Devising the perfect startup pitch is an essential yet too often overlooked aspect of creating a successful company. Pitching your idea is crucial for attracting co-founders, customers, and, more importantly, potential investors, and special care should be given to effectively communicating your idea.
However, as Adeo Ressi, Founder and CEO of the Founder Institute, says, not only must your pitch clearly state a problem and solution, it must have what he refers to as a "secret sauce" - the one unique aspect that sets your company apart, if not above, your competition.
The blog post, "Cheaper and Faster Are Not Enough: Find Your Secret Sauce," written by Lauren Reiterman originally appeared on Focus Product Design's blog and has been republished with permission below:
"Make me BELIEVE by showing me you know what you’re talking about” says Adeo Ressi, CEO and Founder of Founder Institute in a recent Meetup at Focus Product Design.
On October 15, 2014, Ressi presented his pitching workshop, “Startup Pitch Bootcamp" to a crowd of entrepreneurs and founders, which included instruction, active pitching and humoristic anecdotal tangents (we loved them).
The evening trained audience members to deliver a one minute, conversational pitch.
Ressi's Pitch Guidelines:
- Believe in Yourself (have confidence in your body language and conversation)
- Don’t Make Excuses (starting with an excuse undermines your whole presentation)
- Avoid superlatives (you’re not the most, the best; revolutionary; use specific numbers instead)
- End your pitch strong (ending with a long “sooo yeeeeeeaaaahhhh” isn’t going to get you very far)
Ressi asked founders to adapt their own pitch into his one sentence formula (below). So one by one, future founders courageously volunteered themselves. At the outset, the exercise seems like a friendly sparring game with a few fill in the blanks. Just follow directions. Stand up, don't make excuses, say your sentence and end strong. Yet in practice, volunteers wrestled with Ressi's game of madlibs; sucker punched by nervous remarks, run-on sentences and wimpering finalies.
Try it for yourself, add your information below and say this out loud a dozen times. The goal is to be prepared and comfortable delivering your pitch at any moment.
- My company, (name)
- Is developing (a defined offering)
- To help (a target audience)
- (solve a problem)
- (with secret sauce)
Where's the secret sauce?
Your secret sauce is that unique, outstanding ingredient in your product that sets you apart from the rest. Define your value, but when doing so, don’t use buzz words. Buzz words are an immediate turnoff to Ressi - a hindrence to longevity.
Trends are fleeting but well designed solutions are timeless. Want more sauce? Read what the Founder Institute's has to say in "Startup Madlibs: Perfecting Your One Sentence Pitch."
Humor Me, Please
We were kept in stiches by Ressi's forthright, irreverant remarks. Yes, his jabs hit our weak spots - like confidence and clarity in presentation - but the bruise will only serve as a reminder to follow the techniques learned from the night's lesson.
Know your customer – they are the one that pays you. When delivering your pitch, you need to describe your business from the perspective of the person that pays you (your customer). Ultimately this customer will serve as your advertiser, bringing business back to you.
For more information on Focus Product Design, visit their official website.
(man in front of blackboard with light bulb image by Shutterstock)
