Secrets to a 5 Minute Pitch
We’re doing a Five Minute Pitch on Wed at Launch Pad. Here is the coaching guidance that I just sent out to the companied presenting.
format — we are going to hold you to 5 min, so be sure to keep your pitch tight and focused. this is plenty of time if you are rehearsed and gives you an opportunity to communicate about your company or project in a way that will keep the audiences attention and hopefully spark conversation with you afterwards.
goal — what do you want to accomplish? start there, think about that deeply. are you trying to raise funding, attract users/customers, generate press? utilize this forum to accomplish something for your business. focus on achieving that goal and don’t worry if your pitch isn’t broad enough to be interesting to everyone. that’s why we’re keeping them to 5 min. this is not an exercise, this is an opportunity to accomplish something for your business.
ask — close (and maybe open too) with your ask. be specific and be clear. ie: 1) we’re looking to find new school customers, so if you know anyone in education, please refer me to them. 2) we’re currently raising a seed round of $500k and have $200k committed. 3) we are looking to generate awareness about our platform so please follow us @yourname and tweet about us 4) we’re looking for beta users to please sign up on www.yourwebsitename.com for an invite.
practice — please, please, please give your pitch out loud, standing up. if you don’t you will run too long. You will have 100x improvement in your pitch by giving it several times, getting feedback, doing more of whats working, less of whats not. ask for candid feedback. treat this as the real-deal, not a practice. you want to be proud of your pitch.
show, don’t tell — if you have a product, show it, demo it if you can do it very quickly. 1–2 min videos are great, b/c you can prepare them in advance and they can be extremely professional. live demos are difficult to do, if you are going to do it, please have someone else to “drive”. screenshots of your product are actually much better than a live demo. remember, the audience doesn’t know your product nearly as well as you do, so showcase the “wow” factor, but don’t expect them to understand it and don’t try to do a deep dive about how it works. focus on the sexy and sizzle.
elevator pitch arc — there are lots of blog posts about what people want to hear in an elevator pitch. this obviously varies depending on what your goal is. but have a clear outlined format, don’t just talk. you’ll be judged by the audience as much on your professionalism and clarity in approach as you will on your product. remember to touch on things like: problem, solution, market, team, traction, business model.
deck — i’d recommend keeping it to 5–8 slides, unless you are able to run your preso very tightly and succinctly. don’t read whats on the slide, use the slide for backup and then give context, explanation or tell a story. make sure that what you are saying connects with the slides but you are not reading bullet points, nothing is more dull.
get excited! relax and have fun — the coaching advice here is to help you be prepared and confident. practicing beforehand will give you confidence and help you relax. make sure your excitement about your company comes through, excitement is contagious. this is a friendly audience, everyone is rooting for you. you will be great.
Here are some resources that I like:
http://www.slideshare.net/UTR/how-to-pitch-a-vc-dave-mcclure
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html#axzz1ASoQA9sv
http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/funding/the-social-entrepreneur-s-pitch/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/24/five-minute-pitch-sliderocket/
http://ryanacademy.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/techstars-show-how-to-pitch-with-passion-prt-1/