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Pitching Techniques

Pitching Tip #4: Always know your competition

Always Know Your Competition post
Judges clarifying questions and responses

Pitching Tip #4: Always know your competition

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No product or service will ever live in a state that’s free from competition. Whether it’s direct or indirect competition, whether it's competition for your wallet or competition for your attention, all of your products and services will compete.

My fourth pitching tip is consider who your current competitors are, and who your future competitors might be

No matter how differentiated you think your product or service might be, and no matter how patented or protected it is, there is always going to be competition in the market.

Too often, I have witnessed entrepreneurs proudly making the following bold statement when investors ask them about competition: “We don’t have any real competitors!” When you, as an entrepreneur, give an investor that answer in your pitch, you will see them react in one of two ways:

  1. They’ll “switch off” from what you are saying and start looking down at their watches.
  2. They’ll look angry and perceive you as being ill-prepared and ignorant.

When discussing who your competitors are during your pitch, use a “competitor map” to visually show your relativity to each of your competitors in the market. On the competitor map, depict price on the x-axis and the level of benefits on the y-axis, then chart your company’s position in relation to your competitors' based on your product’s price and benefits in comparison with theirs. You could also use a competitive map to chart your product’s price versus the level of quality in comparison with your competitors.

A mistake that many young entrepreneurs make when constructing their pitch is not considering their indirect competition. For example, if you own a telecom company that sells airtime, a company selling lotto tickets would be your indirect competitor. They may not sell the same product as you but, in a context where your customers have low disposable incomes, they will generally make buying choices that are not directly related to your airtime or your competitors’ airtime, but rather between purchasing airtime or a lotto ticket from your indirect competitor. Their decisions are based on the value they want from the product they are purchasing.

I’ve found that entrepreneurs who do a thorough competitive analysis before meeting with investors very often realise that their product has little to no competitive edge, and they then need to go back to the drawing board to redesign their product or services so that they have clear and formidable competitive advantages.

Take the time today to list your direct and indirect competitors and make sure you include that information in your next pitch in a well-presented competitor map or two. The investors will take you more seriously if you prove that you have done thoughtful and thorough research on your competition.

Pitching Techniques

Florence Duval

Florence Duval is a seasoned strategist with over 25 years of experience leading sustainability, stakeholder engagement and social impact initiatives across public and private sectors. 

As CEO and founder of IN TOUCH, she guides cross-sectoral teams to deliver high-impact advisory solutions that strengthen institutions, enable public-private partnerships and secure both the legal and social licence to operate. Her expertise spans compliance, community development, issue management and sponsorship development – always anchored in sustainable development principles. 

A former mining executive and committed social activist, Florence is known for her ability to build meaningful partnerships, navigate complex regulatory environments and drive transformative impact through purpose-driven leadership

Monique Chinnah

Monique is a curious, serial questioner who wants to take the mystique out of business and finance to make it practical and relevant to entrepreneurs. ‘Why?’, ‘Why not?’ and ‘How can we help, for real?' are her favourite questions.

She is the Senior Manager of Segment Design and Development in Retail Relationship Banking at Nedbank, and she is responsible for ensuring that small businesses are fully supported through Banking and Beyond® solutions and most particularly as the product owner of the SimplyBiz® platform. Monique believes that keeping business strategy simple, real and practically implementable is fundamental to success. She also believes in the power of fun. If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t do it!

Monique draws on her own entrepreneurial journeys and extensive management roles in various industries to ensure that solutions are conceptualised and delivered with small-business owners’ needs in mind.

She believes in life-long learning and being a sponge through immersions in over 300 000 businesses, various tertiary and educational programmes, and she is a YouTube and social-media hustler. In 2012 she was awarded a scholarship through Goldman Sachs UK to attend the 10 000 Women entrepreneurial programme through the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and she has been recognised with several Top Achiever Awards in Nedbank.

Allon Raiz

Allon Raiz is regarded both locally and globally as a pioneer and maverick in the business-incubation industry. He is the founder and CEO of Raizcorp which, according to The Economist, is the only genuine incubator in Africa and which currently supports over 500 businesses.

A two-times PhD dropout, Allon is the best-selling author of three entrepreneurial books. He hosted the first national radio show on entrepreneurship in South Africa in 2004; wrote and hosted the first South African prime-time entrepreneurship reality television show; and created and published an entrepreneurial cartoon strip. Allon is currently hosting his 15th season of the popular The Big Small Business Show on Business Day TV.

Allon is a co-founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation South Africa and Rural Roots, and is on the advisory and judging boards of numerous local and international NGOs and entrepreneurial awards. His passion for and focus on the development of entrepreneurs attracted the attention of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which, in 2008, recognised Allon as a Young Global Leader.

As an accomplished international speaker, Allon was invited to speak at the 2011 WEF Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland. In 2011, he became a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship, making him one of 15 recognised global experts in the field. More recently, he became a member of the WEF’s Global Future Council.

In 2013, Allon received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Oliver Transformation and Empowerment Awards. The following year, he became the country winner, regional winner and continental winner of the Titan Award for Building Nations.

Between 2014 and 2016, Allon guest lectured at Oxford University where he was recognised as the Oxford University Saïd Business School’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

In 2015, Allon received an invitation from the White House, on behalf of President Barack Obama, to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Kenya.

Nonkqubela Maliza

Nonkqubela Maliza is the director of Corporate and Government Affairs at Volkswagen Group Africa. She has held the position since 2006 and also chairs the VW Community Trust and VWSA BEE Initiatives Trust. 

Prior to this, Nonkqubela was a senior executive at Metallon Corporation, a pan-African mining and financial services company with operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe. She also served as a chief director at the Department of Trade and Industry and has strong experience in the financial services sector. 

Nonkqubela holds an MBA from the University of Cape Town, a BA Honours in Economics from Rhodes University and a BA in Psychology and Economics from Rhodes University.