10 Slides to Pitch your Business
from Guy Kawasaki [Rich Dad, Poor Dad] 09 Sept 15 enhanced for Wiz4biz
10/20/30 Rule of Pitching “I am evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint” says Guy Kawasaki [Author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”]. It’s quite simple: a pitch should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points. This rule is applicable for any presentation to reach an agreement (ie, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc.)
Ten Slides. Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than 10 concepts in a meeting—and venture capitalists are somewhat normal. (The only difference between you & venture capitalists is that he is getting paid to gamble with someone else’s money). If you must use more than 10 slides to explain your business, you probably don’t have a business.
Twenty Minutes. You should give your 10 slides in 20 minutes. Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take 40 minutes to make it work with the projector. Even if setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you give your pitch in 20 minutes, and you have 40 minutes left for discussion.
Thirty-point Font. The majority of the presentations that I see, have text in a 10 or 20 point font. As much text as possible is jammed into the slide, and then the presenter reads it. However, as soon as the audience figures out that you’re reading the text, they read ahead of you, because they can read faster than you can speak. The result is that you and the audience are out of synch. The infographic created in collaboration with my friends, will help you fine tune what to put on your 10 slides. I hope this helps you create a winning Pitch for your Startup. As for the 10 perfect slides, Kawasaki summarizes them below. Just remember to use big fonts (30 point type) and fewer words – and don’t just read word-for-word from your slides.
1. Title: Give your company’s name, Product or Service, your Name & Title, + contact info.
2. Problem: Describe the problem you’re solving or the need you’re meeting.
3. Value proposition: What is the Value of that problem you’re solving, or the solution you have? Will people pay $$ for that?
4. Underlying Magic: Describe the most impressive aspect of your product “graphically”, using diagrams, schematics & flowcharts, with minimum text.
5. Business Model: Explain “who” is going to buy your product, and how you plan to get them to make that purchase decision.
6. Go-to-Market plan: Investors want to know that by the time you’re ready to start making money, you won’t be broke already. Show them you’ve actually planned your path to the market.
7. Competitive Analysis: Cover the most significant competitors possible. If you don’t, investors will think you are either in denial or in the clouds about your competition.
8. Management Team: Outline the key players of your management team, board of directors and board of advisors, as well as your key investors. “It’s okay if you have less than a perfect team,” says Kawasaki. “If your team was perfect, you wouldn’t need to be pitching.”
9. Financial Projections & Key Metrics: A 1 & 3 year forecast, containing not only dollars, but also key Metrics such as key Customers & Conversion rate is crucial here. And make sure it’s a bottom up forecast, not top down.
10. Current Status, (accomplishments to date, timeline & use of funds) Explain the current stage of your product, what the near future looks like and how you plan to use the funding you’re aiming to raise.
Exit Strategy. Intentionally missing from the list is the Exit Strategy, which Kawasaki views as a waste of time – since all start-ups view IPOs & Acquisitions as Exits, and all investors know that already.
Comments: Is there anything you can add to this?