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Making the perfect pitch with advice from a “Shark Tank” investor

Making a good business pitch may seem daunting but you can always turn to the advice of an industry leader for some helpful tips. Investor from the “Shark Tank” TV show, Robert Herjavec, gives his advice on what makes for a bad pitch, revealing his biggest pet peeves.

Know your numbers
One of the basic things covered in a pitch is knowing your numbers and what your pitch is worth. Going into a pitch you’ll need to know the basics including the amount of money needed for initial investment and the sizes of revenue.

Instead of talking so much, just listen
Most people think that when you give a pitch you do all the talking but the most important thing to do is listen. Herjavec stresses that being an investor it’s not his responsibility to listen to the pitch but rather it’s the responsibility of the person pitching to listen to what Herjavec is looking for. Herjavec says that most of the time when they ask questions the person making the pitch just keeps talking when they should be focusing on answering pertinent questions for the investors.

Present something that is a tangible idea
Herjavec says that when people come to present their pitch, he’s more likely to invest when they offer something tangible. Providing samples of the product proves that you can create what you’re pitching but also gives investors a better idea of what the final product will be once done with production.

Knowing the value of time
Most companies coming to pitch on “Shark Tank” will disclose their time frames and profits. For example, someone making a pitch will show data saying that they made $200,000 last year in sales and are projected to make $50 million in sales the following year leading on that their investment will have a quick turn around profit.

The honest truth that the investors know is that it could take several years to realistically generate millions in sales, including bigger companies like Microsoft that took 12 years to generate $50 million in sales. Herjavec says that he is less focused on the projections but rather their plan on how they will develop and grow over time to generate those projections.