Your Pitch Isn’t Going to Please Everyone
And that’s OK. That’s not the point of pitching anyways.
Lets Talk About the Pitch
Did anyone ever think that when Eminem described someone whose “palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy” in Lose Yourself, that he could very well be referring to a nervous entrepreneur on a big stage pitching to a giant audience fixated exclusively on them? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.
Many entrepreneurs find the pitch intimidating. They iterate on their pitch decks several times — adding all manners of graphs, charts, and eye-popping animations to get an investor’s attention. They stand in front of a mirror for hours working on their stage posture and hand gestures. And then they continue to practice the pitch until it’s second nature. Why do entrepreneurs go to painstaking lengths to perfect their pitch? Because when entrepreneurs pitch on the big stage at a public event like demo day, they are acutely aware that their pitch could make or break their company that day — that in the room full of Patagonia vest-wearing VCs is the one prominent investor whose instant support launches their company into hyper growth and prominence overnight.
This certainly could happen — I’ve seen founders shake on deals with investors within minutes of stepping off a pitch stage, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence. But if entrepreneurs psych themselves into thinking that this is an expected outcome or the goal of the pitch, then all they are doing is handicapping themselves on stage.
In my opinion, the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make in preparing their pitch for a stage like demo day is assuming that the goal of their pitch is to convince investors to open their checkbooks and commit immediately. In most cases, the opposite is true. And it is the interpretation of this simple misconception, and some practice, that can mark the difference between a good pitch and a great pitch.
Over the past year, I’ve seen over 700 pitches. And our very own THRIVE V accelerator cohort just came off of a demo day at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Salinas that was the biggest and most successful demo day we’ve held to date with nearly 700 attendees in the audience. The reviews on our cohort’s 6-min pitches have been tremendous, so I wanted to share a few observations on what I believe to be the keys to perfecting the pitch.
Observation 1: Start with the elevator pitch.
Entrepreneurs, by nature, are often eager, ambitious and ready to sell. These are fantastic qualities when running a business, but can be limiting factors when trying to capture the attention of a room full of restless investors. A good way to figure out whether you are effectively communicating your company’s key value proposition and making a good first impression is through an elevator pitch. Before our entrepreneurs go up on stage, we have them sit in a room full of farmers, growers, corporate executives and investors, and do a 90-second elevator pitch that focuses almost exclusively on the unique value proposition, otherwise known as the unfair advantage or competitive edge. This forces founders to really drill down into crafting a clear and compelling message on why their solution or product is differentiated and how it will solve a key problem for the company’s target users. Being able to do this effectively within a 90-second window helps to streamline the 6-minute pitch and provides entrepreneurs more time to cover other important topics like team, technology, traction and total addressable market. We also encourage our startups to use their key value proposition statement from their elevator pitch within the first minute or two of their longer pitches — in my experience, investors love hearing early on about how a team has been “de-risking” a business. The key is to get the audience excited quickly by helping them understand the impact your company is making and the vision you’re hoping to drive forward.
Observation 2: The pitch is meant to create intrigue. Don’t get bogged down in too many details.
For our demo day, entrepreneurs only get 6 minutes to tell their story and make an impression. This is incredibly tough, as 6 minutes goes by quickly — about the same length of time as the hit song Bohemian Rhapsody. And this is why it is important to really drill down and understand who you’re pitching to and why. Without a clear purpose, it is easy for an entrepreneur to get weighed down by unnecessary or repetitive details that don’t add value to a pitch.
Investors come to events like demo day to scout potential star companies much like how NBA teams send scouts to high school and college games to gather intelligence on young talent. They (mostly) aren’t there to cut checks and make commitments on the spot, so all that an entrepreneur really needs to do on stage to have a successful pitch is to create some intrigue in the room. This can be done in many ways including — unmatched charisma on stage, an eye-popping value proposition backed by some credible stats, incredible existing customer testimonials, and/or evidence of significant recent traction and growth. Entrepreneurs need to tell a captivating story and reveal just enough about the company to make a potential investor or customer seek them out to follow up or continue the conversation offline. So don’t get bogged down in the technical details of your product, the backgrounds of people on your advisory team (unless particularly relevant) or explaining your market or industry in detail — there’s not enough time for that.
Observation 3: Help create intrigue through clever positioning.
Have you ever paid too much money for steak tartare at an upscale dining establishment? Imagine if they sold that dish to you as “cold dead ground beef garnished with other raw items”. Not as appetizing anymore. So next time you’re tempted to position your computer-vision driven autonomous specialty crop harvesting robot as a “strawberry picking machine”, think twice. It can make a difference.
Observation 4: Nail the value proposition.
Consider these questions:
- Who is your target user?
- What are the critical pain points and problems these users are facing?
- How does your product effectively solve these problems and eliminate these pain points?
- Why does your product do this better than everyone else’s?
Concisely and effectively articulating a great value proposition should easily answer these questions and clearly connect the unaddressed problem with your solution.
Observation 5: Be confident!
This one is self explanatory. If you don’t seem confident and excited to pitch your own company and why you think people should be paying attention to your products, then why would you expect someone else to? One reason why many investors look so closely at the founding teams of startups in their due diligence is because they are looking for evidence of competence, confidence and domain expertise. Be confident. Be interesting. And don’t be afraid to work the crowd. They will feed off of your passion and oftentimes, that contagious energy can translate into additional meetings.
Wrap Up
The pitch isn’t going to please everyone — so don’t let that affect how you tell your story to the rest of the world. A good pitch requires decent stage presence, good preparation and a solid story to tell. A great pitch requires the right mindset and purpose, copious preparation, an intriguing story, an excellent value proposition statement and as much confidence and passion as you can muster on stage.
You may also have noticed that I completely neglected to discuss the pitch deck itself. While your presentation slides are an important component to the pitch, I believe nailing the actual pitch is far more important and impactful than the slides in the background. Also, there are many people who are far more qualified than I am to discuss the nuances of an effective slide presentation. I’ll leave that topic to someone else.
I am so proud of the fantastic pitches that the THRIVE V cohort presented on stage at demo day and I hope these observations and insights will help many more of you on your entrepreneurial journey.
For a full video of our THRIVE V demo day, please see this link on Forbes:
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Jonathan runs the THRIVE AgTech Accelerator for SVG Ventures, where he empowers, supports and invests in early-stage, growth-driven startups that are using technology to advance the future of food and agriculture. Jonathan was also selected as part of the 2019 AgGrad 30 Under 30 class in the entrepreneurship category and THRIVE won “Most Valuable AgriFood Tech Accelerator Program” at the AgFunder Innovation Awards. Jonathan has a BA in history from Rice University and an MBA from the Cornell University — Johnson Graduate School of Management.
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