If You Want to Win Pitch Competitions, Avoid These 10 Common Mistakes
Pitch competitions aren’t the same as pitching investors, and that’s why great fundraisers often loose pitch competitions.
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Most of the advice about giving great startup pitches is for pitching investors. But investor pitches aren’t the only kinds of pitches entrepreneurs give. I was recently reminded of this when a former student asked for my help as he prepared for an upcoming pitch competition.
Pitch competitions have some similarities with investor pitches, but they’re definitely not identical. Most obviously, investor pitches are usually in small conference rooms or offices with only two or three people. Pitch competitions take place in large rooms or auditoriums with dozens or sometimes even hundreds of people.
Back when I was a founder, my favorite part about participating in pitch contests was that they gave me an opportunity to watch other entrepreneurs present their startups. I’d always make sure to sit in the audience for as many of the other pitches as possible and take careful mental notes on what worked well and what didn’t.
Based on my observations, most entrepreneurs implicitly recognize they need to do something different in pitch competitions compared with investor pitches, but they often struggle figuring out what to change because, as I’ve already mentioned, most advice about pitchings is meant for pitching investors. There’s not a lot of great advice to help entrepreneurs preparing for pitch competitions.
That’s exactly what my former student was struggling with as he practiced for me. He knew how to pitch investors, but he had no idea how to pitch on stage in front of a few hundred people.
After our meeting, and once I realized what he was struggling with, I decided I’d jot down a quick list of common mistakes entrepreneurs make when giving pitches to large audiences and share it with him. I liked the list so much, I figured I’d share it with all of you, too. Maybe, for some of you, it’ll come in handy.
