Preparing to pitch

With the right guidance, you can shape a compelling story around your idea, communicate it with clarity, and answer funders’ and investors’ questions with confidence.

A man stands at the front of a room pitching to a diverse group of people

Building your idea

Presenting your idea effectively is key to securing the right funding. 

Whether you’re applying for translational funding to advance your research or exploring a new startup opportunity, we’ll help you give your idea the strongest possible start. As you prepare to pitch, we provide: 

  • One-to-one guidance 
  • Training, workshops and events 
  • Pitch development and pitch practice 
  • Introductions to investors 
  • Help on market research, eg understanding the market size 
  • Help on market validation, eg engaging with potential customers 
  • Help building a founding team 
  • For new startups: a collaborative workspace where you can meet, learn from, and work alongside other entrepreneurial teams

What funders want to know

A clear, well-planned outline of your project or company gives funders confidence in both your idea and your approach. They’ll want to understand: 

  • What your idea is – the benefits it will bring and the impact it aims to deliver  
  • Who it’s for – who the customer is (the one paying the money, eg hospitals), who makes the decision (eg clinicians) and who will benefit (eg patients) 
  • Why they need it – how your idea improves on current or emerging solutions 
  • How you’ll use the funding – the resources you need and key decision points
  • Who’s involved – expertise within the team and other skills you might need 
  • Your route to impact – the milestones you’ll reach and how you plan to mitigate risk 
  • Your timeline – how long major tasks and development phases will take 
  • Your next steps – future funding options or potential collaborators and commercial partners 

Your answers should be clear, specific and detailed enough to help funders develop a vivid picture of what you’re aiming to achieve. We’ll support you through this process with some simple steps. 

Steps to funding success

We work with you on the key elements that answer funders’ and investors’ questions and form the foundation of a persuasive pitch. 

1. Complete the Business Model Canvas

You could start with the Business Model Canvas: a simple tool to help you think your idea through from start to finish.  

It’s particularly useful in early-stage innovation and research commercialisation because it’s fast and flexible. You can get your initial ideas down in less than half an hour, then revise it as your understanding grows. 

2. Explore the market potential

Once the fundamentals are in place, we help you build a strong understanding of your market. Together, we look at the total market size, identify your first target users, and explore why they’ll value your solution. With a robust grasp of the numbers and the need, you’ll feel fully prepared to explain your market opportunity to any funder or investor. 

3. Test the market

Now it’s time to validate your assumptions and check whether your target audience is genuinely interested in your idea. This could include:

  • Speaking to potential users, customers or clinical partners 
  • Conducting short interviews or discovery conversations 
  • Sharing prototypes or demonstrations for feedback 
  • Running small-scale experiments or pilot tests 
  • Exploring competitor solutions to understand user preferences 
  • Collecting early expressions of interest or partnership enquiries

If applicable, we will help you protect your work before you share prototypes and demonstrations, through things like Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs).

4. Bring it all together

The final step is to assemble everything into a pitch package you can present to our investor panel. This includes your pitch deck, budget, supporting data, and information about you and your team. 

Download your pitch template

What does it cost?

If you’re a researcher, t​​​​his will cost you nothing. We work in partnership with Oxford University to make sure it’s free for you to explore the potential of your work and its impact.  

If you’re staff, a student or ​alum, you can access the service if you’re developing a company with the ​Incubator, or look at external support such as ​EnSpire Oxford.  

Timescales

Bringing your pitch together usually takes around three months working together.  

Not everyone makes it past this initial stage, but no one leaves without gaining valuable experience. And if your pitch is successful, we’ll be by your side as you move onto the next phase. 

Oxford University Innovation sign mounted on the exterior wall of the building

Get in touch

If you’re ready to take your research, commercial idea or mission-led company to the next stage, we’d love to hear from you. 

Grow my idea