Ori Luzia, an expert in storytelling and branding, is one of the mentors in Magnet Accelerator.

As part of the program, he met one-on-one with the startups to improve their pitches for the Demo Day!

Here are Ori’s top 5 tips for a perfect pitch:

1. Start by introducing yourself and your company: While this may sound trivial, this is often overlooked. Starting with a short but clear one-liner gives your audience an important context of what you do and the industry in which you operate. Try to keep it concise and free from buzzwords, and focus on the category of your product, the target audience you’re addressing, and how your product positively impacts them.
2. Answer a real need: Clearly articulate the need your product answers and why it matters. Highlight any pain points your target audience experiences and how existing solutions fail to meet the need, as well as the quantified estimate of this need. A strong need-solution fit is at the core of a successful pitch, so it is important to make sure these gaps and pain points are truly loved by your solution.
3. Have a clear product description: The “product” chapter of your pitch should be comprehensive and clear, and should essentially answer three main questions [by any order]: “What is it?” “What does it do/how does it work?” and “What is the impact it makes on the users?” Providing these three angles gives the audience a complete understanding of your product, how it answers the need you described earlier and what makes it unique.
4. Share any traction and other signals of success: Highlight any significant achievements, partnerships, or milestones your startup has reached. Demonstrating traction adds credibility to your pitch, and it is extremely important in the current climate, where showing the path to profitability is more important than ever.
5. Let the story lead the deck, not vice versa: Try to start building your pitch by crafting a strong story that well describes your journey, the need you identified, and how your solution answers it. Only then, ask yourself which slides are needed and where. Having a well-designed slide deck may leave a strong impression and help deliver ideas and messages clearly. With that, it’s important to remember that the deck’s purpose is to illustrate, elaborate, or emphasize, not to tell the story on its own. Founders should know their story by heart, so they can tell it at any opportunity, regardless of whether the deck is available. In addition, having a clear story creates a good flow and reasoning between the different chapters, which helps to convince and build rapport.