Stanford’s NABC will help you pitch your Idea. Know how!

NABC is a Tool which had been developed in the USA by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), used for development, assessment, and presentation of Ideas. The Tool initially was said to be applicable to the business world, but soon adopted by all the sectors. NABC is useful for oneself to critically evaluate the validation of his/ her ideas. It can be used in everyday life, home or office, market or tour, to get the smarter conclusion.

What Does NABC Stand For?

N for Need: The basic and the most important factor to be considered before we begin to plan any task, is to analyze the need for it. Thoughts without their practical need, should remain to thoughts. Talk more to people, share your ideas, evaluate what they say, and conclude the need ratio of what you have thought.

A for Approach: Once you validate the need, the route  A is usually a point of departure for most activities, but with the NABC method, A always comes after N.

B for Benefit: B stands for the innovative elements of an idea, in other words that which constitutes its uniqueness.

C for Competition: C stands for a study of the competition existing in the area concerned. People are often mistaken to assume C same as N. C, however, focuses on the reality within which a concept has to function.

How to Use NABC to Pitch your Business Idea?

After the long period of hard work and efforts place in the development of your business idea, it all depends upon the way one introduces the idea. When the idea is finalized with the help of NABC and other project development techniques, you are ready to pitch it to the people concerned. Your pitch could be to an investor, or to your boss, to a colleague, or to a friend. In all the cases, the pitch should not last longer than 8 minutes. You can use different mediums to demonstrate the same. It should be simple and illustrative.

Here we try to sum up guidelines to make a eight minute pitch:-

1. The first 25 seconds to be used to hook your listener’s attention.
2. A description of the Need you are going to cover and for whom: 1 min 35 seconds.
3. Approach- Description of your proposition. Explain the relevance of your idea, how is it different from others, and the aspects of innovation you would bring in to: 4 minutes.
4. Benefits: What are the benefits one could gain by using your concept?: 48 secs
5. Competition: How does your project stand out, when compared to other similar projects? 48 secs
6. Are there risk factors involved? Does your project take them into account? Sum up the things in another 24 secs

This shall be the constituents of an ideal and an interesting pitch to make. However there are a few other important points to be considered while drafting your pitch.

1. Your proposition should be embedded in a concrete need which has not been met as yet. Discover who your main users are and pay them a visit. If, for example, your idea is an ecologic playground, it would make sense to visit some of your city’s playgrounds and discuss your proposition with both the children and their parents.
2. Discover who your main users are and pay them a visit. If, for example, your idea is an ecologic playground, it would make sense to visit some of your city’s playgrounds and discuss your proposition with both the children and their parents.
3. You should describe the value of your proposition. Focus on all the advantages of your proposition, and not on its setbacks.
4. You should consider the risk factors and the advantages. It is important to convince the listeners that your approach is comprehensive and has taken into consideration potential problems. At this point one could undertake a swot-analysis. If the weaknesses of your proposition outnumber the advantages, you should then scrap the idea and find another one.
5. Clarity and precision are important both in the pitch and the development phase. Do not use too much time on the various phases. Make sure the presentation is dynamic. You can always go back to a phase.
6. You may use pictures, draw on a flip-over or use power point. Make sure not to use more than 5 slides. Pictures often say more than words especially in a time-limited situation. It also breaks the monotony of a presentation and (re)captures the attention of the listeners.
7. You should practice a lot! Use colleagues, spouses, or the dog (! )– anyone who will listen for 8 minutes.
8. You should consider your target audience.If you need more info you can get more details about the concept in the link given below:
   
   The NABC Method from Stanford Research Institute, SRI