How do you adjust your pitch to fit different formats?

Nail your pitch by tuning in to your audience. Investors? Hit the problem, solution, market, traction, and the ask. Customers? Emphasize benefits, features, and differentiation. Media? Spin a compelling story.

Audience and setting will dictate your pitch. Ideally, you need to ask yourself: Who are they to you? Are they a potential customer, partner, investor or several of the above? The information you share will vary depending on who they are but always focus on the problem you can solve. Where are we? For example, if you're at an event and have been informally introduced to a potential partner or customer, a 30s pitch is probably more than enough. Or, if you have a 20-minute call booked with an investor, you'll be better off going for a 5-minute pitch and making sure you nail the problem, solution, traction and ask in that time.

In the beginning of an investor meeting, always ask your investor to introduce themselves first: their values, their investing philosophy, and their approach to selecting investments. This allows you to tailor your pitch accordingly to the specific points they are looking out for.

Adapting your pitch to different formats involves tailoring the content and style to suit the audience and setting. For shorter formats like elevator pitches or networking events, focus on a concise and compelling introduction that grabs attention quickly. Emphasize the problem your startup solves and its unique value proposition. In longer formats such as formal investor presentations, delve deeper into detailed metrics, market analysis, and financial projections. Customize your pitch to address specific investor interests or industry trends. Practice flexibility in delivery, adjusting tone and pacing to maintain engagement. By adapting to varied formats, you can effectively communicate your startup's potential and attract support.

Ace your pitch by picking the right format. A one-minute elevator pitch sparks interest. A five-minute demo day pitch grabs attention. A 20-minute pitch deck builds trust. Tailor wisely.

Two really important factors here - your audience and length of your pitch. Audience - Most common audience are customers and investors. Customers want to know the benefits for them, investors want to know if you have what it takes to deliver returns. Length - Personally, I would focus on 2-minute and 20-minute pitches. It would satisfy most of the cases where you would need it.

Don't assume you can take a longer pitch and shorten it on the fly (I've tried and it doesn't work ??). If you know you have 5 minutes to pitch and you're used to having 10, pick the core elements of your pitch that allow the person on the receiving end to: - Understand the problem you're solving and why it's important - Understand exactly what your product does (and why it's different) - Know where you are now and what you aim to do in the future - Know what you want from them (e.g. a partnership, funding)

If you understand your business, brand and the offering you should be able to understand what is important to talk about in each situation. Practicing an elevator pitch is useful because it may also form the foundation of or even the start of your full length pitch. It should cover the basics so the audience can be engaged with the offering. Start with this and then expand.

I would suggest the following to kick off this process: 1. Identify the reference startups (aka you would love to build such a company). 2. Search for their pitchdecks (make sure you find the original version, not the imaginary ones). 3. Keep in mind it could be pitched in other market conditions, the founders could be more credible, etc. However, this is a nice baseline for you so begin with instead of staring at the blank Powerpoint or Keynote page.

A great and free tool to structure your pitch is the Storytelling Canvas! Here is how it works in brief: 1. Empathize with your audience, their needs, and how they might feel, think, and what they might know before your presentation. 2. Be clear about your own goals and your ideal outcome. 3. Set the scene and make your point with important facts, emotional anecdotes, and well-designed visuals. 4. Have an engaging call to action that connects the needs of your audience with your goals clearly and simply. Humans connect to stories – so make sure you learn how to tell yours.

Nail your pitch structure! Grab attention, define the problem, showcase your unique solution, reveal market potential, prove traction, and end with a clear ask. Use varied elements for impact.

1.Adjusting your pitch to fit different formats involves tailoring the structure and content to suit the specific audience and presentation style. 2.By customizing your pitch structure, incorporating relevant content, and utilizing appropriate presentation techniques, you can effectively engage diverse audiences and maximize the impact of your message.

Having a pitch script has saved me a tonne of time and headspace. I have 4-5 bullet points per slide that I've memorised to give myself a sense of structure and stay on time. Too much scripting and you run the risk of sounding robotic and stiff, but just enough and you can fly through any meeting with ease.

My number 1 rule is "be empathetic". When you are speaking to a young tech VC manager it is not the same as speaking to a Senior-classic business owner with no context whatsoever about the space in which your startups is. Your pitch has to sound different. You need to be quick in finding analogies suited for the person listening to you. That's why pitching should always be conversational. Don't throw a boring 30 min. pitch at the other person's face. Break the ice with a small chat where you can get to know the other person, and use that information to adapt your pitch. That's what great pitchers do.

Your pitch should have various forms based on target audience. This could reflect culture, size, geography or some additional context you may have on the audience. It is important to flex your pitch and not be so rigid. Too many founders are stubborn with their pitch materials so it is important to remain flexible and adjustable - it just might change the next pitch for the better. You will also learn from each pitch, so absorb that feedback constructively, whilst also stying true to your gut and own understanding of your business. There is a compromise to be made - be flexible and adaptable and tweak the pitch after meetings and for different sorts of meetings, but try not to axe the whole thing and lose sight of your vision.

Don't spend too much time on adaption before you actually need to adapt. There's no need to prepare all the possible formats in advance. When there's an event ahead, you will receive the guidelines and will be able to adapt to respect them and extract maximum value.

Tailor your pitch to fit the format and audience. In a one-minute pitch, focus on the hook, problem, solution, and ask. For a five-minute pitch, add market and traction details. In a 20-minute presentation, delve deep into your business aspects. Keep it clear, concise, persuasive, and comprehensive.

The key to adjusting your pitch for different formats is understanding the goals, constraints, and audience for each one. For a short elevator pitch, focus on grabbing attention with your big idea or tagline first. For a presentation, tell your story visually with slides but still keep it high-level. In a demo, emphasize showing over telling and let your product speak for itself. For an email or letter, articulate your value proposition clearly and concisely. Regardless of format, you need a compelling hook, concise explanation of your solution, and clear call-to-action. The delivery changes, but the core elements of problem, solution, and benefit remain constant. Adapt the details while retaining your authentic style.

Practice is everything. You literally become better with each and every iteration. First, pitch to everyone who can't evade you until they are completely done. This is only partially a joke. Second, apply to all possible pitch days, demo days, startup competitions, and any other events where you'll be able to pitch. Even if you think this event will bring you zero target audience attention - that's not your goal. You are practicing your pitch, so do it. If you can - record the pitches. When you compare your 1st one to the 101st, you will be amazed, I promise.

You should obsess with your Pitch and practice several times the day before and the hour before your Pitch. I've pitched to more than 500 investors and this has not changed. Your Pitch always evolves with your company, and your confidence, data and vision does too.

Practice what you want to say. Make sure you have a leitmotif, but don't make the mistake of making the audience feel that you are not part of the story. This is not a poem to be memorized. It's your project, who knows more about it than you? Be conscious of what you say, but keep it natural. Be yourself, don't be intimidated by the attention or the questions that arise.

Startup founders should practice their pitches. Rehearse until you're confident and comfortable. Seek feedback from co-founders, mentors, and peers, and consider suggestions for development. Practice pitching to different audiences to improve your effectiveness. Record yourself to identify your strengths and faults and improve your delivery. The more you rehearse, the more adaptive and convincing your pitch will be, increasing your chances of success with investors and clients.

Practice, practice, practice! Consistent practice is crucial. Pitch to diverse audiences to gather a wide range of feedback. Use their insights to refine your delivery and content. Record your pitches to analyze your performance and identify areas for improvement. Continuous practice not only builds confidence but also helps you refine your message for different formats and audiences, ensuring you can deliver a compelling pitch under any circumstances.

Here's what else to consider: 6) Be flexible and willing to pivot your pitch based on feedback and audience engagement. Consider the time constraint and attention span of your audience, and adjust your pitch accordingly. Use storytelling techniques to make your pitch more relatable and memorable, and don't be afraid to showcase your passion and enthusiasm for your start up. By adapting your pitch to your audience and format, you'll increase your chances of resonating with investors, customers, and partners.

The most important pitch is one-sentence pitch. Because many opportunities for your business will come from the most unexpected places. If you can dully deliver your vision and mission in a one-sentence pitch, you will increase chances of landing unexpected sweet deals.

Don’t use jargon.Your investors or customers won’t understand those. Make it simple and easy to understand. Try putting your high level concept in under two minutes highlighting what you’re solving and how.

A thing that I learnt was to create a "Tweet" (160 characters) about the technology, product or solution. Then, contextualising the idea. As Steve Jobs always does - pulling the Macbook air out of a manila envelope, a 5GB (those days) iPOD mentioning that it would store your entire music library.

Think about how you will explain your business to various audiences with varying levels of sector specific expertise. This will enable you to understand how to modify certain aspects of your pitch so that the relevant listener can be engaged. Do not get distracted or one track minded by assuming your internal audience is your actual audience. Thinking about others and how they might interpret your offering can then help with the feedback loop you will need to keep re-iterating the pitch.