The Four Elements of a Kick-Ass Pitch
During the five years I’ve been a cofounder of the Happy Startup School I’ve met people with all kinds of ideas. From app developers to activists they all had different goals, ambitions and business models, but what many had in common was the lack of a kick-ass pitch.
When I talk about pitching I don’t mean buttering up some rich investor so they can hand you great big wodges of cash. For me pitching is about storytelling: a kick-ass pitch is a clear and engaging story that makes people sit up and listen.
Too many people drone on about their idea as if their sole aim is to get you to glaze over and fall asleep. So unless you’re in the business of curing insomnia it’s important that you get your pitch right.
Your pitch needs to kick ass so you don’t have to kick people awake.
So what’s the problem?
Generally it’s about information overload and lack of structure. When we talk about something we’re passionate about it’s very easy to lose ourselves in the story.
We bounce from idea to idea and focus on irrelevant details. In our heads we may think we’re delivering a monologue that even Martin Luther King would be jealous of but in reality the other person hasn’t been able to relate to single thing you’ve said. They’ve switched off and you’ve lost them.
How do we get people to sit up and listen?
Prepare a kick-ass pitch! In the next few paragraphs I’m going to outline a simple approach for deconstructing the chunky soup of ideas swirling around your head and piece them back together into a story that flows more smoothly.
How to craft a kick-ass pitch breaks down into four main elements:
- Create a shared reality
- Define the problem
- Explain your solution
- Share your vision
Aim to do deliver this message in 3 minutes and you’ll be fighting people off at dinner parties. WARNING: this level of clarity may make you irresistibly attractive…
1. Create a shared reality
In their book Made to Stick Dan and Chip Heath talk about something they call the curse of knowledge. This is the idea that the more we know about something the harder it is to remember what it was like to not know it. This can kill your pitch, as it tricks you into feeling like people can read your mind.
So you need to create a shared reality and understanding. You do this by building empathy and letting them glimpse the world through your eyes. If you talk in the first person and describe your needs and goals as well as your pains and aspirations, people get to feel what it’s like to be in your shoes and they understand your context.
Some of the best businesses were built by founders scratching their own itch.
For instance, when Laurence and I first started our business we felt out of place at networking events. We weren’t comfortable swapping business cards and talking industry speak. We just wanted to meet new people, have interesting conversations and maybe learn something to make our business better. No hidden agendas, just pure human connection. Unfortunately this rarely happened.
2. Define the problem
We felt out of place at traditional networking events and hadn’t found any people who thought like us. We had no role models or peers that could help us develop our business.
Unless you’re the Dalai Lama (he’s so comfortable in his own skin) you’re probably trying to achieve some kind of goal. It might be to start a new business, find a great place to eat, or even just live a happier life.
Any goal worth getting to will have obstacles in the way. Your job is to describe the obstacles you want to remove, who you’re removing them for and how it’s gonna make their lives better.
Deal with problems that matter
We were trying to stop lifestyle entrepreneurs like us feeling isolated and alone in a business world that was motivated purely by money and growth. We wanted to be inspired to develop our business in a way that could make money, do good and keep us happy. At the time there was nowhere to connect with other people who felt like this.
3. Explain your solution
Now that you’ve clearly stated the problem and described who you’re helping it’s time to talk about your solution. Describe what you do, how you do it and why it’s better than anything else around. Talk about the alternative solutions and explain where they fall short. Then say why what you’re doing is better.
Don’t hold back. Be super confident about the value you create.
When we launched the Happy Startup School the nearest alternatives were startup accelerators that were purely focused on the mechanics of business building.
They were all about the hack-a-thons, working Lean, following an agile approach and scaling like a unicorn. While all of that was great information we saw that most entrepreneurs still failed because they weren’t clear on why they were starting a business in the first place.
The Happy Startup School, on the other hand, focuses on the human side of business. We believe that if you’re passionate about what you do and are clear about your purpose then you’ll build the right business for you.
We want to show people that startups aren’t just about high growth and that there is a way to balance money and meaning. We do this through our courses, community, events and retreats.
4. Share your vision
Now end your pitch by describing your vision for the future. Paint a picture of the world you want to create where you’ve solved all the problems you set out to solve. How will it be a better place? Be unashamedly optimistic and shoot for the moon. Your goal is to excite or even anger people.
You want to polarise opinion rather than sound bland and forgettable.
At the Happy Startup School we’re looking to create a world where business is a force for good. Where everyone is doing work that aligns with who they really are and creating a positive impact at the same time.
When you’re able to craft a pitch that perfectly connects each of the above elements, people will either run up and hug you or start to quizzing you to find out more. Either way you’ll have made an impression and kicked ass!
On Thursday 15th February I’ll be hosting a Masterclass on crafting your own kick-ass pitch. I’ll dive deeper into each of the four elements and share tools and techniques to help you get clear on what your kick-ass pitch looks like.
If you’re an entrepreneur or have a fledgling idea you’d like to develop and want your own kick-ass pitch then this Masterclass is for you!
