Advanced pitching — Start a pitch with “Hell” then “Heaven”
At Slush, there’re hundreds of pitches so how VCs and others can remember your pitch.
Be standard and be memorable!
How?
Be standard means you deliver “enough” contents following a basic pitching framework. (Tagline -> Problem -> Solution -> Value -> Business model -> Landscape -> Team -> Traction -> Ask! -> Q&A)
- Tips on delivering a standard pitch: https://medium.com/adlaunch/pitching-framework-that-works-for-every-startup-9af41ce74520
Be memorable is a lot more difficult.
Someone will say that you have to start with a story, a problem that is big enough, a joke,… From my experience, the concrete solution is to start with “Hell” then “Heaven”. If you’re an early stage startup, the gap between Hell and Heaven should even be BIGGER.
Why?
“The part of your brain making a decision doesn’t understand language” — Simon Sinek
You can blah, blah about your product but the fact that audiences won’t buy into it. Unless you have the right hook at the first few seconds, your next parts then matter.
The human brain has 2 part (let’s call A and B). Part A is more “animal” while part B is more “human”. Part A lead human activities into a pattern. For example, study -> graduate -> get a job -> marriage -> have kids… Part B will tell part A what to adjust based on its feelings.
Your job is within 7 seconds to access and wake up part B of your audience brain. Then, they will think “I don’t know this thing but I’m interested in knowing more about it”.
Also, human brain likes number 3. Thus, there should be 3 Hells and 3 Heavens in a pitch. If your story have a character, make sure it go through from start to end. Not only in problem and solution.
Why 3 Hells? Is it a bad thing to say?
No.
Telling Hell is like answering this question in a job interview “Tell me about your weaknesses”. My weakness is that I usually make a lot of sales so the company have to increase my salary every month!!!
In a pitch, your Hell-Heaven can be “We don’t have big traction / or we did something wrong BUT we learn that ……..”
In conclusion, it’s all about storytelling. People remember good stories. And my solution is to start a story with Hell then Heaven.
