How to Pitch a Business

 I’ve Watched Hundreds of Pitches. The Winners All Do These Four Things.

The double doors swing open. The lights are blindingly hot, and the silence in the studio is so absolute you can hear your own heart pounding in your ears. You take a breath, walk down that long, lonely strip of carpet, and plant your feet on the mark. You look up and see five faces staring back at you—the Sharks. We are leaning forward, impassive, waiting.

You have ninety seconds to change your life.

This is the high-stakes, high-pressure moment that millions of Australians have watched from the comfort of their living rooms. For four seasons on Shark Tank Australia, I had the best seat in the house. I saw the brilliant, the bizarre, the brave, and the completely unprepared. I saw dreams realised and hopes dashed in the space of a single conversation.

After listening to hundreds upon hundreds of pitches, both in the Tank and in boardrooms across my entire career, you begin to see the patterns. You develop an almost sixth sense for it. You can often tell within the first thirty seconds whether a founder has what it takes.

And what might surprise you is that it rarely has anything to do with the "brilliance" of the idea itself. I have seen founders with seemingly mundane ideas deliver pitches so compelling they had Sharks fighting over the deal, and I’ve seen founders with revolutionary ideas deliver pitches so muddled and uninspired that we couldn't show them the door fast enough.

So, what is the secret? What is the DNA that separates a pitch that soars from one that sinks?

Today, I want to take you inside the Tank. I want to share with you the four fundamental secrets that every single successful pitch—whether to an investor, a customer, or your very first employee—has in common. This isn't about a magic formula; it's about a deep understanding of human psychology and the art of persuasion.

Secret #1: They Don't Sell a Product, They Sell the Problem

This is the single most common and fatal mistake that nervous founders make. They walk into the room and immediately start talking about themselves and their product. They launch into a dizzying list of features, technical specifications, and all the clever things their "widget" can do.

They have completely missed the point.

No one cares about your product. Not yet. The first thing an investor—or any human being, for that matter—needs to buy into is the problem you are solving. You must make us feel the pain before you ever offer us the cure.

The founders who immediately got my attention in the Tank were the master storytellers of pain. They would start with a personal, relatable anecdote or a shocking statistic that made us all sit up and say, "Wow, I didn't realise that was such a big issue."

• They would paint a vivid picture of their customer's frustration.
• They would quantify the cost of that frustration in time, money, or emotional distress.
• They would make the problem feel urgent, important, and incredibly real.

Only once you have every head in the room nodding in agreement that the problem is significant are you given permission to introduce your solution. A great pitch is a journey. You must first take your audience into the dark, frustrating forest of the problem before you can emerge as the hero, holding the shining sword of the solution.

Your Actionable Takeaway: Before you write a single slide about your product's features, spend an hour writing nothing but a detailed, emotional, and data-backed description of the problem you solve. Fall in love with that problem. Articulate it with such passion and clarity that anyone who hears it immediately understands its importance.

Secret #2: They Replace "Hope" with "Proof"

An idea is a beautiful thing. But in the world of business, an idea on its own is worthless. It is a hope, a dream, a lottery ticket. An investor's job is to distinguish between a lottery ticket and a well-reasoned investment. Your job, as the founder, is to make that distinction blindingly obvious.

You do this by systematically replacing every ounce of "hope" in your pitch with cold, hard proof. Proof is the language of credibility. It's what turns a fanciful story into a compelling business case. Every single successful founder I have invested in has been a master at demonstrating traction.

Traction is not a vague promise of future success; it is evidence of present momentum. It can take many forms, and you don't need to be making millions to show it:

• The First Ten Customers: Have you sold your product to ten real customers who are not your mum or your best friend? This is the most powerful proof of all. It proves that a stranger is willing to part with their hard-earned cash for what you've created.
• A "Smoke Test" Conversion Rate: Have you run a simple landing page and proven that a percentage of people will click "Buy Now" even before the product is ready? This is powerful data that validates demand.
• A Pilot Program or Case Study: Have you run a small trial with a client and have a glowing testimonial or a case study with measurable results? This is proof of your product's efficacy.
• A Growing Waitlist: Do you have a list of hundreds or thousands of people who have given you their email address, eagerly awaiting your launch? This is proof of market anticipation.
• Strategic Partnerships: Have you already convinced another, more established business to partner with you? This is powerful third-party validation that signals to an investor that you are a credible and strategic thinker.

A pitch full of statements like "We think the market will be..." and "We hope to achieve..." is a pitch based on fantasy. A pitch full of statements like "We have already achieved X, we have validated Y, and we have the data to prove Z" is a pitch based on reality. And reality is the only thing that gets funded.

Your Actionable Takeaway: Before you ask anyone for anything—whether it's money, a partnership, or a job—ask yourself: "What is the single most powerful piece of proof I can bring to this conversation to demonstrate my credibility and reduce their perceived risk?"

Secret #3: They Know Their Numbers Backwards (And What They Really Mean)

This is the moment in the Tank where the unprepared are mercilessly exposed. After the initial story, the questions from the Sharks will inevitably turn to the numbers. And this is not just a maths test. Your fluency with your numbers is a direct proxy for your competence as a business leader.

If a founder fumbles their numbers, it sends a clear and devastating signal: either they don't know their own business well enough, or they are trying to hide something. Either way, the trust in the room evaporates instantly.

You must, without any hesitation, know these numbers cold:

• Revenue and Profit: What have you sold, and what have you actually made?
• Gross Margin: What is the profitability of each individual sale?
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): How much does it cost you in marketing and sales to acquire one new customer?
• Lifetime Value (LTV): Once you have a customer, how much are they worth to you over the course of their entire relationship with your business?
• The Valuation: How much do you say your company is worth, and how did you arrive at that number? You must be able to justify it.

But here's the secret that goes beyond just memorizing the numbers. A great founder doesn't just state their numbers; they use them to tell a story about the health and the potential of their business. They can explain the relationship between the numbers.

• Bad Answer: "Our revenue last year was $100,000."
• Great Answer: "We did $100,000 in revenue last year, and what we're really proud of is that our Customer Acquisition Cost is only $50, while our Lifetime Value is over $300. This proves we have a profitable and scalable model. The $50,000 we are asking for will be invested directly into our proven marketing channels, allowing us to acquire 1,000 new high-value customers."

See the difference? The second answer doesn't just give me data; it gives me a clear, compelling investment thesis. It shows me that they are not just a passionate creator, but a savvy operator who knows how to turn my investment into a return.

Your Actionable Takeaway: Don't just prepare a P&L statement. Prepare to tell the story behind your numbers. Practice explaining the relationship between your key metrics until you can do it in your sleep.

Secret #4: They Pitch the Vision, Not Just the Venture

This is the final, crucial ingredient. It is the part of the pitch that moves from the head to the heart. It is what separates a good, fundable business from a truly exciting, unmissable opportunity.

A great founder doesn't just pitch the business as it exists today. They paint a vivid, inspiring, and believable picture of the future they are building. They sell the vision.

• Where is this business in five years?
• What is the bigger impact you are trying to make on your industry or your community?
• Why is this not just a small business, but a massive, game-changing opportunity?

This is where your personal "why" comes roaring back. This is where you connect your business back to a bigger purpose. This is the part of the pitch that gives an investor goosebumps. It shows them that you are not just building a company to make money; you are on a mission to make a dent in the universe.

In the Tank, we were looking for more than just a safe return on our investment. We were looking for the chance to be part of an incredible story, to back a founder who was going to change the game. The founders who could articulate that big, bold vision with conviction were the ones who were truly irresistible.

Your Actionable Takeaway: Spend some time dreaming. If everything went perfectly, what is the biggest, most exciting version of your company you can imagine in five years? Write that vision down. Make it clear, make it compelling, and make it the powerful closing chapter of your every pitch.

A Pitch is a Transfer of Belief

In the end, a pitch is not a performance. It is not a presentation. It is not an exam.

A great pitch is a transfer of belief.

It is the process of taking the unwavering conviction, the deep knowledge, and the burning passion that lives inside you and systematically transferring it into the mind and the heart of your audience.

You do this by making them feel the Problem. You earn their trust by showing them the Proof. You build their confidence by demonstrating your mastery of the Numbers. And you capture their imagination by sharing your Vision.

This framework is not just for the high-stakes environment of the Shark Tank. It is the framework for every important conversation you will ever have as a founder. It is how you win your first customer. It is how you inspire your first employee. It is how you forge your first partnership.

It is how you take the incredible idea that lives in your mind and make it a powerful, undeniable reality in the world.

Now, go and start the conversation.

What is one part of your own pitch that you are going to refine this week?

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