Pitch advice from the creators of South Park
A strong pitch is more than the sum of its parts. The best pitches tell a story, connecting the individual details to form a cohesive narrative, from the problem you’re solving to market domination.
It’s very easy to get lost in the details and forget about the overarching story, so it’s vital that you test your narrative as you work on your pitch, reading through each key point in a way that transitions logically from the previous point and connects it to the next.
If you’re struggling with turning your details into a narrative, you’ll find help from a surprising source: South Park. In this brief video, the show’s creators describe to a class of NYU students the approach they use to weave scenes together in an episode of the show. You’ll find that their advice is directly applicable to creating the story for your pitch.
If the transitions between sections of your pitch are comparable to “here’s a detail, and here’s another detail, and then here’s another,” the pitch won’t flow. As Matt and Trey describe in the video, you need to connect the details with “therefore,” “because,” and “but.” Create a narrative by tying together the key points of your pitch, and you’ll keep your audience’s attention as you take them through the problem, your solution, why it’s a big market, and how you’re going to win.
I’ve been working on a lot of pitches this month, helping companies in the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, Powered by Techstars prepare for Demo Day, and reviewing pitch decks for Deck.vc. If you’re preparing to fundraise and looking for help, reach out.
This post originally appeared on my blog, The Cove Special.
