Guidelines  for  Developing  a  Pitch  DRAFT  (9/29/15)  

 

At  the  close  of  the  Design  Challenge,  you  have  the  opportunity  to  present  or  “pitch”  your  solution  to  our  Design  Challenge  group  (the  other  Design  Challenge  teams,  NCMM  staff  and  liaisons,  and  our  FTA  supporters).  This  pitch  presentation  will  be  tailored  to  a  specific  audience.  Much  of  what  will  go  into  the  pitch  will  be  drawn  from  your  human-­‐centered  business  plan.    

Note:  This  is  not  an  elevator  pitch.  This  is  a  presentation  to  a  stakeholder  (e.g.,  a  potential  funder,  a  potential  operating  partner)  who  wants  to  understand  your  new  service/product  in  more  depth  to  gain  sufficient  information  to  make  a  decision  about  whether  or  not  to  support  the  new  offering.  

Below  are  some  guidelines  and  suggestions  for  creating  your  pitch.  Most  of  these  are  drawn  from  a  University  of  Maryland  College  Park  course  called  Innovation  for  Entrepreneurs:  From  Idea  to  Marketplace.    

• While  there  is  no  set  length  of  a  pitch,  entrepreneur  and  marketing  executive  Guy  Kawasaki  recommends  following  this  10/20/30  rule  of  thumb:  10  slides,  20  minutes,  30  point  font.  

• Your  goal  should  be  to  tell  a  compelling  story.  • Let's  leverage  the  human-­‐centered  design  process  we  have  used  during  the  Design  

Challenge:    ⇒ Relay  the  customer  challenge/pain  point/problem  to  be  solved.  ⇒ Tell  how  your  solution,  delivered  by  your  team,  will  solve  that  challenge.  

• Content  and  order  of  the  10  slides  (adapted  from  the  University  of  Maryland  College  Park  course  to  fit  our  Design  Challenge):  

1. Cover  -­‐  Contact  information,  and  solution  name  and  tagline  

2. Opportunity  –  The  problem  and  the  pain  points  3. Team  –  Funders  and  other  supporters  are  "investing"  in  you.  Tell  them  about  

your  team.  (You  may  decide  to  put  this  a  few  slides  back  in  the  deck.)  

4. Service/Product  -­‐  Describe  your  solution,  benefits  of  the  solution  and  how  it  addresses  the  problem  described  in  Slide  2:  Opportunity  (Here  would  be  a  good  time  to  tell  a  story  about  one  or  more  potential  customers  and  how  they  would  use  and  benefit  from  the  solution.)  

5. Market  –  Supported  by  your  research  

6. Business  model  –  Revenue  model,  pricing  strategy,  role  of  lead  agency  and  key  

Healthcare  Access  Mobility  Design  Challenge  Support  for  Phase  2  Deliverable:  Pitch  Presentation  Page  2          

partners  

7. Why  now,  why  us  -­‐  Potential  for  impact,  making  a  difference  to  individuals,  communities  (This  slide  replaces  Univ.  of  Maryland  slide  wholesale:  "Competition  –  why  you're  better,  but  don't  "knock"  the  competition")  

8. Go  to  market  strategy  –  how  will  you  gain  users/customers  9. Traction  –  what  have  you  already  accomplished  (revenues/funders,  customers,  

partners,  etc.)  10. What  you  need  –If  requesting  funding:  how  much,  how  would  you  use  the  funds.  

If  requesting  other  types  of  support:  be  specific  in  your  ask.  

• Have  some  additional  items  from  your  business  plan  and  appendix  on  hand  in  case  asked.  Inquiry  from  your  audience  is  a  good  sign  of  their  interest.  

• Get  feedback  on  your  pitch  before  you  deliver  it  to  your  intended  audience.