StartupCamp: the Art of the Pitch
I had a lot of fun last week cohosting the “How to pitch to VCs” session at StartupCamp with Nasser Manesh of Frucall. This is a particularly salient topic for me as I’ve been going through many business plans recently as a result of our newly launched QuickStart program. There’s been quite a bit written about the topic of presenting and pitching, including the wonderful “How to get a standing ovation” from the inimitable Guy Kawasaki. Martin Tobias from Ignition also has some good suggestions for how to create a super crisp, logical pitch.
Though we covered a good many topics, as you can sort of tell from all of the scribbling on the whiteboards behind me, it can all be boiled down into a couple of takeaways:
1. Though the process may seem labyrinthine and intimidating, we VCs are just human beings.
2. Your customers are all human beings. Even if you are building super high tech widgets[1], your customers are still human beings.
Yes, I know, you’re wondering why this is insightful. Let me try to explain. This post just skims the surface of what will be many topics on this theme.
- Human beings are prone to making errors. Entrepreneurs, I urge you to guide us and help us frame our thinking. How I parse language is different than how you parse it, because each of us is anchoring meaning to our own localized, contextual data store (our memories and experiences.) Only through socialization and trial & error do we come to understand the filters that others use to translate what we say. Unfortunately, the entrepreneur only gets anywhere from 1 to 60 minutes in front of a VC, which is not enough time to develop any of the appropriate filters. Within your brains are wondrous visions of your business and product in 64 bpp color, though I can see none of this save for what you communicate to me. And believe me, I want to see it.
Use descriptive language and analogies. What constitutes “community centric collaboration tools” may mean blogs to you, wikis to me, and email to someone else. Reduce the probability of misinterpretation by using visuals, showing demos, and telling stories about customer use cases.
- Help us empathize with the customer pain you are trying to solve. We consume so much creative media in the form of novels, movies and video games because they do a good job of putting us in some protagonist’s shoes, transporting us momentarily into someone else’s existence. Tell a story about how you make our lives easier, more efficient, more enjoyable, more fulfilling. In order to do this, you need to understand what your business is really about. Understanding how a customer relates to your product or service emotionally also helps illuminate how they might value it economically. I like to ask people the question “how did you come up with this idea?” This is your chance to transport me into your world and to help me feel the pain of the problem you’re solving.
[1] A photo of a super high tech widget making process from Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:
Susan,
I think that my difficulty is finding out the knowledge level of a particular industry by the investor you are talking to is the hardest part. It is difficult for me to “dumb” down the explanation of my service to someone that is not even partially immersed in the industry I am targeting.
I have been attending numerous conferences on the subject of my consumer base and have always recieved good feedback from the potential users, but I get the almost deer in the headlights when I explain to people not involved.
Just looking for advice. How do I explain like I am teaching my grandma to someone that can say see ya in the first minute of the conversation. Is it that initial “Wow” factor that I need to look for to get them interested in the proposal further?
Well you have to wonder how 50 hours can easily disappear when making only 10 slides with size 30 font. It’s extremely difficult to say more with less. I think as entrepreneurs, we’re just paranoid of missing our one chance to make the connection with the investor. We have convinced ourselves that if they see what we see, they must invest.
Then again the saying goes “a messy desk is a sign of genius or a fool.”
I suppose if I clean my desk, people won’t know I’m fool nor genius.
I find that I tend to gloss over the problem that I am trying to solve with my idea. One technique that helpd me is perform my “elevator pitch” to my partner. She always let’s me know if I’ve communicated not just the problem, but the importnace of the problem. Once an audience (ie. investor) is convinced of this, then the solution or business idea becomes an easier sell.
we need more of this attitude over in the uk/europe.
Wow! This is the best advice I’ve heard coming from a VC! I like the fact that I can state a problem in the marketplace and present my solution. And I like the fact that I don’t have to be elliptical or anything in my business plan… it’s simply easier to articulate your plan with visuals. I was always able to WOW business colleagues with strong visuals and to the point.
I’ve got confidence like never before now
Thanks.