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The Worst Question You Can Get - and How to Avoid It
45 Plays5 months ago
No startup founder wants to pitch their heart out only to realize their audience didn’t understand a single word. If it’s happened to you, you probably know what the worst question is because you’ve heard it: “So what is it you actually do?”
In this inaugural episode of Message Worth Millions, startup veteran and communications expert Kirin Kalia explains why the disconnect happens and why it matters. Kirin outlines three ways you can change what you say about your business so that your audience, whether it’s investors or customers, will always understand it.
Those three things:
1. Know your audience - what do they want, what’s their pain?
2. Use Plain English to describe what you do, not jargon.
3. Give an example that’s relatable.
To bring these points home, Kirin looks at news coverage and the website of Lava, a payments infrastructure startup for AI developers that recently raised $5.8M.
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'
00:00:01
Kirin Kalia
Hello, hello, and welcome to Message Worth Millions. This is a new podcast for startup founders who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster.
00:00:12
Kirin Kalia
The reason you need a message that moves your audience, those are usually investors and customers, and you want them to say yes, because all those yeses add up.
00:00:24
Kirin Kalia
And especially in an AI world, my friends, I believe human connection beats perfection every single time. So my promise to you is to walk the walk.
Kiran Kalia's Background
00:00:35
Kirin Kalia
My name is Kiran Kalia. I am the founder and CEO of a consultancy called Grow Through Story. And I love to help founders win.
00:00:46
Kirin Kalia
And I love to help them win. by providing them with clear and concise advice. And I do it with confidence because i know i know my stuff and because you don't have time to waste.
00:00:57
Kirin Kalia
That's what this podcast is all about. i want you win. So why you should listen to me, maybe you already know who I am. and if so, hello, hello.
00:01:07
Kirin Kalia
ah If you don't, welcome. I have helped over a thousand founders across my 25 plus years of working in the startup and tech industries. I've been a B2B journalist covering tech and business in the dot-com days and Web 2.0.
00:01:23
Kirin Kalia
I've been a B2B SaaS marketer. I've enjoyed being a mentor for Techstars and other accelerators. And I've coached some amazing corporate innovation programs over the years, including the Visa Everywhere Initiative, which has been a global fintech competition for nearly 10 years.
Importance of Clear Communication
00:01:38
Kirin Kalia
so Given all that, i think now, this point, August 2025, the reason you need to hear from me is because, first of all, fall fundraising is about to kick off.
00:01:52
Kirin Kalia
And the second thing is that, frankly, I see the same problems over and over again. This type of q communication that I'm talking about, clear, concise, confident,
00:02:03
Kirin Kalia
with a message that connects with your audience, it's a skill, my friends. And it's a skill, i swear to God, you must have to get the resources that you actually need to build this business. And frankly, it's a skill you can learn.
00:02:16
Kirin Kalia
You can level up also from where you are and just needs ah a little bit of time, commitment, which I know is tough. um And that's why I'm making these really short episodes that I'm going to plan to drop every single week.
00:02:30
Kirin Kalia
Now, that said, this is also an experiment to see what kind of content and format works best for you. So I want your feedback. More on that at the end.
Common Communication Issues
00:02:39
Kirin Kalia
So today, I thought I'd start with the thing that I have covered in some other places, but I think is really good for ah starting point, laying some groundwork here, is the worst question i have ever heard. And believe me, I've heard it at more than one pitch competition and at parties and things like that.
00:02:58
Kirin Kalia
And this is how it might go. For example, let's say you've just walked into a really crowded space. I was actually at one of these the other night. It's, you know, this happy hour.
00:03:10
Kirin Kalia
tons of people all networking. You can just hear the buzz. And let's say you happen to talk to somebody who looks really interesting. And they ask you that classic classic question, right? What is it you do? Tell me about your business.
00:03:23
Kirin Kalia
So you give this okay great explanation. You probably are talking for somewhere around 30 seconds to a minute. And you get this sort of confused look. And if you're Paying attention to you know the the body language and things like that, you're probably like, uh-oh, I don't know if this really landed. And the next question could very well be, and like I said, I've certainly heard judges say it at pitch competitions, is, so what is it you actually do?
00:03:49
Kirin Kalia
It's, oh man, it is the worst feeling in the world. And i really hope you never get it. And if you have, I am so sorry. And the reason it happens, it's for a couple of reasons.
00:04:02
Kirin Kalia
The first thing, and I say this with absolutely no judgment, is that you are probably thinking this person, or even if it's a group of people, they care about the same things and they have the same background as you, right? You're like, well, I live in this world, so you probably do too. And you kind of, without realizing, drop people in the deep end of the pool.
00:04:20
Kirin Kalia
Maybe you use some words because you think they're going impress them. And maybe you're still speaking in some very abstract terms. So that's just all really hard, especially given a, like, say, a networking situation. it's going to be really loud, lots of distractions.
00:04:34
Kirin Kalia
That's going to be extremely hard for somebody to understand. And that's why you're going to get a question or at least a look that basically says, what is it you actually do? Now, why does this matter? and there it's so simple.
00:04:47
Kirin Kalia
Confused people don't invest. They don't buy. Right? We know this. We've seen it in consumer behavior over and over again. And it absolutely is the same thing for you. And think about it. Like, do you actually think a VC is going to write a check if they don't understand what a company does? They've got to be able to write those, those memos and they've got to be able to convince the rest of the partners and things like that. Right? It's, there's just no way if they're confused, they're ever going to get, you're ever going to get through their system or their process.
00:05:12
Kirin Kalia
Now, all that said, there may be people who never even ask the so what is it you actually do question because they don't want to deal with the discomfort of, you know, having to listen through another version that might be really, really long.
00:05:25
Kirin Kalia
Some might even feel kind of ashamed that they don't get it. So I would rather you never be in this situation. and That's why, and i've I've got so much advice, but I've boiled it down to three things. I'm going to keep it to three.
00:05:40
Kirin Kalia
And these honestly hold true for any situation. So how you avoid it is three things.
Effective Communication Strategies
00:05:46
Kirin Kalia
And I'm going to give them to you straight up, and then we're going to go through them one by one. First, know your audience.
00:05:52
Kirin Kalia
What do they want? What's their pain? It sounds really simple, but it's super, super, super important that you really pull this in because This is where most problems start.
00:06:03
Kirin Kalia
The second one is to use plain English to describe what you do, not jargon. Okay? Again, this goes back to you think everyone knows what you know. They probably don't.
00:06:14
Kirin Kalia
And number three, give an example that's relatable. So that speaks to what I said earlier about abstract terms. If it's an example, I actually can sort of ground myself in something real, and I'm more likely to remember it.
00:06:29
Kirin Kalia
Okay, let's go through those same three things. now with a little bit more detailed examples for you. So this first one, knowing your audience, what do they want and what's their pain? I know that most of you are going to be thinking about fundraising because that's the season that we're in, right?
00:06:44
Kirin Kalia
So what do investors care about just in general, right? it There's lots of them. They all have different things, but generally what do they care about? They care about making a lot of money, right?
00:06:56
Kirin Kalia
You have to have a venture scalable business. And if you don't have a venture scalable business, they're not going to be interested, right? So Your job is to help them show that show, you're going to show them how you make a lot of money, right?
00:07:07
Kirin Kalia
They also want to know, especially if you're on the earlier stage, that you're the right person and the right team to do it. Because frankly, that's probably what they're betting on. Lots of things can change about the idea or the market or whatever.
00:07:20
Kirin Kalia
You're the person they're betting on. So that's at a very, very high level. Now, of course, it's also going to be a real problem. It's also going to be something people are willing to pay to solve. And it's got to have a huge market. So that's what you want.
00:07:32
Kirin Kalia
to always have in mind when you're thinking about the investor. Now, when you're talking about your customers, they're, you know, knowing what they who they are, not the same as an investor, right?
00:07:43
Kirin Kalia
Generally, you want to focus on their pain. There's something that there's just some awful, you know, cost, some frustrations or whatever. You can solve that for them. And you can think about this in lots of ways. There's lots of software that you probably use because it makes your life easier. It's just something you'd rather pay for.
00:08:01
Kirin Kalia
than have to deal with and waste all that time. So those are the main things to understand about your two main audiences. Now, you could talk about your board, you could be talking about team members, but for now we're going to keep it to investors and customers.
00:08:16
Kirin Kalia
So number two, plain English to describe what you do, not jargon. The real way to think about this, frankly, is it is like you're speaking to a grandparent.
00:08:26
Kirin Kalia
It could even be your parents because most of them probably still don't know what you do. um or let's say like an 8 to 10-year-old kid. And the reason is because those are audiences that are generally not going to know what you know.
00:08:40
Kirin Kalia
And you may well encounter them. And while your average investor and customer is not that age group or that unsophisticated potentially, they still don't want to work hard to understand what you do.
00:08:53
Kirin Kalia
It's just that simple. I will be honest with you. The smartest people in the world, they just don't want to work hard to understand new concepts. And again, going back to that networking situation where you're in a loud, crowded room.
00:09:05
Kirin Kalia
Forget about it, right? They're just there to have a good time and see if there's something interesting. So that's your job is to make it really interesting for them. And if you use plain English, it's way way more likely to happen.
00:09:18
Kirin Kalia
So what do I mean by jargon? Well, hey, I've got to be honest. I was like, I could spew something, but I actually went to ChatGPT and I asked it for an example of a startup style jargon.
00:09:29
Kirin Kalia
And I got something that was actually really funny. So it did this for, and I didn't even tell it the product. The product it came up with is a smart water bottle that tracks hydration and syncs with your phone.
00:09:39
Kirin Kalia
And this is the little paragraph that they gave me, or the chatbot gave me. We've reimagined personal hydration through a data-driven lens, delivering a connected IoT-enabled vessel that seamlessly integrates into the quantified self-ecosystem.
00:09:54
Kirin Kalia
By leveraging machine learning and behavioral nudging, our adaptive hydration algorithm ensures users optimize fluid intake in real time, maximizing cognitive output and metabolic efficiency.
00:10:05
Kirin Kalia
It's not just a bottle. It's a personalized wellness concierge in the palm of your hand. Now, if you had just heard that in a real-life situation, you would be like, what the hell are you talking about?
00:10:16
Kirin Kalia
Are you just talking about a smart water bottle that tracks hydration, syncs with your phone? Why didn't you just say that, right? Like, all this other extra stuff about, you know, integrating into a quantified self-ecosystem, the machine learning, the behavioral measuring, like,
00:10:30
Kirin Kalia
Sure, sure, you do all those things, but that fancy stuff, eh, it gets in the way of somebody actually understanding something, right? So don't use it. Just leave it out.
00:10:41
Kirin Kalia
It's really not as impressive as you think. And again, if you were explaining this, that, that description to your grandparents or somebody else's, you know, older aunt and uncle,
00:10:52
Kirin Kalia
that kid who lives down the street, your niece or nephew, your own child, they would not have a freaking clue what you just said. If they talked about a smart water bottle, you'd have a much lighter more much higher chance, right?
00:11:05
Kirin Kalia
So that's what I mean by plain English. Now, number three, I want you to give an example, right? And that example would be something that we can all actually see in the real world, right?
00:11:19
Kirin Kalia
So let's take this smart water bottle since we already got that from ChatGPT. And let's say we wanted to illustrate how it works in the in the life of an actual ideal consumer of this particular product. So let's say it's a working mom. She's not used to paying attention to her own hydration.
00:11:36
Kirin Kalia
So that's why she's going to buy this bottle. So the bottle will quickly learn from going with her on her day-to-day routines that she's up early in the morning. She usually goes for a 30-minute run She's back in time to make breakfast for the kids, and then she's off you know another 20 minutes later taking everyone to school.
00:11:53
Kirin Kalia
Well, it's probably likely that she's not drinking enough water in that, say, two-hour window in the morning, so that bottle is going to give her a nudge and remind her she needs to drink some water. Like, great.
00:12:04
Kirin Kalia
That's an example that's grounded in the real world that has some key details that I can easily remember and tell someone else. So if I wanted to say, you know, I'm an investor and I'm going to be speaking to my colleagues later that day or or at ah at a, you know, event that night, I could be like, hey, yeah, I actually met this interesting founder and they're building this smart water bottle and it's designed for for working moms. And then they give the exact same example that I just gave you.
00:12:29
Kirin Kalia
You want to speak in those terms for that reason, because it makes it so much easier for somebody else to remember what you do and to tell someone else. And you're going to hear me say this over and over again. This is not the last time you're to on my podcast that I talk about this idea of remembering and retelling a story to someone else.
00:12:47
Kirin Kalia
Examples are absolutely key to that.
Case Study: Lava's Successful Messaging
00:12:49
Kirin Kalia
So Now that you know all the three things, let's actually take this and apply it to a real startup. So just to be honest, I went on to TechCrunch.
00:13:00
Kirin Kalia
I went to look at the startups that they profiled just this very week. And lo and behold, there was actually a story about a founder who I met a couple years ago. He was working on a different company at the time, he pitched Visa and this new company, surprise, surprise, is in FinTech.
00:13:15
Kirin Kalia
And he's solving a real new problem in payments infrastructure, in AI, right? So you want AI agents to actually be able to make purchases on your behalf. They actually have to know how to do that. And nobody has built the pipes for that. So that's what Mitchell Jones did.
00:13:28
Kirin Kalia
The company's called Lava and he's raised 5.8 million. If Mitchell, if you're listening, awesome job. And let's imagine, though I don't know,
00:13:39
Kirin Kalia
what an investor probably heard from Mitchell in a pitch that would have persuaded them to write that check. And he has some impressive people who came on board, right? If you go to the website, you read the story, you'll see it's Larry Hippo, Streamline Ventures, and Harlem Capital.
00:13:53
Kirin Kalia
And what they probably heard, again, this is me sort of stepping into that role, they probably... heard him talk about other infrastructure successes that have paved the way for the modern payments we have today. Probably would have given examples like we needed stripe, we needed plaid, right? These were things that connected buyers and sellers in ways, and certainly consumers to their banking information, bringing it to other apps. So they didn't have to go through all the pain and suffering of doing it themselves.
00:14:22
Kirin Kalia
And that's why these companies got so, so big and so valuable. It's just massive market, right thing at the right time. Like you can imagine investors listening to that. And then they look at Mitchell's background.
00:14:33
Kirin Kalia
He's worked at some great places. He has a great education. He's been a founder before. Like, okay, this seems like a good good good bet, right? Now, if you go to Lava's website, they're not speaking to investors. They're speaking to developers. Those are the folks who are actually going to put this technology into their apps.
00:14:51
Kirin Kalia
So what is he actually doing? Guess what? He is speaking to their pain, the pain and the frustration of having to do this stuff on your own. And I just went to the our our story page, the about page.
00:15:04
Kirin Kalia
And actually that's what he says. Lava was born out of frustration. And I'm quoting here, as AI developers ourselves, we spent countless hours building and maintaining billing systems instead of focusing on our core product.
00:15:15
Kirin Kalia
Every AI company was solving the same problems over and over again. We've realized there had to be a better way, so we built Lava, a payments infrastructure designed specifically for the unique needs of AI companies.
00:15:27
Kirin Kalia
Now, after that, he goes into some more detail, but let's put that through the criteria we went through earlier, right? The first thing is to know your audience. it sounds to me like he knows what it's like to be a developer who's really frustrated by having to do the stuff that isn't even in your core competency, right?
00:15:43
Kirin Kalia
Second thing is he used pretty straightforward, plain English kind of language. He's not trying to impress them with lots of big buzzwords or whatever. It's just, You're running the same problems. It's frustrating. You want to do your core product, right?
00:15:55
Kirin Kalia
And the last thing is he gave an example. I'd say it could still be a little more specific, but this idea of that you're doing the same thing over and over again. And so building an infrastructure that's specifically for their needs, so right? You don't have to do this repetitive work that isn't even what you want to be doing.
00:16:13
Kirin Kalia
And that's why this works, right? And This is not something that probably was the first version, because let me tell you, most of the time, great messaging is not the first version.
00:16:24
Kirin Kalia
It's a very intense process to get to something like that's this tight, but it's absolutely doable for you and your business. And that's why I give this as an example, just as something that you can go and look at.
00:16:38
Kirin Kalia
And I'm more than happy to put these links in my show notes. So if you're really curious to read more about Lava or the actual story, you certainly can go ahead and do that. So that's what I'm talking about when you can avoid the worst question in the world of, so what is it you actually do by doing just those three things?
00:16:56
Kirin Kalia
I'll recap them for you one more time. First thing is going to know your audience. You got to know what they actually care about, what do they want, and what is their pain. The next thing Number two is to use plain English just like you're talking to a grandparent or a child because nobody's got time for your big jargony words and nobody really cares, especially if they're super busy and don't have much time.
00:17:19
Kirin Kalia
The third thing is to give an example that's actually relatable to your target audience. And when you have an example, it's going to be just specific enough to be memorable so somebody can tell it to somebody else so that just like it did for that person in that moment, it will bring it home, what it is and why they should care.
00:17:37
Kirin Kalia
So now that we've been through the first episode content, I have a couple of asks for you.
Engaging with Listeners
00:17:46
Kirin Kalia
So first of all, I would love your feedback.
00:17:51
Kirin Kalia
this is the first time I'm doing this. So I'd love to know what you actually liked, what worked for you, what didn't, and actually where you need help. Because this is for you. If it's, if I just did this to like please my own ego, which is absolutely the last thing in the world I want to do it wouldn't matter.
00:18:07
Kirin Kalia
So please email me, Kieran, that's K-I-R-I-N as a Nancy, at growthroughstory.com. That is all those three words together with no spaces or dashes.
00:18:21
Kirin Kalia
It's
00:18:28
Kirin Kalia
So kieran at growthroughstory.com. Now, number two, if you loved it, subscribe because that would be awesome. I would love for you to get the next episode as soon as it drops. And also,
00:18:39
Kirin Kalia
please share it with a founder friend because, you know, founders love to share. it Third, if you know that your message, whether it's for investors or customers, needs help, let's talk.
00:18:50
Kirin Kalia
Please, I do not want you to suffer any more than you have to because this stuff is super high stakes, right? So email me, kieran at growthroughstory.com. or connect with me on d ah LinkedIn. You can DM me there and we can set up a call.
00:19:04
Kirin Kalia
So fastest way is to email me, Kiran at growthyourstory.com, but definitely, definitely, least let's connect on LinkedIn because I'd love to follow your journey if nothing else. So remember, we said at the beginning, that human connection is going to beat perfection every single time. I want you win.
00:19:25
Kirin Kalia
when my friends. So that's my parting message for you. can't wait to hear your feedback and I'll get you next time. Thanks so much.