If you’re a startup founder, you need to know how to pitch your business in order to attract investor’s funds to keep your business afloat and continue to scale.

Even if you’re not planning to pursue funding, having a solid elevator pitch ready will ensure that you know your business inside and out. Which comes in handy if or when you eventually decide to seek out investment.

Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley famous venture capitalist once said that pitching your startup to venture capitalists is like online dating, “You are either hot or not, interesting or not. It’s that quick.” he said. To many first time founders, pitching your idea to investors can be a frightening experience.

On the pitching day, there’s probably more than 20+ startup founders there, how do you make the judges remember your business idea out of everyone?

Here’s some of our tips to make your first startup pitch a successful one.

Remember to tell a story

When possible, start off your pitch by telling a compelling story that addresses the problem your product or service solves in the marketplace. Fight the temptation to talk about your “patent-pending, curve-jumping, paradigm-shifting, scalable product bla bla bla” as you’ll sound just like every other company the VC is meeting that day. Instead, tell stories about why you wanted to create the companies, why you see your company will bring to the society.

Keep your pitch simple

Less is more. Prioritize the most important things you want to share and stick to those pieces. Start out with a brief explanation of your startup idea that immediately conveys your vision and purpose. Explain the problem that your startup is attempting to solve and why your startup/product offers the solution. Outline in detail how your business plans to generate revenue.

Know your numbers

Understand your key figures inside out, you will still need to speak to the key figures that investors are interested in. That includes your runway, your CAC & LTV, financial forecast, overhead, when the company can be profitable, and what your timetable for achieving profitability is. While including too many numbers in your pitch can take away from your focus, you need to male sure your presentation includes critical figures that will allow you to demonstrate that you are prepared and understand what’s relevant for your business and its industry.

Address your competition head-on

This can show the judges that you understand your competitive landscape and your differentiators. The best way for you to communicate your value proposition over your competitors’ is to show this slide in a competitive matrix format — where you list your competitors down the left side of the page, you have your product features/benefits across the top, and place check marks in the boxes for which company offers that service.

Always prepare for a Q&A

Last, but not least, prepare for a Q&A. No matter how flawless your pitch is, investors will always have more questions that they want to ask to understand your business better, and by always anticipating those questions and having clear answers will not only increase your credibility but will also give you a chance to address concerns before you leave the stage/room.

That’s all I have for you now! Will add on when I think of any more pointers.

Until then, see you next time! All the best in your next fundraise, fellow hustler. When times get tough, always remember why you started.

I’m rooting for you!