Raizor's Edge

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 to pay to solve this problem – but don’t overstate the problem or the market size. Join Allon Raiz in episo...

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 sea of boredom first. Listen to Allon Raiz in episode 23 of The Successful Pitch where he explains a better technique to use...

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 it’s important to cull the word count and use pictures in your pitch instead. Listen Now >

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. Listen Now >

The business world is notorious for generating trendy concepts, phrases and buzzwords that become part of the general business lexicon – despite a common lack of understanding of what they actually mean. Best of breed, paradigm shifts, disruption, technology stack are just a few such buzzwords. A more recent example is “pivot”. This word is used to describe everything from starting something compl...

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 explains why it’s always better to listen, pause, then answer. www.raizcorp.com

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 he explains why you need to do everything you can to calm your nerves when delivering your all-important pitch. Listen Now >

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 C. Listen to episode 18 of The Successful Pitch to find out if your backup plans are up to scratch. Listen Now

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. Listen More ->

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 Successful Pitch where he explains why learning how to use a clicker in your presentation is a game changer. www.raizcorp.com

There are two funding rules of thumb that too few startup entrepreneurs are aware of. One: The timeframe you predict you’ll break even is normally double in reality. Two: The funding you predict you need will turn out to be four times more than what you thought. These rules have massive implications for any business’s ability to survive the initial months and years of its existence. Common forms o...

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 his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch to understand more about what it communicates to your audience when you read your slides...

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 cull the information you provide in a pitch. www.raizcorp.com

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 reflect your personality? In episode 13, Allon shares a general rule of thumb. Listen now. www.raizcorp.com

Many would-be entrepreneurs make the assumption that if a problem can be solved by a product or service, it amounts to a sustainable business. A cold toilet seat in the middle of winter is a problem that many people would love solved. However, there is a miniscule subset of people who would be prepared to pay for the installation and running costs of an electrically heated toilet seat for their ho...

The more complicated your business model, the more vulnerable you are to risk. Investors prefer simple models because the risk decreases with less working parts to the model. Listen to Allon Raiz in episode 12 of The Successful Pitch where he breaks this down with an excellent example. www.raizcorp.com

Investors need to understand how much of the addressable market your business could potentially win but this number needs to be presented realistically. Taking into consideration that competitors will respond as soon as you enter the market, what is the best way to present your business’s market potential to an investor? Find out more in episode 11 of The Successful Pitch.

Maybe. I think so. Probably. Using these words in your pitch indicates doubt in yourself, your abilities and your business. Uncertain words immediately raise red flags in an investor’s mind. Conversely, overconfidence will set off the same flags. So how do you find a balance that will ensure investor buy-in? Join Allon Raiz for episode ten of his The Successful Pitch podcast series where he talks...

It is important to understand that a spray-and-pray approach to finding an investor does not work. It’s important to create a profile of what you are looking for in an investor and what you want from them before putting yourself out there. Join Allon in episode nine of The Successful Pitch to find out how to research and choose the ideal investor for your business.

No matter what business you’re in, a potential investor will want to know how you make money. Can you explain this process in detail from start to finish? Do you understand where you could push to make money and where you might be losing money? In episode eight, Allon explains why your answer to this question could make or break your pitch.

Anyone who has started a business recently or is about to start a business should ask themselves the serious question: Am I really an entrepreneur? At its core the question does not refer to the skills of an entrepreneur but rather to their characteristics. Statistics show that 96% of businesses do not see their tenth year (in fact, most do not even see their third year) but 100% of people who sta...

Investors are more likely to invest into a business with high margins. Why? Because higher margins provide a buffer for the mistakes a startup is bound to make. A business with low margins poses a higher risk because new businesses can’t always offset low margins with higher volumes. In this scenario, how do you mitigate your risk and entice your investor? Allon Raiz explains how in episode seven...

As the business owner, choosing what to pay yourself is no easy decision. And what you do decide to pay yourself speaks volumes to your potential investors. Join Allon in episode six of the Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, to find out what you’re communicating about your balance of risk.

When entering the market, no competitor is going to roll over and let you take their market share. Do you know who your competition is and how they will respond to your arrival or growth? How you will respond is crucial to an investor’s decision to invest in your business or not. Join Allon Raiz in episode five of his Raizor’s Edge podcast series, The Successful Pitch, where he expands on this tra...

The job of an investor is to look out for all possible risks associated with a potential investment. If you are not upfront about the risks your business may have, the investor assumes you haven’t thought about your business realistically – nothing is risk free. www.raizcorp.com