How to Successfully Pitch an App Idea to Investors

So you have an innovative million dollar app idea but struggling to conceptualize it into a winning pitch? It is normal to face road-blocks or simply have no clue as to how to reach the right investors and make them believe in your vision.

Standing out from the many mobile app ideas out there is a tough game already. At one point mobile apps have become the ultimate solution for man’s everyday problems and on the other hand, there is a saturation of one too many apps populating the app store; 5.5 million to be precise (Google and Apple Store Combined).

Now, here you are with your own app idea hoping to have a great start and potentially grow out to become a million-dollar startup. The sky is the limit with the right strategy, and it always starts with preparation.

Before you even get started with the bigger tasks, there is something you need to ask yourself.

Is This Idea Even Worth It?

You could be all the way through and realize that your efforts were not worth it because the idea has already been pitched and failed due to any number of reasons or simply doesn’t hold long term value.

So, become your own judge and evaluate the potential of your idea and gauge its pitch-worthiness. Ask yourself the following:

• Is your idea innovative, new, and solves an existing problem in a creative way?
• Is the solution profitable and has long-term growth in terms of usage and relevancy?
• Is the mobile app idea perhaps a spinoff of an already existing app or maybe just an extension of the already available solution on the app store?

Once you are in the clear you may go ahead with another phase just to be sure that the idea is complete and doesn’t contain loopholes that may arise during the pitching session, negatively affecting the credibility of your idea.

Gauge the Scope of Your App

One of the most important aspects of your pitching strategy is knowing the scope of your idea. If your idea is comprehensive with layers of complexities involved then make sure your pitch includes those vital details; since you would want your idea to be received in its entirety.

If your project is elaborate and expensive then you would need more convincing power to somehow get an investor to believe in your idea and invest a couple of million dollars. This is a big deal and hence, you need to be clear on the scope. Here’s how you can assess the scope roughly according to Scott Berkun.

• A small change in the already existing product.
• A new feature or upgrade to a website, product, or company.
• Completely new but small scale project.
• Entirely new, complex, and large project from scratch.
• New organization entirely.
• A new planet, dimension or the universe. (In which case, you are at the wrong place and should head over to NASA)

Now come the competitive research and analysis. As we spoke above, you are likely to find success stories in the scope similar to yours, considering the saturated mobile app market. Study them, and find out what they did, didn’t do, and shouldn’t have done; their challenges, how they overcame them, so on, and so forth. This way you will have an insight into how you can do things differently and better.

The software development world is rapidly evolving and so are the standards. Be sure to stay updated with the criteria and talk to people who have pitched in your niche to software development companies and investors; they can guide you best and give you first-hand knowledge.

Rehearse the three versions of your pitch, as well.

• 5-second version.
• 30-second version.
• 5-minute version.

Prepare a Pitch Deck

It’s a brief summary of your business plan that is usually presented in PowerPoint and to potential investors. So start building that, and your pitch deck should include these 11 slides:

• Introduction: Introduction of your team and what you are bringing to the table.
• Team: The introduction of the people involved in this project.
• Problem: What is your idea solving?
• Advantages: What makes your idea so innovative?
• Solution: A briefing of the solution.
• Traction: A measurable set of customer-base for your app.
• Market: What’s the market size you are aiming for.
• Competition: Who are your competitors?
• Business Model: What model are you using to generate profit?
• Investing: How much investment do you require?
• Contact: Your contact details.

Take the example of Airbnb’s pitch deck.

Build a Prototype

Always have a prototype ready in your pitches. Nothing registers faster than a picture or better yet a video. But since we are speaking about software solutions, a prototype is the way to go.

Not only it conveys the functionality of your app to your investors clearly and visually; it also shows how committed you are to your project that you have invested time and effort in a prototype.

A prototype doesn’t just benefit you during pitching but also enables you to test the prototype for any missing functionality. It’s a win-win situation.

Now you are ready to pitch.

Explain the Problem

Now that you have your Pitch Deck ready along with your prototype, you are equipped with the necessary tools. All it is left is how you and your team carry out the entire pitch.

The best course is to start with the explanation of the problem that your product is solving. However, keep it short, concise, and to the point.

Serve Them With the Solution

This is where you whip out your prototype and explain the pain points your app solves. Remember, this is the most important phase as your product gets the limelight and the attention of your investors. So make sure you are effectively communicating without over-exaggeration involved.

Just a solution-focused presentation.

Demonstrate the Target Market Potential

Since this is a business pitch more or less, you need to include the section where you demonstrate the market potential of your app. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to convince your investors that your app is worth the large fund. There needs to be a good ROI potential.

So go over market trends that your app is tapping into, the demographics, size, and characteristics required to convince that the audience is ready for the solution you have to offer,

Describe Your Plan to Beat Competitors

A crucial aspect of any new idea on the market is how is it planning on handling the many established competitors in the market? Your pitching flow should mention your competitors and a comprehensive plan that displays your commitment to making your product a long-term success.

This way you get to display the great features and services your app has to offer compared to your competitors and how you plan on maximizing them.

Once the investors see the competitive advantage you have on them, they are bound to gravitate towards promising potential even more.

Explain a Rewarding Revenue Plan

Your pitch is incomplete without a revenue plan. After all, the investor needs to know how you are planning on generating profit from your app. How will a free app generate revenue? If you are going freemium, what features will be placed in the paid version? Any in-app advertisement strategy will be placed?

Take this mobile internet spending graph for example.

Communicate your Funding Needs

Transparency is the key here. They are your future investors and should know every detail of your finances – from how much funding you need to how much you have spent on your idea already, so on, and so forth.

Lastly,

Pitching your mobile app idea is a lot of work, from ideation to prototype and then presenting it in front of your future potential investors. It is a big deal to convince someone to wire a large sum into your idea, so do not come with half-cooked vision.