The Social Entrepreneur's Pitch

Making the Case in Five Minutes or Less.

You finally got the meeting with an investor / program officer but as you set up your carefully crafted 15 minute-long PowerPoint presentation, she tells you something has come up and she only has five minutes.  What do you do?

First, plan for it. 
The standard pitch is usually 15 minutes – often on a PowerPoint - plus 15 minutes of questions. Have that ready, but come equipped with the 5 minute version.

Second, don't rush. 
Being cool under pressure is a quiet way of telling the investor you can handle the pressure – without using up any words or minutes to say so.  So resist the urge to skip the digital projector, turn around you laptop to face the investor, and rush through the 15 minute PowerPoint in five minutes.  It won't work and it will be a mess.

Third, don't rely on your computer. 
If you have 15 minutes, a projector and a screen, great – use them. But for the elevator pitch, always have a paper back-up, either in a ring binder or flip book that you can pull out and flip through.  That way, you don't waste time scrolling through files to find the right one, or risk to have your computer battery die on you or your software crash, or have a screen pop up with all of the emails you sent to other investors. And have the pitch memorized in case you are actually standing in an elevator and can't show her the flip book.

Writing the pitch itself
Thinking on PowerPoint works best for presentations, especially elevator pitches.  Try to condense the entire pitch into a single slide with the following information presented in full short sentences:
•    A "bumper sticker" length title that sums the project up in 2 - 12 words
•    Short statement of the idea and what it does
•    Short statement of why this is unique.
•    Short statement of the market or the population served
•    Short statement of the cost and the status
•    Statement of what you need and the terms


Example (this is a hypothetical product – it does not exist!!):

• Power to Pump – innovation brings water, electricity and income
• Lightweight, very high power water pump, works on solar or wind power, generates excess electricity for lighting. Technology licensed to local entrepreneurs who share electricity revenue with Power to Pump, a social venture.
• A high tech, low cost solution to drought and power shortages that can create small, village-level businesses, while self-financing its own distribution. Can be built in any country for a few dollars.
• Patented design licensed to village entrepreneurs for a small percentage of their income from selling electricity. License fees are used to support the non-profit, and to finance wider distribution.
• Simple design and construction will allow PtP to spread worldwide, raising living standards.
• Grant of $100,000 over one year requested to manufacture 10 demonstration pumps, create construction manuals in local languages and formats, send staff to help start local pump/power businesses in Kenya, Darfur and Ethiopia. 

Next, do one slide with three bullet points on each of these points, giving details and references.  You now have a very tight 10-slide presentation (plus title slide).  Assuming 30 seconds a slide you have a 5 minute presentation, and you have the basic outline for your longer 15 minute presentation. 

Memorize the five-minute presentation so you can talk it through without the slides if you have to, print it out and put it in a flip book or thin, lightweight 3-hole punch ( or 4 or 5 holes for non-US versions), and you should be ready for anything.

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