Five Tips from Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank on How to Successfully Pitch Your Startup to Investors

Entrepreneurs take risks to solve problems that people have, and frankly problems they don’t know they have.

Although lack of money is not always the reason why most entrepreneurs fail to start or grow a business, money is undoubtedly what most founders seek when they start their businesses.

Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank are primarily about giving entrepreneurs money. 

They are reality TV shows where entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of rich investors or angels for money. In return, these investors become shareholders in the businesses. The 16th season of Dragon’s Den is currently airing while Shark Tank is in its 10th season.

Whether you’re an aspiring business owner or an established one, you can learn a lot about pitching from these shows. So, before you embark on that roadshow to wow potential investors about your “revolutionary” product or service, be mindful of the following five tips I’ve gleaned from watching many episodes of the shows:

1.      Know the Difference Between Incubators and Accelerators

If you’ve never sold your product or service in the marketplace, then investors like those on Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank are not for you. This is because they’re “accelerators”.

Accelerators are individual or institutional investors who fund businesses that already have some sales in the market place and now want to scale (grow fast) or expand into a new market.

Therefore, while there may be overlaps in what incubators and accelerators do, the latter typically do not fund startups seed capital.

If you’re looking for seed capital, then pitching to these guys – if you can even get in front of them - could be a waste of time. Most venture capital and private equity firms are accelerators. Probably the most famous accelerator in the world is your good old commercial bank.

For startup funding, you’re better off trying “incubators”. Unlike accelerators, incubators typically fund startups - and generally businesses who don’t yet have a trading record. They can even fund you if all you have is a good great idea, provided your idea is “bankable”, which means the idea can turned into a real business – not all great ideas are bankable!

The most popular incubator in the world is “family and friends”! 

Then you have institutional incubators like Kickstarter. Angels can also be incubators, but these are rare and may want your arm and a leg for the risk.

The bottom line is that if you can’t fund your startup yourself, then seek your seed capital from incubators and only go after accelerators when your business is about to scale.

2.      Demos and Samples Always Help Your Pitch

I’ve never seen anyone pitch on Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank without a sample of the product or a demo or the service.

Naturally, no accelerator will entertain your pitch or presentation without these supporting items.

Conversely, incubators may not be as strict on this front. Nonetheless, it’s still a good idea to pitch them with samples and demos because they will give you feedback that you can use to improve your product or service before you approach accelerators.

3.      Know Your Numbers

You won’t last in business if you don’t know certain financial metrics (or Key Performance Indicators, KPIs) about your business. These basic KPIs, which you’ll find on a typical financial statement, include things like sales, gross profit/margin, and net profit/margin.

However, an investor could also ask you about some not-so-commonly known KPIs. 

Some of the ones that have stumped many entrepreneurs on Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank are Operating Profit/Margin, CustomerAcquisition Cost, and Lifetime Value of Customer.

You just never know what an investor could ask you, especially if you’ve been in business for a while. Therefore, it pays to know and track more than the usual KPIs. Tracking is crucial not only for pitching, but also because you cannot improve what you don’t track.

4.      Do Not Give Away the Farm (Dish Your Equity Wisely)

Businesses fund their growth with debt or equity.

Unfortunately, startups hardly get debt financing/loans from anywhere or anyone who’s not “family and friends”. So, when you’re starting your business and can’t solely fund it, you’ll probably have to bring others on board as equity investors.

It is at this early stage that you’ll be most tempted to give away a lot of equity to entice investors. Be careful though and think ahead.

As your business grows beyond the funding capability of you and people close to you, you’ll need more “outside” money to fund this growth. Much of this external fundraising will require you to give up more and more equity. 

If you’ve given away too much equity at the early stages, then you can’t fund your growth down the line with equity, which is often cheaper and/or less restrictive than debt financing.

5.      Be Realistic About How You Value Your Business

A business with a trading record can be valued with one of various valuation methods out there like discounted cash flow (DCF).

Conversely, valuing a startup with little or no trading record is tricky business. Therefore, founders and investors are often degrees apart on how much a business is worth. Inevitably, most entrepreneurs place a higher value on their businesses than investors do.

Some founders value their startups by simply placing a multiple on projected (future) revenues or cashflows, which means they say their business today is worth some number times predicted total revenues/sales. It’s a highly subjective and unrealistic way to value a business with little or no historical sales.

When founders like the woman in this video below do this on Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank the investors quickly rip them to shreds.

You’ll probably get a more realistic value of your startup when you get your first outside professional investment - from an angel or venture capital. Until then, you should focus less on how much your business is worth and focus more on doing everything you can to make your business attractive to investors, whether incubators or accelerators.