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Treat a Pitch Event Like a Performance (Because It Is)
58 Plays4 months ago
When you hear about something for the first time, do you want it to be boring or hard to understand? Of course not! If you were having a conversation like that at a party, you’d find a way to exit as quickly as possible. But with pitching it’s super easy to fall into both traps – boring and hard – if you’re focused on telling someone the facts of your business.
The truth is that the facts alone usually aren’t interesting, and they rarely persuade someone to take action. Treating a pitch like a performance, however, sets you up to speak and show your business in ways that lead to a much higher chance of YES. And you don’t have to be a Shakespearean actor to do any of it :)
Host and communications expert Kirin Kalia shares her top five ways to prepare for any pitch in this episode of Message Worth Millions:
- Start from the end. What will they remember and retell?
- Develop a killer hook and a strong closing with a call to action.
- Ensure your middle part covers all the criteria that are expected of you.
- Plan to finish 5-10 seconds before your time is up.
- Use slides that are designed for presentation to an audience - big images, limited text.
What does performing actually mean? Kirin’s process starts with remembering to BREATHE and to focus on the audience. She also recommends varying your voice (no monotone, please) and moving deliberately (no pacing!), as well as a few other tips.
To understand what a great pitch-as-performance looks like, Kirin breaks down this 2024 Techstars Healthcare pitch from Saisri Akondi of D.Sole, a smart insole that helps diabetics avoid foot complications that lead to amputation. You’ll understand exactly how Saisri makes it easy to understand her product and her business, and you’ll know why this mission is so important to her.
ALSO: Kirin mentioned she’s prepping founders for DemoDayLA on September 18, so grab one of the remaining spots or a ticket to watch the performances.
Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)
Especially in an AI world, human connection beats perfection every time.
→ Follow your host Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, on LinkedIn.
-=-=-=-ABOUT YOUR HOST-=-=-=-
Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and marketing. As a communications partner for growth-stage startups, she helps founders master their messaging and public-speaking skills so they raise money and grow their revenue faster.
Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch investors and innovation leaders at companies including Visa, P&G Ventures, the Estée Lauder Companies and more.
Kirin is a 2023 All-Star Mentor for Techstars Los Angeles and also mentors founders in programs including the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, FoundersBoost and the MassChallenge FinTech Program.
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Transcript
Introduction to Message Worth Millions
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Message Worth Millions, episode number four. This is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster.
00:00:11
Speaker
You need a message that moves your audience, usually investors and customers, to say yes, and all those yeses add up. Especially in this AI world, my friends, I believe human connection beats perfection every single time.
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm your host, Kiran Kalia from Grow Through Story, and I love hosting this podcast for you.
The Value of Human Connection in the AI Era
00:00:38
Speaker
Now, I received an email this week from a founder who's really appreciating all the episodes so far, all three of them, now number four.
00:00:45
Speaker
was really humbling, actually. And she noted something that I want to share with all of you. And this is word for word. The repeated reminder to forego an attempt at perfectionism is a godsend.
00:00:58
Speaker
So think about that for a second. It is not about perfection. Are these episodes perfect? Whatever the hell that means. No. ah But they're connecting with you and that's what matters. So please keep all the feedback coming.
00:01:16
Speaker
Now, every episode I'm sharing something about me or my experience that explains why I understand what you need to connect with those investors and customers. And it's going to relate to our topic today.
Lessons from Childhood Drama Class
00:01:27
Speaker
We're talking this week about pitch events and performance. So I'm going to tell you about the one official drama class I took in my life. And spoiler, I hated it.
00:01:39
Speaker
I was 11 years old and I was really excited because my local art center or place where I had gone after school and made little like ceramic pots and like figures and stuff, they had something new. It was a drama class.
00:01:51
Speaker
Now, the problem was it was Southern California in the 1980s, and a lot of these kids in my Drama One class, like four beginners, had their eyes on Hollywood.
00:02:02
Speaker
Now, what I remember is very little because I blocked it out, but I know these kids had way more experience than I did, and they love being in the spotlight, and they're always hamming it up. And I remember us rehearsing this song, There's No Business Like Show Business.
00:02:18
Speaker
That's from a famous musical. And I imagine we probably performed it. And it was just so uncomfortable. it was all so showboaty. And I hated going to this class. And I said to my mom, I am definitely not taking drama too.
00:02:35
Speaker
And that I decided was it. Drama is not for me. And frankly, it's only later that I learned that not every performance looks like that or sounds like that.
Pitch Events as Performances
00:02:46
Speaker
So today's episode is treat a pitch event like a performance because it is. As a founder, your journey is almost certainly going to include pitch events, pitch competitions, if it hasn't already.
00:02:59
Speaker
And pretty much every accelerator program wraps up with a demo day. I've seen lots of them. Pretty much every tech ecosystem has pitch events, competitions, pretty regular basis, right?
00:03:10
Speaker
I just thought I asked perplexity. How many of those events would you find in San Francisco in a month? It's dozens, and I totally believe that. I'm in Los Angeles, and we certainly have our share here.
00:03:21
Speaker
Now, some of these are events you would need to apply to and get accepted. Some may require you to pay a little something up front. Sometimes there's prizes, like you might win, you know, some credits of some kind or time at the law firm.
00:03:33
Speaker
There's some with actual real money attached, but no equity taken. Those are pretty awesome. And I'll tell you, I met a founder here in LA who financed a lot of her early stage work with pitch competition prizes. So shout out, Amantha. I hope she will be a guest at some point because I know she's going to have more tips for you than I have on this topic.
Significance of Major Pitch Events
00:03:54
Speaker
Now, those pitch events are sometimes techie kind of things. Sometimes they might be specific to your industry. ah One of the best ones, ah which I'm sure you know is on your vision board if you have one of those or you find kind of to be the epitome of all this is TechCrunch Disrupt. I've seen some of those pitches as well.
00:04:12
Speaker
Very impressive. ah lot of preparation goes into those, if you're wondering. ah I've, for years, coached founders in a program called the Visa Everywhere Initiative, which is a global fintech competition that Visa was hosting.
00:04:25
Speaker
And look, like these things are freaking everywhere because love or hate them, the format works. An investor or anyone else who's in the audience can learn about a company in a very short amount of time.
00:04:37
Speaker
There's usually some time for Q&A and then everyone actually gets a sense of what that person is like. So go open Eventbrite, Luma, Partiful, whatever. Type in pitch, see what you see you can get and see if you can find one near you. At least go and watch one and then I'm going to encourage you to go out and get your butt on a stage.
00:04:58
Speaker
Uh, with this in mind, little small plug here, I'm collaborating with the team behind an event here in Los Angeles called demo day LA. We have an event coming up September 18th, another one in November, and I'm putting the link in the show notes in case you want to pitch if you're local or
Immediate Feedback from Pitch Events
00:05:11
Speaker
come and attend, I'd love to say hi.
00:05:14
Speaker
Okay. Why pitch events matter. Now you don't have to ask me twice. I love pitch events, pitch competitions, and I go to them pretty regularly. So not a surprise.
00:05:25
Speaker
I also prepare founders for these and I've done this for years. But if you're still kind of giving me the like virtual side eye, you're like, why the hell is this worth my time because I'm already busy? Or you're like, I am petrified of getting on stage. Like there's nothing worse in the world than public speaking.
00:05:42
Speaker
Just hear me out for a second. The reason these events matter is nothing will give you feedback faster on your pitch than a room full of curious, but frankly, semi-jaded, easily distracted people who are likely at some kind of event because they wanna network and see if there's anything interesting.
00:06:00
Speaker
The truth is that every audience will vote with their attention. You get that feedback immediately. Are they looking at you? Are they listening to you? they nodding their heads? Or are they, you know, deep in their telephone?
00:06:15
Speaker
You will know pretty quickly. Pitch events help you refine your story. And when you keep getting up there and doing that and getting that feedback, you're going to get really freaking good at telling it.
00:06:28
Speaker
And that's just another way of saying pitching is a skill. One, you absolutely can learn. One that serves you whether you're up on that stage or you're in that private one-to-one meeting. And that regular pitching at live events, that, my friends, builds your skills.
Five Essential Steps for Pitch Preparation
00:06:43
Speaker
So now we get to the fun part, which is how you prepare. Everyone wants to always know how. How do I do this? Well, I'm go to be honest with you. I could probably write a book on this and maybe at some point I would i will. It's really to scratch the surface here.
00:06:55
Speaker
But I'm going to my best. I've got a bunch of rules coming up. And then I'm going to actually dive into some other sort of stage presence-y kind of things. Let me first tell you that the number one rule of pitch events is that performance comes first and business is second.
00:07:13
Speaker
Most founders, frankly, mix those up. They're totally focused on the business. And let me tell you, that is boring as Most of the time, they're just not even aware that the audience is even out there and that this is actually for them. And they're so focused on their own stuff that they lose people in the first 10 seconds.
00:07:35
Speaker
I've seen those pitches. The idea that you may have heard usually about marketing is build it and they will come. And we all know that that does not exist. Think about your pitch in the same way, giving a bunch of information about your business and expecting that that's somehow going to land with everyone and they're going to love it and be on the edge of their seats.
00:07:54
Speaker
that That doesn't work. I was at a pitch event just last night, local angel group. was very lucky to just be in there be in the audience.
00:08:05
Speaker
And the companies objectively were good. But none of those founders treated it like a performance. They just didn't. And so if your audience is not pulled in by the performance, they're um unlikely or certainly less likely to pay attention to the business that you're doing.
00:08:22
Speaker
And if they're interested in the business, then they're going to have to work really hard to understand what it is and whether they think it's something that they would be interested in investing. It's just asking them to do a lot of work.
00:08:34
Speaker
And nobody goes to a pitch event to work hard at understanding the pitches. your job is to make them easy to listen to. And once again, like I said, that phone that's in everyone's hand is your competition. If you are boring, you can bet they are gonna be looking at that instead of you.
00:08:51
Speaker
So that's where this list comes from that I'm about to give you. Here's how you prepare for a pitch event in five steps. And I boil it down to the top five. Like I said, it's not everything, but this is a very, very good place to start, especially if you're just getting into pitch events.
00:09:07
Speaker
Number one, you start from the end. What are they going to remember and retell? And I took this from the Amazon playbook of writing a press release before they ever created the product. What was that press release going to say?
00:09:21
Speaker
So if you think about what's the after of your pitch, the event is over. Let's say it's the next day or a week later, and somebody who came to that event is telling somebody else about what they saw. You know, I went to this thing, and I saw, let's say, five companies all give pitches, but there's one that really stood out to me.
00:09:41
Speaker
i loved blank, and I loved it because blank, blank, and blank. You want to be the thing that they are filling in those blanks with. And that only happens if you have thought in advance what you want them to remember and retell to someone else.
00:09:56
Speaker
And this is probably not the last time you're going to hear me say this. I think I probably mentioned it in an earlier episode already. But I say it over and over again for a reason so it really lands, which is that you've got to be in a place where you're arming another person to tell your story on your behalf.
Creating Impactful Pitches
00:10:11
Speaker
You want people to advocate for you when you're not there. So that's why, number one, you start from the end. What will they remember and retell? Number two is you develop a killer hook and a strong closing with a call to action.
00:10:27
Speaker
Beginnings and endings matter. I learned this from my high school choir director. Bless John Stoffel. May he rest in peace. He always made sure that our best songs were the beginning and the end of a concert.
00:10:41
Speaker
And the reason you do that is because you need to pull people at the beginning. You need their attention. And you want to make sure they feel really good when you're done. So the hook is probably an episode unto itself.
00:10:54
Speaker
But it's basically something that's going to catch somebody's attention. And usually it's not a really in-depth explanation of the problem. Usually it's something that's personal or unusual.
00:11:09
Speaker
And it's something that sounds like a story. We as humans love stories. We want to keep listening to them. So that's where I want you to start digging around in your own stuff to figure out what your hook is like.
00:11:22
Speaker
That closing, I like to end with something that feels visionary, exciting. We sort of build this momentum, a crescendo, just like if you were listening to a piece of classical music, you know those moments in the music.
00:11:34
Speaker
And then there's this call to action. You want people to do something. You want them to maybe invest. Maybe the call to action is that you want them to sign up for your thing, you want them to follow you on socials, whatever. You need to have a specific call to action.
00:11:51
Speaker
So that's why this is step two. Develop that hook and the strong close with a call to action. Step three is to ensure your middle part covers um all the criteria that are expected of you, which can vary from event to event.
00:12:06
Speaker
So middle stuff usually means things like the way the product works it could be your competition your ip and moat it most certainly in most cases is going to involve things like business model go to market strategy market size team and that sort of thing so that's the middle part now like i said if you're in a competition there might be some specific criteria so make sure you're covering that too Number four, plan to finish five to 10 seconds before your specified time is up.
00:12:44
Speaker
I've seen most events range from somewhere between three minutes to four to five. If you are in some very unusual situation, you might get as long as eight or 10.
00:12:55
Speaker
Wow. ah One note on angel events, if they give you eight to 10 minutes, you should not talk the whole time. You should stop somewhere around three to four and leave time for questions.
00:13:06
Speaker
So just a little sidebar. But let's say it's a traditional kind of pitch event. You know you have a three-minute pitch. Plan to be done at like 2.55. That way you're not stressed and nobody's going to cut you off. Believe me, it's not a great feeling to be cut off. So number four, plan to finish five to ten seconds before your time is up.
00:13:24
Speaker
And number five, this is again, whole ah episode unto itself, use slides that are designed for a presentation to an audience, not the ones that you're using in your slide deck that you send to everyone that's supposed to stand on its own without a narration.
00:13:40
Speaker
that is not going to work for an actual event. Slides for an event need to be visual if they are crammed with text, if they have, for the love of all things, some horrible diagram with multiple arrows pointing multiple directions. Nobody knows what the hell that is.
00:13:56
Speaker
You never, ever, ever, please, for love of all things, put that in an actual pitch deck that you are going to have on stage with you. okay Slides need to be visual, minimal text, most important text, so that somebody can look at it and listen to you at the same time.
00:14:11
Speaker
So that's my top five. Start from the end. What will they remember retell? Develop a killer hook and a strong closing with a call to action. Number three, ensure your middle covers all the criteria that are expected of you.
00:14:22
Speaker
Number four, plan to finish five to 10 seconds before your time is up. And number five, use slides that are designed for presentation to an audience, meaning visual, meaning very minimal text.
Enhancing Pitch Delivery Skills
00:14:32
Speaker
Now, once you have all those five, please practice.
00:14:36
Speaker
Practice, practice, practice, practice. We're talking about practice. And if you know where that comes from, I'll tell you, I didn't know my husband, who's a sports ball nerd, gave me that one. Practice, practice, practice, practice.
00:14:48
Speaker
So this is the next fun part, which is how you perform. I got six things for you. One, first of all, please breathe.
00:15:00
Speaker
Always breathe before you start. you can do some deeper exercises off stage. And even right before you start, just that in through the nose, out through the mouth.
00:15:11
Speaker
And just remember, you're okay. You're not in danger. Nobody's chasing you. There's also an audience in front of you and focus on them. Number two, bring your energy.
00:15:22
Speaker
That means no shrinking. that means your shoulders are back. Your chin is up. You are fired up and ready to go. You're not going to be weirdly energetic like, what did she drink just now or something?
00:15:33
Speaker
But you're going to be energetic. That makes you more credible. There's research to back that up. So bring your energy. Number three, always face the audience. That means no turning around to look at your slide.
00:15:45
Speaker
You may or may not be able to actually see your own slides depending on how a stage is set up. The worst thing you can do is turn your back. I have seen this so many times. Please, please don't turn your back to the audience.
00:15:56
Speaker
Number four, sync your voiceover with your slides. So there's no misalignment between those two things. This probably takes some practice. You may or may not be used to using certain type of clickers. Try and get one for the actual event where you're going to be ahead of time so you know how to do this and you've got a really good alignment between what somebody's looking at and what you are saying.
00:16:17
Speaker
Number five, I want you to move deliberately, which means there shouldn't be a lot of pacing because that just makes people really nervous. It means if you're using your hands, you're using your hands to make a point. There's like on the left hand and on the right hand kind of moments.
00:16:30
Speaker
And number six, you're going to vary your voice. That means no monotone, no speeding, because you are not trying to cram in as much stuff as you can in those three, four or five minutes, whatever your actual length is.
00:16:43
Speaker
So vary your voice. You hear me doing that here, right? I'm in your ear. I'm not talking the whole time the same way. I pause. I might get really like intense.
00:16:55
Speaker
i might quiet down So that's what I'm talking about. Breathe is number one. Two, bring your energy. Number three, always face the audience. Number four, sync your voice over with your slides. Number five, move deliberately.
00:17:07
Speaker
And number six, vary your voice. So you guys know me. I always love a really good example. And I was like, what do I do for this one? Well, I went back to ah specific Techstars healthcare care cohort that I know from 2024.
00:17:25
Speaker
amazing founder named Sassari of a company called Diesel, which is an insole for monitoring the foot complications that can happen with diabetes. And Sassari has an extremely personal reason for this company.
00:17:39
Speaker
She told a very memorable story about her grandfather. And that opens the pitch. It was amazing how she found this wonderful photo of him, how her tone and the image change as she said what happened to him once he was diabetic, right? He had both of his feet amputated, like That's the kind of story you don't easily forget.
00:17:58
Speaker
She then smoothly transitioned to a problem. She then really clearly explained how it all works. She did all the business stuff. And then she closed strong with a call to action, and her contact information was up on that slide.
00:18:11
Speaker
All of those slides were designed for a presentation. It synced perfectly with her voiceover. And I know I don't want you all to be perfect, but that was some damn i good syncing. Then she spoke with a lot of energy. She moved her hands deliberately.
00:18:25
Speaker
It felt easy to listen to. That is the mark of a great pitch. It did not start that way. It took a lot of work and a lot of practice for her to get to that point. And let me be clear, she followed the number one rule.
00:18:39
Speaker
Performance comes first, business second. It certainly helps you as a strong business in that that comes across as well, but her performance is what drew you in and made you stick around long enough to know what the business is.
00:18:53
Speaker
Now, one last point, Q&A is often a part of a pitch event, so please go back and listen to my last episode to brush up on Q&A if you have an actual event coming up.
00:19:06
Speaker
So quick little wrap up here. i love getting feedback.
Invitation for Feedback and Application
00:19:10
Speaker
Please tell me what you love, what you didn't, what you need help with. I'm Kieran at growthroughstory.com. That's K-I-R-I-N as in Nancy at growthroughstory.com.
00:19:21
Speaker
u t h r o u g h story dot com 2. You love this? Please subscribe, share with a friend. That's how more people get to know how to do this stuff and suffer less. 3. you know your message, that could be for investors, the customers, the board, your team.
00:19:39
Speaker
If you know that needs help, let's talk. You can email or DM me on LinkedIn to set up a call. kieran at grow through story.com. My friends, I don't want you wasting your time screwing up an amazing opportunity to pitch in front of a group of live human beings.
00:19:57
Speaker
So remember, do all these things, go back and listen again, if you need to repetition is a good thing. And remember that human connection beats perfection every single time.
00:20:09
Speaker
I'll see you next week.