When you are a startup looking for some crowdfunding on platforms like indiegogo and Kickstarter, a great video is mandatory. They say building a compelling video alone would ensure your funding on these platforms.

The challenge is you got to tell all about your project which you had planned across for years (or just researched on for multiple sleepless nights) in just a few minutes through a video. It’s not that these platforms restrict you or something, you just cannot risk creating a longer video where you have lost your audience midway.

A Staged development: One step at a time

Meticulously planning your video is necessary and do not just jump in to it and start creating a video. Take one step at a time.

• Research on your project and answer the 5Ws and the H- What, When, Where, Who, which and How
• Set your objective based on the above questions. Make sure your objective is achievable and develop a goal and your pitch will focus on this goal
• Develop a script and finalize your video’s blueprint.
• Wisely choose your video’s characters and the genre. Keep in mind that your funders want you to sound more promising.
• People like fun but too much of comedy may make you seem less serious unless your work is focussed on comedy as an art form

A pitch with a spark

• A pitch has to be memorable and by memorable we mean, in a nice way of course. Brevity is highly recommended and you can be assured that your viewers would be grateful for that
• Oodles of passion and professionalism should emanate from your pitch
• Your video must be clearly worded and to the point. Focus on what your investors would get and not on what you want. Sound very promising and genuine
• Work on a feasible timeline. Do not sound urgent by putting in 15 days or do not sit on it for more than 60 days and make your funders impatient. Stick to a time which will let you complete your project without wasting time.
• Have an achievable goal and do not be greedy. Tell them how you can work to perfection to not waste a penny on any unwanted stuff.
• We would ask you to throw away your shyness and boldly ask for a donation. After all, you would not be here if you had enough money
• Finally, like all the videos, a call to action is a must. Try closing the sale then and there by asking them to click the button to fund

Compelling perks are a easy hook

• Work on the perks that a supporter/contributor of your project would receive. A well thought out giveaway will make them feel valued and important.
• The usual T shirts and Sweatshirts have lost it’s charm but are still recommended if you have no other option in mind.
• The perk can be a limited edition or customised product or a device that you had developed and not yet released or even an experience
• Even a phone call or an email can go a long way
• The coolest way is to give a shoutout on Social media and make a big bunch of people aware of your contributors
  Do not just stop there
• You had created your video and had uploaded it on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, What next?
• Start focussing on your marketing efforts and spread the word. Create a supporter group for your product and start building a trusted team of evangelists for your project mainly in the online space.
• Gather your friends on social media and ask them to lend their voice and give a shoutout to support you.
  Meet bloggers and many online influencers and ask them to write a review.
• Even a small testing with influencers before publishing your project may also help you work out what works best

An arm and a leg for videos

• So far we spoke about how your video should be perfect enough to gain contributor’s attention. By now, you must have realized how important the quality of a video must be. You need not sell your arm and a leg to create these videos. Just use your smart phone with a good camera.
• All that is important is a compelling script and a well planned storyline. Just dedicate your time and effort and create a perfect pitch.
• Try something different like mixing live action and animated sequences. A kickstarter campaign definitely needs to sound more human and requires real life people yet some animated visuals may also lighten up the mood.

Videos can be a daunting task for many but remember ,videos speak more words than text. Showing is more important than telling.

Do you have plans to crowdfund your projects? Give us a shout out on your plans in the comments section below.

If you explore the adventurous world of a Startup Entrepreneur (SE), you can observe that it is driven by a fairy tale with its own triumphs and disasters. He has his own story to tell and to sell. How mighty is his wing or how high can he fly? Like the hero of his tale his endeavor is to “steal” golden treasures from the Giant’s den; that is the Venture Capitalist (VC); which is no easy task. Yet, these very stories show us that something more than a random distribution of luck will determine the success of an entrepreneur.

Let us first see how he tries to churn that tale to attract a VC to make or break his luck. He tries all kinds of stunts like that of a typical hero to get an invitation from a VC to narrate his story. But the all-time-busy VC, who gets thousands of business plans and hundreds of pitches every year has no time to spare for our SE. Obviously, he is not ready to pie his time for a gratifying chat with each and every company that needs funding. To win a ticket to pitch to the VC, our SE is compelled to enchant all his magical tricks. He dials the VC’s number, follows his footprints everywhere and shares his card. All in vain.

He may even be a real hero with his business on track and a lot of good press elsewhere. He has an end goal for the company, building something quick that could change the world, ramp up revenues and can sell for a nice payoff. But that one invitation from a VC to present his mighty idea seems to be a nightmare.

Here, we help you to craft your own “happy ending” trusting on your ability to cast yourself as a star.
Venture capitalists look for a strong management team, a large potential market and a unique product or service with a strong competitive advantage. They also look for opportunities in industries that they are familiar with, and the chance to own a large percentage of the company so that they can influence its direction.

If you have it all, then, you are covered. That’s not all! you need to focus on your starcast. All your attempt as a hero has failed.Think different. Why not this time act as a heroine?

If you are a young and promising startup, then all the ramp in style. Be a show stopper and leave the rest to the VC to call you on a date.

How to walk the ramp and show off?

Be a good performer in a business presentation.
After all, a wise man once said it’s always better to hear it “straight from the horse’s mouth”. Grab the VC’s attention by a persuasive presentation of your venture.

Hit at all business events

• Take part in events like Techcircle Showcase.
• Join Microsoft’s Bizspark community.
• Attend Techcrunch and attend the various events organised by them.

These platforms will hand-pick start-ups to make presentations on their businesses to an audience comprising of leading technology focused venture capitalists.

Show off your abilities in business conferences

Attend conferences like TED , Webby awards , The Global 1000 Conference that allows attendees to meet the most active venture investors and build their own network of people with common interests. Conferences help you in exchanging business stories, Ideas, brainstorm a new concept and have a lot of fun in the process. Conferences pave way for in-depth follow-up with the new contacts after it is completed. This approach helps you in getting the attention of the Venture Capitalists in no time.

Be active on social media

Upload your venture’s super-cool logo and other details in sites like Startup.pitchxo.com where potential investors actually log in with LinkedIn, AngelList or Facebook and see the super-secret business idea. And you get an email right away about this guy looking at your stuff. To a VC who gets thousands of business plans it is exponentially harder to prove your business as a worthy investment. So present your data with some nuances. Present market data effectively which will help draw-in potential investors and shed light on what you are doing. Let investors see the vision and mission of your venture.

Let people recommend you instead of you screaming for yourself

Indulge in communicating with peers of your VC. Take a chance to spin your tale to them. While doing so, keep the following in mind;

• Do not dwell on backstory, explain what you are doing today and where you are headed tomorrow.
• Keep descriptions grounded.
• Show off expertise to raise confidence.
• Know the VC’s strategy, philosophy and attributes.

Thus, a happy-ending can be crafted in a small businessman’s tale. Thanks for travelling with us throughout the tale. Hope it helps you to impress the VC by elegantly walking along the ramp as a heroine and henceforth decipher any business treasure map like a hero!The curtains are up and there you go, be the heroine,seduce your VC and sell your product. Share in your views on whether a startup should be portrayed as a hero or a heroine?

      A “pitch deck” is a selling technique, with a planned sales presentation strategy of a product or service designed by an entrepreneur in order to raise funds from (“pitch”) investors.

      They can be sent to investors as a stand-alone document (e.g., via email) or visual presentation or as an explainer video.

      But, Pitch Deck Presentation in the form of explainer video will be the best way to convey your product and your ability to raise fund.

How Your Presentation Should Be Or Not?

      A well presented pitch deck gives a positive first impression to the investors and Vc’s that you have the ability to execute your project well.

      Being an entrepreneur you might be in touch with many investors and now is the time to convince them that your product will give solutions for some big problems and

      It is going to change the world — or is at least worth investing in it. Since pitch deck is likely the first time, an investor will come to know about your product.

      The pitch deck for a startup needs to be a summary of what they are doing in this project, and what they need to do to make it happen.

      So the Pitch givers should be aware of avoiding some common mistakes in their presentation:

10 Common Mistakes in Pitch Presentation:

1. Using More Slides:

      A pitch should have a number of 10 or less than 10 slides. Using more slides will worsen the presentation; this is one of the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make.

      Allow one slide for a cover slide which should have your name, your company logo and a single line explanation of your business.

2. Brief Content:

      Avoid using too many words. Decks should have more visuals with charts, tables and pictures, or can use explainer video, so that each slide can convey its purpose in few seconds. Since Investors are not interested in reading memos and rows of bullet points.

3. Lack of storylines:

      Everyone loves to hear stories, even the investors. So tell an exciting story about your startup and arrange your slides to reflect that story.

      This may impress your investors in a better way.

4. Not Recognizing a Problem:

      What’s the big problem? And how your product have the opportunity to give solution to that problem?

      You must address this issue in your pitch deck. Only the investors get exicted if you identified a big problem in the market.

5. Not Giving Solution for a Problem:

      This must give a crystal clear vision of how your product solves the problem, and an opportunity for you to show them its features.

      Make sure your presentation make the audience relate your product with their problem,and the need of using your product, and how it will make their lives easier.

      This may be a good time to introduce a demo or screen shot of your product.

6. No Proper Product Demo:

      If you are presenting in person, you must give a demo of the product. Demo may be in the form of pictures or visuals or most likely an explainer videos.

      Demos trump every form of presentation. Lack of demo will be a disappointment to the investors.

7.No Business Model:

      Most of them are failling to explain how will you make money and where your revenue strength are.

      The startups also need to show the size of their market and how much they have the potential to make.

8. Failing to show your Team Strength:

      Give description about the strengths and skill set of your founder and tell how your skill sets complement others in team.

      Because investors wish to see a range of technical and non technical skills between founders, and their team.,so that they can develop a product quickly and can make changes quickly.

9. Not Projecting about the Competitors:

      Who is your competitor and how will you compete? How you are different from others? And what is better about your business?

      They expect you to explain these things; lacking of this will spoil your pitch.

10. Lack of RoadMap:

      Here is where you need to clear the investors, how long will this product take to build, how much will it cost and when will you start making money?

      What are your targets and how long will you need to meet them?

      Finally by using visual presentations or explainer videos in pitch deck, will help you to give your product demo and summarize your need to the investors in the effective way.

      A well presented pitch deck creates positive first impression and the quality of your pitch can certainly be the difference between getting funded and getting left behind.