Need finance for your business? Then pitch to The Midas Touch panel

If you think you’ve got what it takes to start and run a successful business, convince the millionaire panel at this month’s Business Startup Show - and walk off with a cash investment!

Would your business benefit from a substantial financial input? What if that investment also came with a guarantee of ongoing support from a successful and dynamic entrepreneur?

That’s what’s on offer at The Midas Touch. It’s a show-within-a-show at Business Startup, the UK’s leading exhibition for people starting or growing a business, which is on at the NEC on 23-24 February. The cash is ready: but only if you have the confidence to pitch to a panel of business moguls - which includes Dragons' Den's Peter Jones - and the credibility to convince them, in five minutes, that your idea is a winning proposition.

Oh, and you need to do it in front of a large audience…

How can you get involved?

There are 24 pitch positions available over the two-day event. To find out more and to register your interest visit this page.

On the day, you will have five minutes to convince the panel, so make sure you practice your proposition. You can use props and handouts but make sure they work as hard as you do.

Which pitch? Some tips for getting what you want at The Midas Touch

This could be one of the most important five minutes’ of your life! Securing the finance and backing you need to make your business fly is likely to change your entire future. Make the most of it…

Of course you need a good business idea. That’s the minimum ‘table stake’. You also need to present it in a credible and convincing way, give the panellists what they need in order to evaluate the opportunity and persuade them that pushing their cash in your direction is a sound decision.

1. Be absolutely clear about what your business offers or will offer, and to who. Keep it succinct but don’t assume that everyone understands your proposition as well as you do.

1. Remember to include financial projections: be ambitious but make sure you’re being realistic. Know your finances inside out: you may be grilled! Be clear about what percentage you will release or what you will give in return for capital.

1. Practice your pitch. Practice to yourself, your friends, colleagues … and seek constructive criticism. Make sure your audience understands the nature of the Midas Touch panellists (successful, wealthy, experienced entrepreneurs), who will be your key audience on the day. Dragons’ Den panellist Peter Jones will be on the panel on Friday 23rd.

1. Ensure that your pitch does not exceed five minutes. You will lose valuable parts of your message if you have to be cut off before you’ve finished or rush at the end.

1. Pace yourself. Make sure that your speed of delivery is fast enough to maintain interest but not so fast as to lose the audience.

1. Include a brief overview of your key senior team and their experience, if applicable, and any other backers.

1. You will have a laptop and screen, and a microphone to use on the day. Use them, and practice beforehand on similar technology if you can. If you’ve never used a microphone, it might help you to practice, as it’s one less thing to be concerned about on the day. (Borrow a Karaoke machine or kids’ recording toy to practice on if you need to!)

1. Use other props if you want, such as products or demos, but make sure they enhance your presentation rather than just being something to hang on to. Use prompt cards if you find they help.

1. Don’t jangle! Nervous presenters fiddle with coins and keys in their pockets. Remove the temptation.

1. Allow yourself plenty of time to get there, prepare and upload your presentation.

1. Ask yourself where you want to be in five years’ or ten years’ time and make sure you can explain to the judges how you’re going to get there.

1. Smile - and enjoy the experience.