Raizor's Edge The Successful Pitch

The Successful Pitch

Forget everything you’ve been taught about pitching your business — you’re doing it wrong.
To achieve success as an entrepreneur in business, you need to be able to pitch your business to clients and investors. Without a polished pitch, you’re wasting time and potentially risk losing future funding.
Over the next 52 weeks, join Allon Raiz in his new bite-sized podcast series as he walks you through preparing the perfect pitch.
Weekly English South Africa Business · Management Narrated by Gareth Armstrong
52 Episodes
20 – 40

Smile

Pitching is a serious business, and you definitely want to put your best foot forward. But it’s important to remember to be a human – smile, make an appropriate joke, show how approachable you are. If you are enjoying yourself, your investor will too. It’s not all fun and games…
4 Oct 2022 1 min

A strong ending

The highest pressure-point of a pitch is the last sentence. Should you end on a comment, a statement or an ask? If your investor is left thinking there is more to the pitch, you know you’ve ended on a weak, fluffy note. Listen to Allon in episode 31 of The…
27 Sep 2022 1 min

Start with the “Aha!” moment

Investors come in all shapes and sizes but one thing they all have in common is that they are impatient. Start your pitch off with a bang to avoid losing their interest. Help them frame the rest of your pitch around a schema or model. Listen to Allon explain all…
20 Sep 2022 2 min

Don’t sound rehearsed

Pitches should be taken seriously and preparing for a pitch is vital. Because most investors ask a handful of similar questions, it’s easy to anticipate what might be asked and overprepare your answers. The mistake made here is jumping in to answer before the investor has finished asking and sounding…
13 Sep 2022 1 min

Never use “I think”

The worst words you could ever use in a pitch are words that make you sound uncertain – especially during the Q&A section. They immediately convey to your investor that you are unsure and lack confidence in the knowledge surrounding your business, and the future of it. So, what do…
6 Sep 2022 1 min

Consistent facts

Good investors are trained to listen and listen well. Any contradictions between your pitch deck and your voiceover have the potential to blow you out of the water. Contradictions invite hard-to-answer questions, come across as mistakes and make the investor question the validity of your entire pitch. Listen to Allon…
30 Aug 2022 2 min

No two audiences are the same

No two audiences are the same, but they all have the same question: “What’s in it for me?” And the answer to this question will be different for each person. For this reason, it’s important to tweak your pitch to your particular audience whenever you get up in front of…
23 Aug 2022 2 min

Easy to understand reference point

As an entrepreneur, you tend to become so embedded in your business that you forget that the nuances you know offhand are not as obvious or understandable to the outside world. It’s important to keep this in mind when pitching. Join Allon Raiz for episode 25 of The Successful Pitch…
16 Aug 2022 1 min

Solve a problem

An investor wants to know that he or she is investing in something worthwhile that is actually solving a problem. Demonstrate this by using storytelling in your pitch to express the problem statement. Use a real-life client example and sprinkle in the size of the market that would be willing…
9 Aug 2022 1 min

Avoid technical language

If you use technical words and complicated statistics in your pitch, you’ll increase your probability of closing an investment. Not at all! In fact, doing this increases the risk of investors asking you questions you may not have answers to . . . if you don’t lose them in a…
2 Aug 2022 1 min

Use pictures instead of words

In this age of information overload, people are accustomed to receiving information in small chunks. Your potential investor is no different. He or she would prefer concise and visual information in order to make an informed decision quickly. Listen to episode 22 of The Successful Pitch to find out why…
26 Jul 2022 1 min

Always ask for what you want

After you’ve presented your shiny, well-polished pitch to your potential investor, the logical thing to do is show them the next steps. Join Allon Raiz for episode 21 of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, to find out how to ask for what you want.
19 Jul 2022 1 min

Listen, pause, then answer

Investors will ask crucial, probing questions about your business during or after your pitch. Interrupting them (because you think you know the answer) before they’ve finished the question is not only rude, it also speaks to your inability to listen. Listen to episode 20 of The Successful Pitch as Allon…
12 Jul 2022 1 min

Deeply passionate about your product

In a high-pressure pitch context, the passion you feel for your product or service can be lost in a sea of nerves. The natural, excited tone you would convey in any other scenario becomes stiff and rigid and is sure to bore your investor. Join Allon for episode 19 where…
5 Jul 2022 1 min

Always bring a backup copy of your presentation

You only have one chance to get this pitch right. Anything can go wrong on Pitch Day – faulty equipment, a corrupted presentation, a dead clicker battery, etc and then your chance vanishes; you blew it. A great entrepreneur always has a plan B and, just in case, a plan…
28 Jun 2022 1 min

Always check the equipment

Technical gremlins have an uncanny way of sneaking into presentations uninvited. Faulty or glitchy equipment is frustrating for you and your audience. Join Allon for episode 17 of The Successful Pitch for a few tidbits of advice to mitigate potential technical problems.
21 Jun 2022 1 min

Learn to use a clicker

Using your keyboard to click to the next slide is distracting for both you and your audience. Walking across the room to do this breaks your pitch rhythm. You lose your audience and it gives you an air of being unprepared and unprofessional. Join Allon for episode 16 of The…
14 Jun 2022 1 min

Never read your slides

If an investor simply wanted you to read a slide deck, they wouldn’t need you to be in the room. The point of a pitch presentation is to give you an opportunity to talk about your business naturally and in your own voice. Join Allon Raiz for episode 15 of…
2 Jun 2022 1 min

8 to 15 slides in your pitch

What do you do if an investor invites you to pitch but doesn’t provide a templatised slide deck? First off, don’t overdo it with the slides, information overload is a big mistake. Join Allon Raiz for episode 14 of The Successful Pitch where he talks about why it’s important to…
30 May 2022 1 min

Dress appropriately for your audience

Dress counts. What you decide to wear to a pitch tells your investor how capable you are of reading the company culture and, by extension, the market. But the “what-to-wear” decision can be fraught with emotion and nuance. How do you dress to show your potential investor respect but also…
23 May 2022 1 min
20 – 40