What is Killing my Pitch?
What is one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when making a pitch?
They complicate their story.
I have seen the best of social entrepreneurs lose out on potential collaborations, partnerships and funding opportunities because they over complicate their story.
This is often a result of 3 biases: The Knowledge bias, The Information Overload bias and The Multitasking bias.
The Knowledge Bias
You only share what is
complicated because you assume people know the basics.
The worst mistake you can make is to ‘assume’ people know what you are talking about. No matter how basic or elementary it is to you.
I have myself made this mistake when giving social finance trainings, assuming people understand terms like Equity, Valuation, Dilution etc. But what is basic to me, is not basic to others. And why should it be? They are not the experts and that is why they have come to me.
As a social entrepreneur, making such an assumption can be harmful. You could be doing the most brilliant work, with huge impact potential but it will all go nowhere if no one understands what you do.
To get around this bias,
Simplify your story to the point a 7th grader can understand it
Step in the shoes of your audience and think of what ‘they’ would like to hear rather than what ‘you’ would like to tell
Practice with someone who knows nothing about you. Pay attention to the questions and the gaps they have in their understanding
Never assume
The Information Overload Bias
You give tons of information because you believe it will help the audience in decision making.
Unfortunately, it is quite the opposite.
Inundating the audience with information often backfires. It is off putting to see slide after slide of irrelevant data, specs and information or to hear someone ramble on. A good opportunity may be lost because the audience is confused and bored.
To conquer this,
Remember that less is ‘always’ more
Identify 2-3 takeaways you want your audience to have and focus on them. No one can remember more than that anyways
Don’t drown the audience in detail. No one cares if your product comes in 20 different colors and 10 different sizes. It just needs to do its job
The Multitasking Bias
You explain in detail each and every activity your organization engages in.
Your organization does so many things that putting all of it together in one narrative becomes difficult. But you still do it because you don’t want to miss anything.
The result is a convoluted and twisted tale that no one understands.
What can you do better?
Tell a ‘structured’ story: If there is confusion in the mind, there will be confusion in the story. Prepare a well thought through structure and practice it before you speak to your audience
Customize the story based on who the audience is. Take away details that are irrelevant to that specific audience.
E.g., I was once working with a social enterprise that was incentivizing people to collect trash in return for getting health insurance. And they were confused how they should position their story to an investor since it had 2 aspects to it. And the simple answer was- ‘if you are speaking to a healthcare investor, focus on the provision of health insurance and the impact you can have in getting the informal sector insured. If you are speaking to a climate investor, focus on the collection of trash and its environmental impact’
And always remember the 3 golden words- simplify, simplify and simplify
