We recently concluded our on-ground Expresso at The Quorum, Gurgaon, where we were determined to disrupt the status quo by giving female pitchers the access to a power-packed consortium of investors and mentors, with an overarching objective to help hone their pitching skills and share invaluable insights to accelerate their growth.

Founders who pitched:

• Jayanti Bhattacharya, Co-Founder, India Hemp and Co.
• Shalini Bakliwal, Founder CEO, Kewalcare LLP
  
• Kanksshi Aggarwal, Founder, Netri Foundation

Investors and Mentors:

• Anjali Singh, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank, National President of Banking & Credit Council of India, WICCI
• Ritu Mehrotra, Commercial Director – APAC, China & Oceania (Inter), Bookings.com
• Archana Jahagirdar, Managing Partner, Rukam Capital
• Radhika Ghai, Founder & CEO, Kindlife.in
• GazalKalra, Founder, Stealth Startup
• Tej Kapoor, Managing Director, Fosun
• Malika Sadani, Founder & CEO, The Moms Co.

Here are the 5 key takeaways from the event: 

1. Pick your Niche:

No matter how narrow it may be, an aspiring entrepreneur has got to be able to express their niche well to the investors. One has to go bulls eye on this aspect and be able to explain the functioning of the niche to complete potential. A narrow niche with targets and market numbers can do wonders for a pitch. It keeps you in a unique space and allows you to showcase business aspects known best to you

2. Express (O) It!

Some businesses hold great revenue potential. When you’re pitching for any such business do not fright away from expressing the potential business returns and the ambition through numbers. You need to share where you’re going to start, and where you want to be. It’s not only about the evaluation, it’s about the exact statistical numbers that define the potential turnover in coming years.

3. It’s All About The Money:

It is very important to acknowledge your capital requirements well. Do not let the bigger numbers scare you. The capital requirement is one of the biggest barriers to one’s entry and may well end up keeping your business as a safe fortress. Moreover, it is the key factor involved, to start and grow a new business – after all it is what opens up the floodgates to investment.

4. Loop-In:

Staying close to your customers aka the market, as well as the competitors is the building block of a business. You need to have a keen eye focussed on the on goings of your market at all times. The next step is to lay out the market that you as a business will be addressing. As someone who’s making a pitch, it’s also extremely important to talk about your action plan so that the investors get a clearer picture of the journey.

 5. Get Some Attention:

The attention of the investors towards a pitch is short spanned and may shift rather quickly to the next pitch. As someone who’s pitching, you need to be very much aware of how to catch the interest of an investor during that period. Numbers, statistics, trends, passion – anything can be a trigger for getting and retaining attention. You just need to have it ready.

A potpourri of unique ideas, recommendations, know-how, feasibility and experience made for an eclectic morning – full of energy, charge and everything EXPRESSO!

Sign up with TEAM LWL to make your pitch on the next one.

About the Contributors:

• Nikhil Sangha is a creative content writer, actor and voice over artist.

He has written social media content and shorts for brands like LWL, GQ, Coca Cola, MasterCard, Yes Bank Foundation, TLLLF – The Deepika Padukone Foundation, Bosch, Siemens, Škoda and HRX among others. 

• Saija Luthra is a passionate events content writer and business development executive at Team Ladies Who Lead.