Oren Klaff Talks About How to Pitch Anything

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Oren Klaff has mastered the art of pitching anything. Check out his interview with Coach Micheal Burt.

 

Neuroeconomics combines neuroscience, economics, and psychology to study how people make decisions. It looks at the role of the brain when we evaluate decisions, categorize risks and rewards, and interact with each other. This was my first exposure to a credible group of people studying the same thing as me – how the brain responds to financial offers. This was the first time I came to believe a unified algorithm for pitching could be developed and used.

14 Pitch Pointers for New Entrepreneurs

Question: What’s your best piece of advice for a very young entrepreneur with little to no experience about to pitch their idea for the first time?

 Questions?

Pitch the Problem

“The worst thing you can do is pitch a solution for something no one cares about. Instead, home in on the problem you plan to solve, and who you are solving it for. ”

Wade Foster, Zapier

Research

“Thoroughly research the organization that you’re pitching to ensure your idea is in line with the company’s needs. Throughout this research, it’s also important to make sure you’re pitching the idea to someone who can actually do something with it.”

Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

Get Ready to Be Told You’re Crazy

“The best possible response you can hope for when first pitching your idea is that people think you are crazy, that the idea won’t work and that you shouldn’t pursue it any further. That’s how all good ideas start. While there are plenty of horrible ideas that you actually SHOULD heed that advice for, the best ones tend to start that way.”

Todd Garland, BuySellAds

Believe

“If you don’t wholeheartedly believe in yourself and your idea, why would anyone else be expected to? Do your research and understand your market with confidence. Don’t let these sharks sense a taste of fear or uncertainty, otherwise they will chew you alive.”

Shahzil (Shaz) Amin, Blue Track Media

Pitch With Passion

“The absolute best piece of advice I could offer a young entrepreneur before a big pitch is to let his or her passion shine through. The excitement, drive, and motivation that drives young entrepreneurs is impossible to fake or replicate. Passion is contagious. No amount of money can buy passion. It trumps experience, and smart partners or investors will sense that excitement to succeed.”

Brittany Hodak, ZinePak

Earn Your Second Meeting With a Story

“One of the best business books I have read is “Made to Stick” by Dan and Chip Heath. They focus on the value of telling great stories — and teach readers how. Your goal in a first pitch is not to get money — it’s to earn a second meeting. The best way to gain interest is to leave your listeners with a compelling story that resonates with them long after you have left. ”

Aaron, Schwartz, Modify Watches

Go for It!

“Show your passion, detail it out as best you can — and then, listen to advice from experienced entrepreneurs. Often, eager young entrepreneurs pitch their ideas and think they’re the best things ever, so they don’t listen to any constructive criticism — and learn the hard way. That’s fine, but it’s better to listen and learn from other entrepreneurs who have already been there and done that. ”

Joe Barton, Barton Publishing

Be Receptive to Feedback

“In addition to the general nerves that accompany an idea pitch, the most frightening thought is the chance that your audience won’t like your idea. It can be tough to listen to criticism about your brainchild, but it is imperative that you filter the feedback in the most constructive way possible. If you do, the negative feedback will undoubtedly help you the most to build a stronger business.”

Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports, LLC

Sell First, Then Pitch

“Even if you do not yet have a working product, try selling it to your target customer in person if possible. (Phone works too if you can’t in person). Sound crazy? Your potential prospect is going to give you very direct feedback on your pitch. Do they want to buy it? Why or why not? I believe the key to pitching an investor is understanding and clearly communicating your value proposition first.”

Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent

Ditch Those Slides

“TechStars taught me to start with the story. If you start with the Powerpoint, you’ll waste hours formatting slides (that you’ll likely delete later) and will box yourself into a half-baked story. Write your main value propositions on 10 notecards. Answer the standard questions about market size, revenues, and projections on another 10. Rearrange and combine the points to find your story. Voila!”

Heidi Allstop, Spill

Be Different

“Ultimately, most people won’t pay a bit of attention to the idea you are pitching. However, what they will pay very close attention to is you. The way to grab their attention and stand out from the crowd is simply to be different. Pitch in a way they’ve never seen before, even if the content is the same, and they will surely remember you.”

James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

Read Successful Blogs

“Read blogs from successful entrepreneurs who have written about raising money and pitching their ideas. I have written about raising our $2.7 million. I would not suggest reading business professors’ blogs. Instead, read about people in your business and in your space — people who go to pitches. Find someone who is recent and understands the experience and its challenges.” (Editor’s Note: Try these entrepreneur blogs.)

Jordan Fliegel, CoachUp

Relax

“Many young entrepreneurs feel very tense and second-guess themselves during pitches. You’ll be okay, even if you don’t land this investment. Relax and be confident; you will do so much better.”

Yosef Martin, Merchandize Liquidators LLC

Have the Answers

“Sit down with your team (or a friend), find any potential weak spots in your idea and figure out how to solve them. Investors always ask the “unexpected” question, so do your best to anticipate them in advance. The best feeling is walking away from your first pitch knowing that you had a good answer for everything they asked — and, as a bonus, it leaves a good impression.”

Benish Shah, Before the Label

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How Pitching Is Like A First Date

sales pitchPitching your startup is like going on a first date. Entrepreneurs should be confident without being cocky, approachable without seeming desperate, and passionate without being over the top. The goal is to build up enough intrigue to be asked on a second date (or a follow-up meeting) without scaring the listener off. But that’s no easy task.

Here are four common pitching turnoffs that are easy to make — and advice for avoiding each:

PUSHING RATHER THAN PULLING

Picture going on a first date with someone who immediately rattles off the reasons why you should marry them. Not only would it eliminate the thrill of the chase, but you’d wonder what’s wrong beneath the hood. However, if the same person were to casually mention the homemade meal he or she cooked for some old Harvard buddies the other night, they would earn some serious points in the ‘potential mate’ department. It’s a matter of creating intrigue rather than trying to force interest.

The same goes for a company pitch. If the audience feels that they’re being force-fed a value proposition that they can’t relate to, their walls will go up. However, by piquing the their curiosity in a less forward way — such as describing the excitement you felt in saving thousands of dollars for one of your client companies — the audience would be left wanting more. Present genuine accomplishments in a modest, matter-of-fact way, allowing the listeners to discover the value propositions that are most applicable to their own lives. They’ll appreciate your product a lot more if it is their idea to latch onto it.

USING BUZZWORDS AND INDUSTRY JARGON

Buzzwords are like corny pick-up lines — they make the listener question the authenticity, credibility, and even sanity of the person pitching. Sure, you may have a ‘rockstar team’ that is going to ‘massively disrupt’ an industry with ‘game-changing technology,’ but using these clichéd words make you sound naïve. The listener immediately places you in a bucket with the 50 other ‘rockstar’ entrepreneurs that they’ve heard make the same ‘disruptive’ claims.

Keep the pitch genuine and crisp, using proof points, metrics, and anecdotes that the audience can grasp in a meaningful way. Similarly, steer clear of using too much industry jargon. Understanding a pitch shouldn’t require a dictionary or a biomedical degree. Speak in layman’s terms so that the audience is actually listening to the description and not trying to figure out what was just said.

PITCHING AROUND A POWERPOINT

Trust in a relationship is crucial, so another dating red flag is a person who sounds too scripted (ex: “I didn’t know beauty until I saw you.”). Similarly, relying on a PowerPoint too heavily can make the entrepreneur sound canned and insincere. The audience should feel like your pitch is unique and heartfelt, not like you’ve fed these lines to thousands of other listeners.

Though it’s tempting to build a PowerPoint at the same time as a pitch, trying to force the pitch to be visual right away compromises the story arc. Instead, start offline with 20 notecards. Use the first 10 to answer the basic questions: problem, solution, market opportunity/size, team, unique IP/technology, competition, distribution strategy, business model, financials, funding status, etc.

Fill the remaining 10 notecards with good company bragging points (aka “power cards”). Examples would be impressive metrics (4 out of 5 users tell a friend about the product), high-quality partnerships (three Fortune 500 companies agreed to beta test the platform), or powerful quotes from customers (“ABC company increased our ROI by 5X”). Then arrange, combine, and re-arrange these 20 notecards until they fit into a story arc that flows, using relevant ‘power cards’ during transitions. Memorize the key facts, but keep in mind that no one wants to date someone who is following a script word-for-word.

CRAFTING THE PITCH ALONE

It’s not a bad idea to get a second opinion on your outfit before a date. Likewise, a little guidance, encouragement and even tough love from your friends can be crucial for polishing your message. The perfect pitch isn’t created in a vacuum.

Since entrepreneurs are self-starters by nature, few accept the fact that they can’t create a pitch alone. In reality, however, you’re often too close to your own company to know how to pitch it.

During my three months in the TechStars accelerator, each company was challenged to pitch every Wednesday night to a room of 35-50 peers. When the buzzer rang (three to five minutes later), the person pitching would have to be completely silent and accept criticism with a smile. No excuses. The trick was to truly listen, say “thank you,” and accept whatever challenge was given for the following week. If someone suggested that you pitch without slides the following week, or to use a fake character as an example, you’d do it for your own benefit.

But you don’t need to join an accelerator to get peer feedback. Start a weekly Meetup group with other entrepreneurs in the area. Not only will this be good practice for investor meetings, but the variations will prevent the pitch from becoming too scripted.

At the end of the day, you make the final decision about what feels right for your pitch, but the process gives you needed perspective, confidence and practice. Just like dating, at the end of the day, your demeanor is more important than the words you use.

Heidi Allstop is the founder of Spill, a confidential site for young adults to “spill” about hardships and share life advice with one another. She launched the company as a psychology student at University of Wisconsin-Madison and spread it to 150 college campuses in 15 countries. A TechStars alum and the winner of the Global Social Venture Competition, Allstop is on a mission to bring empathy online.  

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.