Sunderland Software City

Mary Garside, Software Sector Specialist, Sunderland Software City

Mary Garside is one of Sunderland Software City’s Software Sector Specialists, giving hands on, one-on-one, technical and business mentoring to software businesses.

In this blog she gives her top tips on getting your pitch to potential investors perfect.

As a Software Specialists for Sunderland Software City we engage with aspiring entrepreneurs and hear about interesting products with commercial potential almost every day.

Some of our consultations are explorations of an idea while others are defined pitches with several further developing their pitch in the hope of securing early stage investment. 

Here are some tips on the things we have found people focused on and went on to be successful in obtaining funding that you may like to consider in developing your pitch. 

• Put some time into structuring your pitch so there is a story with focus and clarity of thought. It won’t just be smooth, purposeful, and easy to understand, it will be filled with impact and individuality. 

• A short background on what has brought you to this point is a good opener.  Be inspiring, compelling, and tight with your words and only talk about that which directly relates or adds significance to your business idea. 

• Have some notion of market dynamics, the trends and developments that have set the stage for your opportunity.  If you don’t have the ability to adequately research your market, our Intelligence Service can give you free market research. 

• Address the problem in the today’s global market and how your solution is necessary, articulating the needs and the pain currently being experienced by the user. 

Perhaps you identified a compelling gap based on a personal experience of being a user or through your own thorough research.  Is the problem big enough to have real commercial potential?  Why your product and why at this time? 

We get concerned when pitches don’t include the larger picture, taking into consideration the competition in the market.  If there is no competition, there is often no market. Take a moment to concisely validate the market positioning and a credible differentiator of your product. What strengths and weaknesses does it have?  We have found some very good ideas lack the development skills necessary to see the project through to completion. 

This is perfectly fine if it will be funded by your investment.

Next time Mary discusses getting your business model right, and tackling the financial side of your business.

If you would be interested in guest blogging about a software related matter at sunderlandsoftwarecity.com drop us a line