Do you know the secret to successfully pitching an idea? Well, it's something kind of unexpected. It’s FOMO: the fear of missing out.
[The Way We Work]
As someone who invests in companies early in their journeys, I listen to nearly 2,000 pitches a year, and I work countless hours with company founders to help them make their pitch even more compelling. You may equate pitching with a slick deck based on some standard format, but whether you're pitching a company or trying to get buy-in for a passion project at work, so much of pitching is a storytelling exercise. You need to bring people along with you. You need to tell your audience a story that not only will draw them in, but it will make them feel that if they don't say yes, they will be missing out on something really big.
[Step 1: Know your audience]
When people think about pitching, they're thinking inwards, they think about their nerves, how smoothly they're talking or what it takes to get to a yes. But the secret of successful pitching is to flip it outward. Who are you pitching to? What do they care about? How can you speak to what motivates them?
For example, if you're pitching your start-up idea to a venture capitalist who has lots of money to invest and needs big returns, they probably care about backing the next Uber or DoorDash. So you should focus your story on the size of the market opportunity. If you're pitching to a philanthropist or a nonprofit, their motivation is likely about large social impact. So focus on showing how your product or idea will improve things in a lasting way. If you're pitching a project at work, focus on the people you're pitching the project to. What do they care about? More customer loyalty, more revenue, or perhaps a promotion? Tell them how your project will help them attain the goal that they want in a way that makes it almost inevitable. Give them that feeling of: “If I don’t support this, I'm going to miss out on something I care about deeply."
[Step 2: Think about the hero's journey]
Pitching is much like telling a story. Just like a movie tells a story. You're charting the hero's journey in three acts. First, you start by telling about the hero's world, the status quo. In this case, the current situation that your product, idea or service will be addressing. Then introduce tension and conflict, showing all the problems that existing products aren't yet addressing. This will lead you to the big confrontation. You, the hero, swooping in to save the day. And from there, give the resolution. How are things changed as a result of your actions? How does your product, idea or service solve the problems you highlighted earlier?
One of the best pitches I've heard followed this arc perfectly. The story started with a disturbing status quo. Depending on where and how it's produced, one gallon of milk can take roughly 1,000 gallons of water to produce and can create about six kilograms of CO2 equivalent or more in the process. In this case, the hero was the CEO and their team of scientists and food industry experts who have come up with a way to engineer plants to produce the animal proteins. They showed how a small crop of soybeans could create lots of delicious cheese and how this could feed the global population in a sustainable and yummy way. To anyone who cares about both the environment and good food, it was an irresistible story. It made me feel like I needed to be part of it or I would be missing out on a big opportunity.
[Step 3: Shore up your weakest point]
When people are done charting their hero's journey, I make them identify their biggest weakness. Is it that they're missing somebody on their team or that it's very competitive or that they're trying to do something that has never been done before? Most people's instinct is to gloss over it or even skip it altogether. But that's exactly the wrong thing to do because the audience will notice it and will ask you about it. Instead, face it directly. Tell your audience, "Hey, you may think this is a problem, but here's exactly what I'm going to do about it." And by showing the strengths and weaknesses of your story and not hiding anything, you inspire confidence not only in you but also in your story.
The best storytellers, they live in the future, and they come here not to just tell us about it, but to show us the steps to get there. And this makes the audience lean forward. And all they need to do to be part of this amazing story is say yes.
