PITCHING

A pitch is a presentation of a business idea to potential investors. People pitch a

business because they need resources. If the goal is to raise startup cash, the target of
the pitch is an investor. Other businesses pitch to potential customers to sell their
product. Finally, some organizations pitch because they need a partner or resource to
help them accomplish their mission.
Before you begin creating your business pitch model, you’ll need to focus on:

1. Who you’re directing your presentation to – Who’s my audience?

2. What the objectives of this pitch are – What do I want to achieve with this
presentation?
3. How this presentation will be given – Will I present it in person or will I be
sending it over email? Will I use audiovisual components?

Types of Pitches:

1. Elevator Pitch

For when you need to present your business idea quickly before a specialized group of
judges or investors or even just to your FFF(Family, Friends and Fools).

This kind of pitch is characterized by a total duration of under 3 minutes. You won’t
always have visual material when giving it, so we recommend you create a script and
tell a story that moves your audience to take action. The structure is simple and
as Simon Sinek tells us in his Golden Circle model:

1. Start with what inspires you, with the why of what you do.
2. Then, you can talk about how you do it.
3. And finally, explain what you do.
 2. Pitch Deck or Pitch for Investors

You’ll also find what’s called a Pitch Deck, made to present a business idea to
convince investors. This type of pitch is a business presentation with a maximum
duration of 15 minutes.

In this case, the visual components will be crucial so that you can communicate your
idea clearly and in a way that motivates your viewers. They are especially essential
given that you will send this presentation time and time again to potential clients,
investors, accelerators or incubators, innovation programs, etc.

Some tips for your pitch deck are:

1. Prepare the visual components you are going to use,

2. Review Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle to use as a guide,
3. Show that there’s value in what you’re doing and proposing.
4. Don’t forget to clearly present who your potential clients are, what the problem
you’re solving is and what solution you’re proposing.

3. Sales Pitch

If your goal is to sell your product or service to one or more clients, it’s time to create a
sales pitch.

You should keep in mind your possible client’s goals, problems and needs when
designing your presentation to offer them solutions. To do so, along with introducing
them to your business, don’t forget to:

1. Appeal to emotions,
2. Tell a story,
3. Highlight success cases,
4. Introduce Call-To-Actions that you can follow up on.

4. Tweet Pitch

We live in the era of concise communication. If we’re already counting characters, why
not measure our spoken communication as well?

The Twitter or Tweet Pitch is a short presentation that you can use when starting any of
the kinds of pitches mentioned above, but it should be able to stand alone as well. Try
saying in one or two phrases why you do what you do, how you do it and what it is you
do. Do you accept the challenge?
 The key lies in moving your audience to action

As we’ve seen, there are many different kinds of pitches, and little by little more types
will emerge. If we had to summarize the general objective of a pitch, we’d say it’s “to
move to action”, and you’ll only be able to get your audience to take action if you are
able to get their attention in the first seconds of your Twitter Pitch. Then, you’ll need to
follow that up by achieving and maintaining the WoW effect throughout your
presentation.

Look for a good start and a good ending, and take your pitch to the next level. And now,
it’s time to get started!

PROTOTYPING
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is
a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics and software
programming. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by
system analysts and users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system
rather than a theoretical one. In some design workflow models, creating a prototype is the step
between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea.

Prototypes are about product discovery and coming up with the fastest, cheapest way to test your assumptions.
But when people think of a "prototype," they tend to think of the first type of prototype they experienced.

However, there are actually four distinct types of prototypes, each suited for testing different assumptions.

1. FEASIBILITY PROTOTYPES 

 For prototyping new technology (ex. updated algorithm).

 Engineer writes just enough code to see if it's feasible.
 Helps understand technical risk, often related to performance.

2. LOW-FIDELITY USER PROTOTYPES

 Essentially an interactive wireframe (doesn't look real). 

 Created by interactive designers to test the workflow. 
 Simulates process to identify usability issues early. 

3. HIGH-FIDELITY USER PROTOTYPES

 Realistic looking, working simulation. 

 Good for communicating a proposed product to stakeholders. 
 Used in defensive user testing, not to see if they'll like it, but to learn if they won't. 

4. LIVE-DATA PROTOTYPES

 Very limited implementation created by developers to actually prove it works. 

 Has access to real data and is sent real live traffic. 
 Hasn't been "productized" (no test automation, SEO, localization, etc). 

Fidelity of a Prototype
The fidelity of a prototype refers to its level of completeness and detail. The degree of
completeness of the prototypes you build depends on the stage of progress; these
include the following:

 Low fidelity – low cost, rough and quick to build

Use low-fidelity prototypes when you need to test rapidly and cheaply and explore a
wide range of options in order to figure out the best ways of executing your ideas. Use
them as a proof of concept model to test out and rapidly present ideas in tangible
form.
 Medium fidelity – slightly more detailed, still rough but closer to the solution

Use medium-fidelity prototypes when you need to give people a better sense of what
the solution or part of the solution might look like — and when you have already
tested and validated some early assumptions. Medium-fidelity prototypes are great for
refining the execution of solutions, while still providing room for changing direction
and testing out options.

 High fidelity – much closer to final, very detailed and much more time-
consuming

Use high-fidelity prototypes when you need to test the full spectrum of dynamics of
the completed solution as well as analyse it for functional, visual and experience
purposes. It provides a much more realistic picture of what the end product may be
like and allows for final-stage refinements and experience tests. High-fidelity
prototypes are excellent for the final selling of ideas when funding decisions need to
be made, or when potential markets are being approached for feedback.

The Take Away

Prototyping can seem confusing, but it does not have to be that way. Know when to
create the right level of fidelity of your prototype, as well as what exactly you are
testing, and you should be able to create prototypes rapidly in order to test many
ideas. You can use prototyping to test ideas and assumptions, to gain an empathic
understanding of your users, or to help your design team decide amongst a few
competing ideas. Above all, prototyping, in its various dimensions, will throw open
the doors to offer you priceless early views of your target audience in their
environment.

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-kind-of-prototype-should-you