Build business partnerships

Pitch Template.

The Pitch Template helps to clarify and communicate an idea and create a pitch that justifies an investment of time and money. Writing and performing a short pitch will help clarify an idea, attract partners or investors and generate buy-in within organisations.

"Never invest in a business you can’t understand."

Warren Buffet


The following structure is suitable for pitching a company or a new idea. The ideal length for the resultant pitch is 3 minutes. Therefore we need to avoid too much technological detail and too many financials and focus on telling a good story enthusiastically.


1. Name
Company name or a brand name for our innovative idea. A memorable name is a surprisingly effective way of raising the profile of an innovation within an organisation.


2. What problem are we solving?

We start our story by outlining a clear and important unmet need for specific users. Use a dramatic fact or personal anecdote in the pitch presentation.


3. How we solve the problem
Here we describe how our new or distinguishing technology, service or behaviour satisfies a user’s unmet need. We articulate exactly how our innovation works, using plain and non-technical language. We mention any potential negatives and give reasons why they are not an issue.


4. Business model
How is the company or innovation to make money? We devote some time to thinking through the top level financial aspects of the innovation or company and our Give|Get with potential partners.


5. Why different?
We describe our company or innovation in one sentence that defines its central idea and explains why it is better than existing competitors or products.


6. The ask
We finish by defining what we want from the audience whether it’s time, money, partnership or another form of commitment.

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HOW THIS TOOL FITS IN WITH OTHERS

We use this in Business Model or Proposition Jams as a way to summarise and communicate new business concepts.
We can refer to a specific Open Innovation Model or a Give|Get tool that we prepared earlier.
It will be helpful to use any other tools that describe how the innovation works e.g. Sketch Templates or Idea Frame. We can use the Pitch Template as the first stage to preparing a fuller Business Model Canvas for more detailed planning.

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