Kate Jackson is the founder of TableCrowd and was in Episode Four of our Elevator Pitch series. Fresh from a trip to the States, in her first guest post she offers us her top five tips for pitching your startup.
I’m currently fundraising for my startup, TableCrowd, a real life social network where you can meet people over food.
I have meetings everyday in boardrooms, over Skype, to my mobile, in Starbucks – it’s an elevator pitch, I have 3 minutes, a half hour demo or an informal chat – you name it. The format is never the same. There’s only one constant – everything’s a pitch. It was as soon as I realised this that I started to enjoy pitching and got into my comfort zone.
Top 5 tips
1. Take control.
Find out quickly what works for you. I knew that a level of formality was my forte, so where possible, the laptop comes out and we go through the pitchdeck. This way, I can control the meeting and ensure we talk through the project in a way I’m comfortable with. It ensures we cover all the essential information, which gives the listener a clear picture of the project and avoids the meeting being led by questions.
Each to their own however. My business partner (and brother) prefers the exact opposite; he likes to give a short intro, followed by a question led meeting where the other person is in the driving seat and obtains the information they want through questions.
2. Be time efficient.
Whatever your preferred format, it can take a while to perfect it. By sticking to it however, you reduce the preparation time, which means you can be more time efficient with fund raising meetings, which whilst being vital, can be a distraction from the core business.
3. Hold firm to your beliefs.
Adapt through experiences but be careful not to change your story. Each person you meet will have feedback on your proposition and suggestions for your pitchdeck. All could or may be valid, or it might just be a matter of opinion. Don’t fall into the trap of changing your pitchdeck to incorporate every piece of feedback you receive. To do this means two things:
1) You’ll start to not recognize your project (it will be pulled in so many different directions that it won’t make sense and it won’t be your vision) and 2) You’ll spend hours changing your pitchdeck, hours that could be used elsewhere on your business. I’m not suggesting ignoring feedback. If you start to hear the same point being raised over and over again then the chances are that it’s more than a matter of opinion; these are the points to re consider.
4. Adapt for the time slot.
When the pitch is time limited, it’s better to remove slides and content so you can deliver a composed and steady presentation, rather than accelerate your words-per-minute and try and cover the same number of topics more thinly. Also simplify your slides. Don’t present your audience with a mass of information to digest in seconds, it will take the focus away from you.
Where for example you had a slide with 3 key points, each with backed up stats and sources, just include the 3 key points and remove the detail. In a shorter pitch, the detail will be flashed out in the questions.
5. When the questions come (and they will come!)
Respond don’t react. And by this I mean when you receive criticism, doubt or a tough to answer question, make sure you respond in the same way as you would if someone asked you for your name and address. Don’t be defensive or change your tone or delivery.
Got more tips? Let me know in the comments below
My world at the moment is pitching. It’s so ingrained in what I’m doing that no one escapes, I just adapt the version. The 30 second elevator pitch for the man in the corner shop or the half hour version for the guy that was (un)lucky enough to sit next to me on the plane on route to San Francisco – for yet more pitches, just before I wrote this!