About Pitch@

Business Should Be Proactive, Not Passive

With all the methods of communication available to us why is picking up the phone still the fastest way to make things happen?

This was supposed to be the Get Shit Done generation. The one with all the technology needed to make things happen at break neck speed. Instead of working faster, we appear to have lost a step somewhere along the way. Business used to be about looking someone in the eye and telling them that they can trust you to meet their objectives. Now, it’s all about the blurb you wrote on LinkedIn 8 months ago that vaguely matches the job description some HR person needs filled.

What happened to getting after it? What happened to hustling for the projects you actually want to do? At a time when almost every industry is seeing a changing of the guard why are there not more people putting their hands up and saying, “This is what I can do for you and here’s how we’ll both benefit.”

When I really stop to think about it, I see three problems:

1. Millennials are prone to think they can do things themselves and opt to fail as a startup founder than to incubate their ideas within a company.
2. Millennials think that approaching a company with an idea is the same thing as giving the company the idea and being left out.
3. There is no standardized way of doing this. Is it a pitch deck? Cold email/phone call? Who within the company are you contacting and will they care?

Of course, there are many other issues with proactively pursuing a career that you might actually love but let’s focus on those.

A Founder In The Age Of Consolidation

You don’t want to be a founder in 2016. If you look at where we’re at in the technology industry we’re most definitely in a cycle of consolidation. There have been fewer tech IPO this year than there have been in the last decade while acquisitions are north of $100B.

All the scrappy upstarts that began building software/applications between 2004–2006 have matured. These companies were able to learn as they scaled their platform to hundreds of millions of users and that’s the real differentiator. These companies have developed processes and systems from years of experience and are able to move faster and anticipate better than you ever will. As you’re busy collecting the small amounts of data your early adopters provide, these companies are crunching billions of terabytes of data every hour. Entering a market with such powerful incumbents isn’t tough, it’s impossible. They hire the best and brightest and have armies of engineers, marketers, analysts and designers all performing as if the company is still bootstrapping.

So, if you think you’ll keep your great ideas and do them for yourself. Reconsider because by the time you’re ready to play the game, it’ll already be over.

Your Ideas Aren’t Worth Shit

Sorry but it’s true and everyone knows it. You can’t step foot in the entrepreneurial world without someone telling you, “It’s not about the idea, it’s about the execution.” Don’t feel bad if you’re just learning this now, you have to learn it at some point, but it’s the truth and the sooner you figure this out, the sooner you can create a plan of action.

I believe in radical transparency but that’s not to say I believe you should give an idea away before you’re ready. It’s not secretive to withhold your ideas until you’re ready to execute, it’s smart. People don’t have time for your bullshit, nor do they want to get excited about an idea that will never materialize. It’s unfair. If you want me to take time out of my busy schedule to listen to your great idea you better be prepared to answer the question: What’s the next step?

In an ideal scenario you will have already got the team in place, crossed the “T’s”, dotted the “I’s” and all you need from the person you’re pitching is them to say “yes”. The ask should be so black-and-white that a simple “yes” leads to some kind of movement.

For example, if I want to sell Lemonade and I need you’re investment of $100 to buy bulk lemons, I’m not going to spend hours telling you the Lemonade market is hot right now. I’m going to tell you why my Lemonade is the best and how much money we’ll make when we sell the full batch. If you say “yes”, I buy the lemons and we’re good to go. Simple.

Standardizing the Pitch

This is the biggest issue with trying to be proactive in business; there’s no right or wrong way to do it. You never know who to talk to, how to pitch them, if they’re interested in being pitched, if they’re the right person to pitch, etc. The whole process is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The reason job postings work is because they are wanted pitches. Job A requires X years of experience and ______ type of portfolio. Everyone follow this criteria, submit your forms and we’ll pick someone to do it.

I hate this process. It’s rare that you find a job that perfectly matches your skill set (especially as a creative in technology) and it usually requires you to submit a resume along with a cover letter.

2016. It’s 2016 people. Really? A fucking resume with cover letter.

Think about how much talent is wasting away because people are not in a position that will optimize their skill set. The employee won’t change this because they agreed to the position when they were hired. The business won’t change it because that’s the job description they’ve been using for 5 years. It’s just another box checked.

But I’ll go back to something I brought up at the start of this article: Almost every industry is undergoing some kind of turbulence. The attitude of, “Well, that’s the way we’ve always done it” is a death sentence. I guarantee it.

Pitch@ — A New Way Forward

What if companies made it easier for progressive ideas to come to them? What if current or potential employees could propose work that would move the company forward in a way executives might not otherwise have known? What if there were a platform for ingesting ideas that was beneficial for the employee as it were for the employer? Would people use it?

Let’s find out.

Pitch@ leverages the latest publishing CMS technologies to make it the pitching process easier. It allows companies to outline their philosophies and create a basic template outlining how they would like to be pitched. The rest is up to the creativity of the pitcher.

If you think you can help a company get ahead, tell them how. Put yourself in a situation to get the things you want by asking for the things you want.

And do it publicly. Get it out there. Be bold.

I’m not building out this platform for window shoppers or those scared of someone stealing their big idea. I’m building it for the doers, for the people in the Get Shit Done generation who actually get shit done. For the creatives who will out work and out execute the competition. I’m building it for these people because these people are the only ones who are going to survive. The innovators, the makers.

Business used to be about looking someone in the eye and telling them to trust you, now it’s about showing them they can trust you.

Confused? Don’t worry, plenty of examples and how-to videos to come.