{"id":2461,"date":"2020-12-08T15:55:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwitech.com\/blog\/?p=2461"},"modified":"2022-01-03T06:22:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T06:22:52","slug":"pitching-to-investors-best-practices-during-the-covid-19-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwitech.com\/blog\/pitching-to-investors-best-practices-during-the-covid-19-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitching to Investors: Best Practices During the COVID-19 Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Certainly, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the year 2020 has been an unprecedented one for startup companies in the U.S. and globally. While venture funding across the globe fell around 6% in the first six months of 2019, the first half of 2020 witnessed a sharp fall of 17%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S. market, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold in startup funding. While startup deals reduced by around 16% following the 2008 financial crisis, funding deals in the first quarter of 2020 declined by around 6%.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the U.S. accounted for 97% of the overall funding in North America in the first half of 2020 \u2013 with the major share of funding going toward late-stage financing and technology domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image source: Crunchbase<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While the COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted venture capital for tech startup<\/a><\/strong> funding, it has certainly not spelled the death knell for the startup industry. Having said that, American startup founders and business owners do face plenty of challenges on how to generate the next round of funding for their businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the latest trends in startup funding, entrepreneurs have taken to remote pitching \u2013 to get funding from investors. As an active angel investor and entrepreneur, Chenoa Farnswith<\/a> presents seven tips on how to gain an investor\u2019s attention during a virtual pitch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Chenoa quotes it explicitly, <\/p>\n

“not all investors are writing checks right now.”<\/p>

Despite having a great idea or product, every investor may not be willing to put their money into your startup. Before agreeing to the pitch, do your homework in finding the right investor \u2013 including their previous investments, interests, and the type of business model that would excite them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So, plan for that.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Richard Harroch, Venture Capitalist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you find the right investor, how do you go about pitching your business? Here are four of the best practices<\/em> that you can adopt \u2013 keeping the COVID factor in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Look for hidden opportunities in the current crisis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a business owner, you do not need to wait for the current crisis to end \u2013 before pitching to potential investors. As a rule, start looking for business opportunities that have become relevant \u2013 thanks to the ongoing crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Kognition<\/a> \u2013 an enterprise-level AI solution provider for smart buildings \u2013 presented the design for a thermal camera that used image recognition to screen the body temperature of people entering a building. The company also offered a limited trial period of thermal camera technology for free \u2013 something that would not be thought of in the pre-COVID world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Create the perfect pitch deck<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Next, you need to create the perfect pitch deck \u2013 with 15 to 20 slides \u2013 that covers all aspects of your business including the problem to be solved, your solution, product details, targeted consumers, and business strategy. Above all, your slide presentation should complement your business story and presentation \u2013 and not just be about putting all the information on a presentation deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneur and investor, Rizwan Virk<\/a>, shares an interesting take on a story for selling a video game \u2013 comprising of the following talking points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n