When it comes to pitching a concept to investors in startups, it's easy to find yourself feeling intimidated and uncertain. When you're in a situation where you need the investment to get your business of the ground, it's important to overcome those feelings and tackle the pitch with confidence. Here's a look at what you need to know about the process of pitching potential business investors.

Why You Should Customize Your Pitch

No matter how fantastic your business concept or product idea may be, you'll eventually find yourself having to explain details to an investor who may not be familiar with your target market, the core benefits of the product or the general business concept. Those investors will need a much more detailed and entry-level pitch than someone who shares your industry or market. However, pitching someone with experience as though they're a novice is likely to cause frustration and may cost you the investment.

What Investors Need To Know About Your Expertise

The best way for you to reach and engage an investor during a pitch is to showcase your expertise about the industry and the product. Provide some insider tips and perspectives about the industry, the market and the product so that they can clearly see that you know your industry and customers well. This can give investors confidence that you'll know better about how to succeed with this product or project. Support your information with clear statistics. Show the investors that you're not afraid to do some advanced research, because that's important as well.

Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid To Say "I'm Not Sure"

Any time you pitch to an investor in the early stages of a product launch, those investors aren't looking for you to have all of the answers. What they are looking for, however, is how you handle the questions that you can't answer. Be upfront about the fact that you don't know and tell them how you plan to find out.

This shows the investors that you have the initiative to pursue the information and work with them to clarify anything they are uncertain about. This willingness to work together may be an important factor in their investment decision, because they may be looking for reliability and cooperation from the business they invest in.

The initial pitch will make all the difference in whether or not you get any financial support from each potential investor you meet with. The tips presented here will help you to formulate a pitch that will engage your investors, speak directly to their needs and showcase your ability to be flexible and cooperative.