Art of pitching - how not to waste an opportunity

During these four days of 4YFN/MWC I watched close to 100 startups pitching. That makes up for a good statistic survey, the results of which I’d like to share.

The pitches were from 3 to 5 minutes long which dictates the form – one should never try to squeeze in all the content available. The only thing you need to do is to sufficiently interest target audience to approach you afterwards.

So there are some personal observations on what you are about to do and what you are not when you pitch from investor’s point of view.

• Show us the stuff

Always have two different decks to distribute and to present and never mix them. We do not have binoculars or telescope to read from the screen those long sentences, so we are immediately losing focus and interest. Make it visually attractive with bare minimum of words, don’t make us read – make us listen.

• Know what you are selling

Define your pitch – is it sales’ or investors’ one? If you want to sell something, focus on the product/service as on opportunity for us to acquire something outstanding on attractive conditions. If you want to raise money – focus on the company as on opportunity to get outstanding return on investment with the product/service being a very important part, but just a part of a business model. Do not mix those messages until you have a very good and compelling reason to do so.

• Be different

Grasp attention at the first second, stay outside of the crowd, especially when your turn to present is closer to the end. Start with a joke, controversial statement, interesting (not only for you) fact. If you do not do that, your pitch have a very good chance to be forgotten as soon as it’s over.

• Convey your message

Another observation is that in quite a few companies the speakers didn’t have proper language skills to present in English. It was even more visible here in Barcelona with a lot of people from all over the world listening. Several pitches were just wasted as the idea behind the projects remained complete mystery to the audience, including myself. Guys, learn the language before you take the stage!

• And, finally, tell us what you want

Interestingly enough, around 7 out of 10 investors’ pitches ended without an information what the company wants in terms of financing. It annoys to ask every company about that, so after two or three cases like that we just stop.

If you avoid those mistakes, it will not guarantee a success, but it would prevent a failure, of that I’m certain. Dear founders, let’s make our communication more efficient and our lives easier :-)