52. Slow down and say less to communicate more when pitching startup investors

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I judged a pitch competition last night and the other judges and I, all noticed something about most of the pitches. They were going way too fast. The founders were just tearing through the material and leaving us baffled about what it was they were talking about. So I was inspired to create a quick episode talking about this issue, unpacking why it happens so often, and some ways to try to avoid the problem yourself

It is not hard to guess why the founders were going so fast through their material. They only had three minutes to pitch their company, and so much they wanted to say about it. They felt that they had to rush to get through all of the things they thought we'd need to hear. And therein lies the problem. The presentations ended up being like a fire hose of completely undifferentiated words.

There was no point at which you knew that they were making a big point. The presenters never stopped to emphasize the elements that it was critical for us to hear. It all sort of sounded the same, and there was no time to think. They were going to race through whether or not we were keeping up.  Often, especially when you're saying something important, your audience needs a moment to stop and take it in before we're ready to hear the next thing.

So the paradox is that you need to say a lot less. And the less time you have, the more rigorous you need to be about what you cut out. There is no way that you're going to say everything significant about your company. It's just, it's not possible. You're going to need to pick and choose.

It's critical to remember that your pitch isn't about closing the deal. You don't need investors to write you a check after this one meeting, which means they don't need to know everything about your company. Instead, you need to make sure that they get the core idea and understand what you're trying to do. They should understand the market, the customer's need, and the size of the opportunity. In the end, they should feel that the whole plan generally makes sense. And ideally, they will understand your unique insight.

What perspective do you have that's going to help you win against your competitors in this space? Whether it is the status quo, some other startups, or an established player. Whoever they are, you need to make a strong case that you understand something that they're missing.

Pick a couple of things that highlight your company and focus on those. Maybe say them more than once to make sure those get adequately emphasized. For example, one of the companies had a fantastic founding team with ideal backgrounds for this startup, so they talked about them first. That instantly showed that these guys understood the problem and knew what they were doing. If you don't have a fantastic team (I'm going to assume you have good people and that you are a reasonable team to be running this company), but if it's not a team of rock stars, then don't spend a lot of time on it. It can go towards the end of the deck, and you just need to make the case that you're a credible group of people with good experience who investors can trust to take on this mission.

But if you don't have the dream team, then you need something else. Do you have some brilliant insight or an incredible technology that you've developed or patents that will revolutionize an industry? It can be any of a million different things but pick just a few of them. All you need to do is convince us that we should take that next meeting. Whether you've got one minute, three minutes, five minutes, or even 10 minutes, you want to make sure that the most critical points land.

So say less, really edit down the information. Even if you know you need to provide a piece of information, you may be able to go through it quickly. Some points will only take a couple of seconds, then pause for it to be received, then move on. And the pause matters. Let things sink in. When I listened to the pitches, my inability to understand the key elements of their business was driving me insane. They spent two seconds on one topic, and as I was trying to work out what they meant, they were on to talking about the next topic. Because I was still thinking about the previous point that I thought might be important, now I've missed the following two things, and I'm trying to scramble to keep up. Not good.

So take a breath, slow it down. It was funny to read the chat window during the pitch competition. The founders were talking to each other about how they were getting out of breath. They literally forgot to take breaths, and it showed. The key here is just to own your time, which also exudes confidence. If you slow down what you're saying, you're master of your space and time. You show that you know the points you want to make. You're not just trying to fill the time available, but rather convey exactly and only the information that you want to share. You pause to allow them to understand that, and then you move on. It shows that you are in control of the situation.

We know that investors make a lot of their decisions based on the CEO. To a great extent, the job of a CEO is to communicate. Demonstrating that you're a strong communicator is essential.

All this is a very long way of saying, "In your pitch, take your time, slow down, say less."

Till next time, ciao!