Entrepreneurs, as I've written here, when you pitch a VC, you don't have much time to make a good first impression. VC's spend a good part of their waking hours sitting through pitches, so the "make an impression" hurdle is high. Moreover, you are, like it or not, competing against the ever-growing pile of other pitches flooding onto the VC's desk (more on this in a subsequent post). So, be punchy and quickly capture the interest of the audience (even if it's only one person).
One good, simple bit of advice is to avoid taglines beginning with the passive: "MyCompany 'is' [a platform for blah..]. Instead, state what problem your company 'solves'. An easy way to do this that I recommend is to have an early slide entitled "Problem" and the following slide entitled: "Solution".
Be active, not passive. Passive puts audiences to sleep; not good in a pitch where you're asking for money.
Totally agree!
The Founders: The Problem, The Solution, and Why We Give A Shit - http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/10/the-founders-the-problem-the-solution-and-why-we-give-a-shit.html - where I reference this.
If You Can’t Explain What You Do In A Paragraph, You’ve Got A Problem - http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/10/if-you-cant-explain-what-you-do-in-a-paragraph-youve-got-a-problem.html - where I say the same thing a different way.
Posted by: twitter.com/bfeld | October 07, 2012 at 09:04 AM
Great succint message - thanks!
Explaining the pain of the problem in a visceral way adds emotion to the activity.
The VC should be relieved to hear the's a solution (certainly that's how our clients feel!)
Now we just have to show it in technicolor !
Posted by: James Ferguson (@kWIQly) | October 07, 2012 at 10:36 AM