 
This blog entry is going to combine the received wisdom Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 Rule and Blue Rock Venture's tips on the oral presentation.

 
Tip of the Day: Think of your presentation as a series of elevator pitches - one for what you do, who you are, the opportunity, the problem, the market, etc.

 
Here's what Blue Rock says:

If your presentation were to be written out as text, the maximum length would be the equivalent of 22 sentences — an introductory sentence plus no more than 3 sentences for each of the 7 major topics (or slides).

Remember: the goal of your oral presentation is not to be comprehensive. Your goal is to sound interesting and plausible and to motivate people to talk with you "one-on-one" at a later date.

 So let's combine Kawasaki's 10 slide outline with the Blue Rock elevator pitch notion:

 (MSQ Note: Think of slides 1 and 2 as being your classic elevator pitch)

1. Problem

   In a single introductory sentence, please provide a very, very abbreviated description of the problem you're solving.
   

2. Your solution/Market Opportunity

   Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the two most important (but definitely not all ) of the following issues:

   *Identify the specific need or problem addressed by the venture.

   *Describe the overall structure, size, and value of the current market.

   *How is this market need now being met? By which companies?

   *How strong is each of these companies in the current market?

   *What share of the market does each competitor now hold?

   *What is the size and value of your targeted market niche or market segment?

3. Business model

   3 Sentences

   *Are you a for-profit/non-profit?  Hybrid?
   *Plan for sustainability - selling products services?  Are they subsidized?
   *Sometimes it helps to invoke an example - "this is the craigslist of for the Latin american informal economy"
   

4. Underlying magic/technology

   Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the two most important (but definitely not all ) of the following issues:

   *What is the present state of the technology in this field?

   *What is limiting in the current situation that makes improved or new technology desirable?

   *What competing technologies now exist?

   *What competing technologies are known to be under study or development?

   *What would be the relative advantage of the company's technologies?

   The Micro-PDA software is built on the mini-bucks open source platform.  Although Intuit is developing a mico-enterprise version of QuickBooks, the platform will be limited to computers running Windows XP.  Our solution will be able to run on PDAs and cellphones which are much more common in the field.

5. Marketing and sales
   2-3 sentences.

   *How you intend to reach your customers?

   *Directly or through partnerships?

   *how many sales or people served by X time?

   *Cost of sales?  Special considerations? Culture?

   The Micro-PDA project will distribute its software through partnerships with the Grameen Foundation in India, Accion in Bolivia and Kenya.  Our first partner, Grameen, will deploy the software to 2000 micro-lending groups over a period of 2 years.  Accion will roll out the software in Bolivia in Q3 2006 to 100 groups and to 25 groups in Kenya.  Unitus will underwrite the cost of installation and the first year's maintenance.

6. Competition
   3 sentences:
   Identify competition. (There is always competition - even doing nothing is an alternative to your solution.)  Identify strengths/weaknesses.

   Our competition includes traditional paper and pencil ledgers, ad-hoc spreadsheets and Intuit, who is developing a micro-enterprise version of Quicken.  Paper and pencil, while appearing to be low cost, ends up increasing the cost of reporting while introducing data entry errors for microenterprise groups larger than 5 communities.  The spreadsheet solution is limited to MFIs with PCs.  The Intuit solution is also limited by the PC platform.

7. Team

   Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the following issues What is the experience of the members of the management team? What are the specific credentials of the team members? Affiliations? What roles will each member play? What specific responsibilities?

   Our team is composed of experienced veterans in the x technology market, Y NGO field, z academic background.  My background includes field work in micro-finance with Accion, a degree in cultural anthropology from Harvard and 10 years experience consulting to UNDP and the World Bank on culturally based solutions to microcredit in Indonesia, Bolivia and Kenya

8. Projections and milestones

   Our milestones include the following:
   *Accepted as a Reuters Foundation project
   *Founder is an Ashoka Fellow
   *Field guide to micro-finance completed Q2 2006
   *Full field pilot serving 200 women scheduled for Q3 2006

9. Status and timeline
   2-3 sentences

   Our PDA-based technology solution has completed its beta phase and will be tested in the field Q3.  Full deployment across 5 micro-finance organizations is expected Q1 2007.
   
   Our current funding is sufficient to complete the beta and field testing phases. 

10. Summary and call to action
    2-3 sentences.  Good time to talk about money, ask for resources.

    The Micro-PDA project will drastically lower the cost of delivering microfinance services by 1/3 to Indian women in Kerala. By the end of 2007, we estimate that our technology solution will increase the number of micro-loans by 10,000 over the 3000 currently granted today.
    
    We are seeking the following resources to continue our work.  First, we're looking for one or technology partners to help us test and finish the software.  Second, we're looking for $150,000 in the form of matching grants to hire x people to finish the technology, train y people in the village in the use of technology.  Third, we're looking to build a solid board of directors with fundraising experience.