Don’t Be That (Startup) Guy
Avoid these pitfalls when talking about or pitching your startup.
I have seen and heard a lot of startup “pitches”. These pitches are usually under 3 minutes, delivered in one of the college classes I teach, or at some sort of startup workshop I am working at or attending. They are usually nothing more than an idea or extremely early product — certainly not investor pitches with data and a nice hockey stick curve for everyone to swoon over, but an important start for hopeful entrepreneurs.
Usually the purpose of these pitches is to:
- Explain the core problem that they are looking to solve.
- Offer an idea of how they want to solve the problem.
- Get others excited to work with them over the course of the workshop or semester.
All good objectives to start working on getting an idea off the ground.
I’ve seen hundreds of these. Since there is generally very little hard data or product to talk about, people resort to a few tactics to buff up their pitch.
Here are a few of the most common, and how to Not Be That Guy (or girl).
No Value Guy.
“I need a kick ass designer to design it, a top-notch hacker to develop it, a marketing wizard to get the word out, and a rockstar sales team to start selling.”
Don’t we all. However, in his emphatic pitch for people to join his team, he never mentions any value that he brings to the table.
How to not be No Value Guy
Many times in this setting (especially with students), No Value Guy actually does not have much value in terms of actually building and launching a company , or any hard skills like designing or coding. However, if you feel like you are No Value Guy, you should look a little deeper. Something made you want to work on this project. If you are an avid kayaker and know everything about kayaking equipment and culture, that is an important thing to say when pitching your outdoor sports startup. That is value — you are a subject matter expert, and that could help you attract a team to help you build something around your knowledge.
Feature Guy.
“First you tap to see your friends, then a social map pops up that you can add to your favorite places sections…”
Feature Guy is so wrapped up in his brilliant idea that he will describe every feature and bit of technology involved. Look for words like “algorithms”, “API” and “proprietary” (all with no basis)— they are used as smoke and mirrors to buff up an idea that has no substance or plan for execution.
How to not be Feature Guy
Understand that nobody cares about features themselves. Features are just the way that product owners help solve problems and create a good experience for users. If you are tempted to pitch a laundry list of features, I suggest thinking of your pitch as a 1 minute real estate tour. You are trying to sell a home to a couple, and only have a minute to show them around. The key is to insert enough of your ideas and knowledge to get them excited, without going into detail about every single aspect of the home. Show them the backyard, and tell them there is room for a pool or tennis court — then move on to the kitchen without going into the zoning and construction laws.
Industry Guy.
“So, in biotech software, there is a big problem when you log into your portal and try to extract biodata….”
Industry Guy has been involved in a certain niche for so long that he can no longer explain what he does, or what the problem is, without industry jargon and complex terms that nobody else is familiar with.
How to not be Industry Guy
Actually, Industry Guy is a pretty good Guy to be. Industry Guy knows a ton about the space, existing solutions, and has experienced problems that exist firsthand. The issue is how he conveys those legitimate (and often complex) problems to others, especially in a quick pitch. If you feel like you might lose people with specific terms and language, the best thing to do is to try and boil it down to a simple problem. The challenge here is that the problems are often not simple, and Industry Guy will feel like they are over generalizing or not fully explaining the intricacies of the issue. There will be time for that later — for now, get people to understand the problem/solution at it’s core, and trust that you are the expert that can dive deeper. Analogies are helpful, even if they seem to oversimplify.
Combo Guy.
“It’s like Seamless combined with Kickstarter and Tinder…but with the social component of Snapchat.”
A close relative of Feature Guy, Combo Guy lives by a strict code:
- Drop names of a lot of popular apps
- ????
- Profit.
How to not be Combo Guy.
Do not mention another app or product, unless you are drawing a comparison to a common value they provide. If you are trying to ride on their name, design, or features, it will come off as the vapid, empty idea that it is.
Bad: “You can swipe through it like Tinder and choose who to fund like Kickstarter.”
Better: “Kickstarter helps fund projects of all types, while ours focuses on the marijuana industry, where there are unique challenges for founders and those launching products.”
This article is not meant to disparage anyone who has been “that guy” — these are all very common traps to fall into, especially if you have little experience in going past the idea phase and actually launching a startup.
This is a guide to looking deeper into your idea, and being able to get others excited about it by providing and communicating your value in a clear, concise way.