The Successful Pitch: Recent Episodes
Raizor's Edge
Forget everything you’ve been taught about pitching your business — you’re doing it wrong. To achieve success as an entrepreneur in business, you need to be able to pitch your business to clients and investors. Without a polished pitch, you’re wasting time and potentially risk losing future funding. Over the next 52 weeks, join Allon Raiz in his new bite-sized podcast series as he walks you through preparing the perfect pitch.
An investor is always going to probe the amount of money you’re asking them to invest. They want to make sure you’ve correctly gauged what you need to scale your business and that you’re not going to come back to them in six months or a year to ask for more. In the 52nd and final episode of The Successful Pitch podcast series, Allon Raiz talks about how you should respond when a potential investor asks what you would do with way more money than you’ve asked for in your pitch. Listen Now >
An increase in the size of the market could present your company with an opportunity to take advantage of favourable market conditions. Conversely, a declining market could pose a serious threat to your business. During your pitch, potential investors will want to see if you are prepared for both scenarios. Remember, there are opportunities in declining markets as well! In episode 51 of The Successful Pitch podcast series, Allon Raiz explores market growth and decline as it relates to your investor pitch. Listen Now >
In a pitch, you have to be able to communicate your vision for your business to your potential investor. You need to strike a balance between being too aspirational and unrealistic and not having any growth plans at all. Investors always strive to get a good return on their investment. They are looking to scale startup businesses but are also aware of the risks that startups face. You need to effectively communicate your growth plans and how you intend to mitigate the risks that are associated with growth. In episode 50 of The Successful Pitch podcast series, Allon Raiz offers his advice on how to go about answering the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?” Listen Now >
Investors want to make sure you are aware of all the risks that may affect your business – which you may not have mentioned during your actual pitch. They need to know you’ve considered all possible risks and they especially want to know which are the ones that give you sleepless nights. When answering this question, you need to be honest. In episode 49 of The Successful Pitch podcast series, Allon Raiz offers his advice on answering this challenging question. Listen Now >
Dealing with competition is an inevitable part of business. It’s simply a fact that when your business begins to thrive, new competitors will emerge and they will want a piece of the market pie. You need to show your potential investors during your pitch that you have strategies in place to build defensive “moats” to keep the competition at bay. In episode 48 of The Successful Pitch, Allon Raiz explains the term “moats” and helps you prepare for questions about handling your competitors. Listen Now >
Do you have a plan in place if anything happens to you, the business founder? This may be an uncomfortable question but one you should definitely be prepared for when you’re pitching to potential investors. Investors will want to know that you have thoroughly thought through how your business will continue operating in your absence and that you have put solid plans in place. In episode 47 of The Successful Pitch series Allon Raiz offers his advice on how you should approach answering this question during your pitch. Listen Now >
When you’re delivering an investor pitch, it’s vital to show your potential investors that you are aware of who your indirect competitors are. These are businesses who may entice your target audience to spend their hard-earned money elsewhere, even if it’s on a different product or service. Knowing your indirect competitors can help you strategise and stay ahead. In episode 46 of The Successful Pitch series, Allon Raiz offers some insights on dealing with this often-neglected aspect of running a business. Listen Now >
It’s important for you to be able to show potential investors that parties who are doing business with you have given you some form of commitment. Investors always try to mitigate their risk so if you can produce letters of intent during your pitch, it will increase your chances of getting funding. Allon Raiz talks about the importance of letters of intent in episode 45 of The Success Pitch podcast series.
Who would be your first ten staff hires? By asking this question, investors want to establish if you have a thorough understanding of the operational requirements of the various functions in your growing business and the respective roles that must be filled. Listen to episode 44 of The Successful Pitch series to hear Allon Raiz’ advice on how to answer this question during your pitch.
Attracting and retaining the right calibre of staff is a fundamental component of scaling a business. It’s vital to invest in the right people by hiring top talent with expandable and diverse skill sets. A growing business also needs a staff complement to match its increasing operational demands. Be prepared to answer the question of how you will attract and maintain skills as your business expands. Tune in to episode 43 of The Successful Pitch series where Allon Raiz will highlight the important points to mention when answering questions about your team during your pitch.
No company is immune to business risks. They impact your business in several ways and can pose a serious threat to the very existence of your organisation. It’s imperative to address these risks during your pitch and indicate to investors how you plan to mitigate against and minimise them. Investors want to see that you have a thorough understanding of the main risks that have the potential to affect your business. Join Allon Raiz for episode 42 of The Successful Pitch series for some insights into this topic. Listen Now >
When starting your business, it’s advisable to raise enough capital to sustain you throughout the growth phase . . . But, in some cases, it’s better to start with less capital. That’s because the growth phase will be a learning curve during which making mistakes will be unavoidable – and minimising the mistakes and their associated costs will be important. Your investors will want to see if you can strike a balance between the learning curve and its cost. So, what is the minimum amount of funding you would need to achieve this balance? Tune in to episode 41 of The Successful Pitch podcast series in which Allon Raiz explains the concept of MVF or minimum viable funding. Listen Now >
In business, a return on investment is a by-product of margin profitability. Investors want a business with the potential to achieve increased profitability, a business that can identify areas in their operations that can be leveraged to achieve bigger margins.
During your pitch, you need to be prepared to answer questions on how you plan to increase your margins and provide practical examples to support your reasoning. Tune in to episode 40 of The Successful Pitch series where Allon Raiz will explore this aspect of a successful investor pitch. Listen Now >
As an entrepreneur, you should expect investors to pose the following question during your pitch: “What do you need the money for, and how are you going to spend it?”
This is a crucial question, and it needs a well-articulated response that clearly outlines your projected expenditure over a specific time frame.
Investors always want to minimise risk; they are looking for an entrepreneur who displays good cashflow management skills and who will use the funds wisely. Join Allon Raiz for episode 39 of The Successful Pitch series, where he will take you through how to handle this defining moment of your pitch. Listen Now >
Investors always strive to get the highest possible return on their investment; they want to gauge if their investment will be worthwhile, how lucrative your business is and if it has growth potential. The financial performance of your business will be scrutinised in terms of capital requirements and profitability.
You should expect the following question: “When are we going to be paid back?”
You need to be thoroughly prepared for this inevitable question and provide figures that will back up your argument.
Listen to episode 38 of The Successful Pitch series where Allon Raiz will take you through this critical question and guide you on how to structure a well-thought-out and comprehensive answer during your pitch. Listen Now >
Every single business known to man has competition and to deny this is a fatal mistake. The question investors want you to answer is “What is your plan for dealing with competitors?” Investor’s want to know that you have thought this answer through in a strategic, realistic way. Join Allon in episode 37 of The Successful Pitch for some dos and don’ts when giving this answer. Listen Now >
Your break-even threshold is a pivotal point in your pitch. Surprisingly, investors don’t want this number given to them in terms of revenue, they would much prefer this figure in terms of units sold. Listen to Allon explain why in episode 36 of The Successful Pitch. Listen Now >
As much as investors want their return on investment, they also want this return to transpire in a certain timeline – and this timeline varies from investor to investor. In this episode of The Successful Pitch, Allon prepares you for the question, “Who will buy my equity when I am ready to exit?” Join him for episode 35 as he walks you through laying out potential future buyers in a well-constructed way. Listen Now >
Another question to be prepared for is the inevitable, “What’s in it for me?” Your investor isn’t in the investing game to give money away freely. You are one of three or four potential investments. This month.
Join Allon in episode 34 of The Successful Pitch to gain some insight into balancing why the return-on-investment opportunities far outweigh the potential risks – and how to prove you can be believed. Listen Now >
Join Allon Raiz in episode 33 of The Successful Pitch. Over the next 20 episodes, Allon will take you through some common questions investors ask and what they are looking for in your answers.
This week’s question is “who else is doing something similar to you in the world?” Tune in to find out why it’s important to answer this on a global scale and which direction an investor wants you to take when you answer. Listen Now >
Pitching is a serious business, and you definitely want to put your best foot forward. But it’s important to remember to be a human – smile, make an appropriate joke, show how approachable you are. If you are enjoying yourself, your investor will too. It’s not all fun and games though. Listen to Allon in episode 32 of The Successful Pitch to learn how to balance the serious side of pitching with a warm, engaging nature. Listen Now >
The highest pressure-point of a pitch is the last sentence. Should you end on a comment, a statement or an ask? If your investor is left thinking there is more to the pitch, you know you’ve ended on a weak, fluffy note. Listen to Allon in episode 31 of The Successful Pitch to find out how to go out with a strong ending. Listen Now >
Investors come in all shapes and sizes but one thing they all have in common is that they are impatient. Start your pitch off with a bang to avoid losing their interest. Help them frame the rest of your pitch around a schema or model. Listen to Allon explain all the benefits of presenting the important stuff upfront in episode 30 of The Successful Pitch. Listen Now >
Pitches should be taken seriously and preparing for a pitch is vital. Because most investors ask a handful of similar questions, it’s easy to anticipate what might be asked and overprepare your answers. The mistake made here is jumping in to answer before the investor has finished asking and sounding overly rehearsed. Join Allon Raiz in episode 29 of The Successful Pitch where he explains why a look of surprise might be in your favour. Listen Now >
The worst words you could ever use in a pitch are words that make you sound uncertain – especially during the Q&A section. They immediately convey to your investor that you are unsure and lack confidence in the knowledge surrounding your business, and the future of it. So, what do you do when you really don’t know the answer? Join Allon in episode 28 of The Successful Pitch to find out how to field these difficult questions. Listen Now >
Good investors are trained to listen and listen well. Any contradictions between your pitch deck and your voiceover have the potential to blow you out of the water. Contradictions invite hard-to-answer questions, come across as mistakes and make the investor question the validity of your entire pitch. Listen to Allon Raiz in episode 27 of The Successful Pitch where he provides two ways to mitigate these contradictions. Listen Now >
No two audiences are the same, but they all have the same question: “What’s in it for me?” And the answer to this question will be different for each person. For this reason, it’s important to tweak your pitch to your particular audience whenever you get up in front of someone different. Join Allon Raiz for episode 26 of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch to understand what your audience feels if you do not tailor your pitch to address their unique concerns. Listen Now >
As an entrepreneur, you tend to become so embedded in your business that you forget that the nuances you know offhand are not as obvious or understandable to the outside world. It’s important to keep this in mind when pitching. Join Allon Raiz for episode 25 of The Successful Pitch where he explains how to mitigate this problem by using a common reference point or schema.
An investor wants to know that he or she is investing in something worthwhile that is actually solving a problem. Demonstrate this by using storytelling in your pitch to express the problem statement. Use a real-life client example and sprinkle in the size of the market that would be willing to pay to solve this problem – but don’t overstate the problem or the market size. Join Allon Raiz in episode 24 of The Successful Pitch to learn more.
If you use technical words and complicated statistics in your pitch, you’ll increase your probability of closing an investment. Not at all! In fact, doing this increases the risk of investors asking you questions you may not have answers to . . . if you don’t lose them in a sea of boredom first. Listen to Allon Raiz in episode 23 of The Successful Pitch where he explains a better technique to use when pitching.
In this age of information overload, people are accustomed to receiving information in small chunks. Your potential investor is no different. He or she would prefer concise and visual information in order to make an informed decision quickly. Listen to episode 22 of The Successful Pitch to find out why it’s important to cull the word count and use pictures in your pitch instead. Listen Now >
After you’ve presented your shiny, well-polished pitch to your potential investor, the logical thing to do is show them the next steps. Join Allon Raiz for episode 21 of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, to find out how to ask for what you want. Listen Now >
Investors will ask crucial, probing questions about your business during or after your pitch. Interrupting them (because you think you know the answer) before they’ve finished the question is not only rude, it also speaks to your inability to listen. Listen to episode 20 of The Successful Pitch as Allon explains why it’s always better to listen, pause, then answer. www.raizcorp.com
In a high-pressure pitch context, the passion you feel for your product or service can be lost in a sea of nerves. The natural, excited tone you would convey in any other scenario becomes stiff and rigid and is sure to bore your investor. Join Allon for episode 19 where he explains why you need to do everything you can to calm your nerves when delivering your all-important pitch. Listen Now >
You only have one chance to get this pitch right. Anything can go wrong on Pitch Day – faulty equipment, a corrupted presentation, a dead clicker battery, etc and then your chance vanishes; you blew it. A great entrepreneur always has a plan B and, just in case, a plan C. Listen to episode 18 of The Successful Pitch to find out if your backup plans are up to scratch. Listen Now
Technical gremlins have an uncanny way of sneaking into presentations uninvited. Faulty or glitchy equipment is frustrating for you and your audience. Join Allon for episode 17 of The Successful Pitch for a few tidbits of advice to mitigate potential technical problems. Listen More ->
Using your keyboard to click to the next slide is distracting for both you and your audience. Walking across the room to do this breaks your pitch rhythm. You lose your audience and it gives you an air of being unprepared and unprofessional. Join Allon for episode 16 of The Successful Pitch where he explains why learning how to use a clicker in your presentation is a game changer. www.raizcorp.com
If an investor simply wanted you to read a slide deck, they wouldn’t need you to be in the room. The point of a pitch presentation is to give you an opportunity to talk about your business naturally and in your own voice. Join Allon Raiz for episode 15 of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch to understand more about what it communicates to your audience when you read your slides verbatim. www.raizcorp.com
What do you do if an investor invites you to pitch but doesn’t provide a templatised slide deck? First off, don’t overdo it with the slides, information overload is a big mistake. Join Allon Raiz for episode 14 of The Successful Pitch where he talks about why it’s important to cull the information you provide in a pitch. www.raizcorp.com
Dress counts. What you decide to wear to a pitch tells your investor how capable you are of reading the company culture and, by extension, the market. But the “what-to-wear” decision can be fraught with emotion and nuance. How do you dress to show your potential investor respect but also reflect your personality? In episode 13, Allon shares a general rule of thumb. Listen now. www.raizcorp.com
The more complicated your business model, the more vulnerable you are to risk. Investors prefer simple models because the risk decreases with less working parts to the model. Listen to Allon Raiz in episode 12 of The Successful Pitch where he breaks this down with an excellent example. www.raizcorp.com
Investors need to understand how much of the addressable market your business could potentially win but this number needs to be presented realistically. Taking into consideration that competitors will respond as soon as you enter the market, what is the best way to present your business’s market potential to an investor? Find out more in episode 11 of The Successful Pitch.
Maybe. I think so. Probably. Using these words in your pitch indicates doubt in yourself, your abilities and your business. Uncertain words immediately raise red flags in an investor’s mind. Conversely, overconfidence will set off the same flags. So how do you find a balance that will ensure investor buy-in? Join Allon Raiz for episode ten of his The Successful Pitch podcast series where he talks about crafting the perfect pitch vocabulary.
It is important to understand that a spray-and-pray approach to finding an investor does not work. It’s important to create a profile of what you are looking for in an investor and what you want from them before putting yourself out there. Join Allon in episode nine of The Successful Pitch to find out how to research and choose the ideal investor for your business.
No matter what business you’re in, a potential investor will want to know how you make money. Can you explain this process in detail from start to finish? Do you understand where you could push to make money and where you might be losing money? In episode eight, Allon explains why your answer to this question could make or break your pitch.
Investors are more likely to invest into a business with high margins. Why? Because higher margins provide a buffer for the mistakes a startup is bound to make. A business with low margins poses a higher risk because new businesses can’t always offset low margins with higher volumes. In this scenario, how do you mitigate your risk and entice your investor? Allon Raiz explains how in episode seven of his podcast series, The Successful Pitch.
As the business owner, choosing what to pay yourself is no easy decision. And what you do decide to pay yourself speaks volumes to your potential investors. Join Allon in episode six of the Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, to find out what you’re communicating about your balance of risk.
When entering the market, no competitor is going to roll over and let you take their market share. Do you know who your competition is and how they will respond to your arrival or growth? How you will respond is crucial to an investor’s decision to invest in your business or not. Join Allon Raiz in episode five of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, where he expands on this train of thought.
The job of an investor is to look out for all possible risks associated with a potential investment. If you are not upfront about the risks your business may have, the investor assumes you haven’t thought about your business realistically – nothing is risk free. www.raizcorp.com
In episode three of the Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, Allon stresses the importance of making sure you can show the investor that you and your team understand the risks associated with actually executing your business model.
Episode two of the Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, is about gaining insight from questions investors ask you, and the subconscious messaging you give off when you pay attention and take notes. Raizor's Edge Podcast
Bombarding your investors with numbers straight off the bat is a sure-fire way to lose their interest. In the first episode of the Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, Allon chats about the importance of starting your pitch the right way. Explore more