Once and for all, here’s all you need to know about pitches because most pitches still suck. This is geared towards for-profit ventures, but the principles apply to almost any fund raising effort.

During the release of my latest book, Think Remarkable, I offered to critique pitches in exchange for the purchase of twenty-five copies. I’ve been explaining how to make a pitch for the past twenty years, but to my surprise, many violated the basic principles of good pitches.

Keep in mind that the purpose of a pitch is not closure—that is, a check or wire transfer. The goal is to stave off rejection and make it to the next stage of the investment process, which is initial due diligence. Let’s go through the major stages of a pitch.

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Select Your Targets

There is little chance of an investment if you don’t get to pitch your pitch, so step 1 is to get your foot in the door. However, the step before that is to identify which firms are interested in your kind of idea and who, specifically, in the firm is the one to contact.

In the old days, there were three ways to do this. First, you pounded through dozens of venture capitalist’s websites to look at what they said they invest in and who they have invested in previously.

Second, you studied the funding history of successful companies in your sector. You figured out which firms put the money into the company, and maybe even the partner who led the investment. That partner, by the way, may still be on the company’s board.

Third, you cast as big a net as possible. Meaning that you networked like crazy, kept asking for suggestions, and prayed for the best.

Post AI, the first two steps are much easier. Go to your favorite LLM and ask questions such as, “Who are the venture capital firms that invest in [your segment.” Then, when you get the answer, ask, “Who are the specific partners to contact at [firm name]?”

The third step of casting a big net is more efficient because of social media and networking sites where you can establish digital connections to people. Prayer hasn’t changed much, as far as I can tell.

Get an Introduction

And now the fun begins: figuring out who can introduce you to the people you’ve identified. Yes, you can try sending a direct, cold email to them. Good luck with that. I hope you aren’t in a rush to raise money…

Ask yourself this question: Who gets your attention: someone who cold calls you versus someone who is introduced to you by someone you know, or know of? The answer is the latter if you’re like most people. This is called a “warm introduction.” It works 20 percent of the time to get a meeting.

And you should know a bitter truth: the reason that even 20 percent of the warm introductions result in a meeting is because the firm wants to maintain a good relationship with the source of the referral, not because of your idea.

And so the hunt begins: who do you know or who knows of you who can make an introduction. And for this, there are several powerful tools and techniques:

• LinkedIn. This is God’s gift to people raising money. Find the LinkedIn profile of people you’ve identified. Look for connections within two degrees of separation—I, for one, draw the line at helping a friend of a friend. If that turns up blank, study where the person worked in the past, invested in, and went to school with.
• Ask an executive at any successful companies in the venture capitalist’s portfolio to make an introduction. The concept is simple: “The vp of marketing of a company that just made me a bazillion dollars asked me to look at another hot startup of their friend.” It will work.
• Ask the corporate finance lawyers, accountants, and professors that you know to make an introduction to anyone at the firm. Trust me, if someone from a law or accounting firm that handles startups sends a partner at a venture capital firm an email to look at a company, the partner will. Ditto for a professor who attests that you are one of the best students they’ve ever had.

If all this fails, you need to get out more. There is one more thing to try, but it is a longshot: Check for the person’s presence on social media. This will give you insights into their interests and hobbies.

You’re looking for a hook that separates you from the other people trying to raise money from them. Then make a comment to their posts that separates you from the pack. For me, you could find me on Instagram that I love surfing and make a comment about that.

Embrace Your Audience

Let’s say that you get a first meeting. Hallelujah. You’ve already separated yourself from the slag heap of go-where companies in hundreds of inboxes around the world. And now the hard work begins.

Your task is to know the particular partner and their firm better in order to build a common ground. Again, LinkedIn and your favorite LLM are your best friends here. Among the topics you should have wired are:

• Educational background. It’s irrational, but people like to help alumni of the same school. At least, you might know someone who went to their school or taught there. Ice breaker: “You went to Stanford, did you ever take a class from Carol Dweck, the mother of the growth mindset?”
• Work experience. Also irrational, but alumni of the same companies like to help each other—except for Theranos. The thinking may be a bit delusional: “I worked for Apple, and I’m a good person, and this entrepreneur worked for Apple too, so she must be good too.”
• Passions and interests. Come to think of it, this is irrational too. “This guy likes surfing. I like surfing. We have something in common.” At this point, I’d advise you to not to over-think the process and get in the front door anyway you can, including common hobbies and interests.

Let’s review where we are. You’ve identified the firms and the partners within those firms to whom you are relevant to. You’ve found people to introduce you to, and because of your initial email or call, you have a meeting set up. You are doing extremely well.

Craft Your Narrative

Now ask your contact what kind of presentations works best for the initial meeting. It’s likely to be with one partner and one associate (to take notes). Questions in advance such as these enable you to create a better pitch and show savviness:

• How long do I have?
• Should I use slides?
• Can I do a demo?
• How many of financial projections do you want to see?
• What are your firm’s real hot buttons?

You are asking your prospect how to best sell to them. Your job is to ask, shut up and listen, and execute on what you heard.

If you get past the partner and associate, you may pitch the entire firm. By then, you should have made any changes in your pitch based on feedback from the partner and associate.

On the other hand, the partner may pitch your company internally and then the firm decides whether to start due diligence. In either case, this is good advice for your pitch:

• Take off like a fighter jet. You may win or lose in the first sixty seconds, so don’t try to build a compelling crescendo. Think of yourself as a fighter pilot on a aircraft carrier deck with 1,000 feet to get into the air or drown, not a commercial pilot on a two-mile long runway. After sixty seconds, everyone in the room should know exactly what your product does. For example, “Canva is an online graphics design service.”
• Embrace storytelling with a captivating narrative. Narratives captivate and remain in memory well beyond the expiration of factual information. Stories of why you started the company or customer case studies are more powerful than “facts.” For example, “I was teaching college students in western Australia how to use Photoshop, and it was too hard and expensive for them, so we came up with idea of Canva with design templates.”
• Grab metaphors to generate vivid images that simplify and enhance the memorability of your product. By acting as conduits between the familiar and the unfamiliar, they facilitate the audience’s comprehension of your message. For example, “Canva is to Photoshop what Macintosh is to MS-DOS or UNIX.”

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Design Your Slides

Finally, we get to the point where you may have thought we would start. The lesson is: the greatest pitch in the world won’t work if you don’t get a meeting with the right people and you’re not adequately prepared to use it. Here are rules of a great pitch:

1. Observe the 10/20/30 rule. Use a minimum font size of thirty points, restrict your pitch to ten slides, and present them within twenty minutes. This principle ensures that your pitch is succinct. Save yourself a lot of trouble and just use my Canva template which contains the ten, and only ten, slides that you need which are:
   1. Title and cover
   2. Problem/opportunity
   3. Value proposition
   4. Underlying magic
   5. Business model
   6. Go-to-market plan
   7. Competitive analysis
   8. Management team
   9. Financial projections and key metrics
   10. Current status and use of funds
2. Cut the bullshit. Steer clear of meaningless buzzwords and “industry projections” that sound trite. Clarity and specificity will invariably triumph over imprecise, business jargon. Speak in terms that are easily understood, and I have never heard a pitch where the entrepreneur didn’t claim to be in a multi-billion market that’s growing.
3. Opt for high contrast. Use dark backgrounds with light text to make your slides pop. This high contrast is not only visually appealing but also enhances readability, especially in large rooms.
4. Expand your definition of a pitch. Most constrain the definition of a pitch to presenting slides. I have a more expansive view. It’s the entire process, so one thing I implore you to include is a demo of your product.

The goal is to get to the demo in the first few minutes of the pitch, enabling it to derail the entire flow of your slides. Yes, you read that right. A demo that can hold the attention of the audience the rest of a meeting is a very good sign. My theory is that a demo is worth 1,000 slides.

Deliver with Confidence

Now the meeting is set. Here’s how to make it go optimally:

First, you don’t get to Carnegie Hall or wire transfers without a lot of effort, and performing at Carnegie Hall is how to think of your delivery of the pitch. What do musicians do? PRACTICE.

They do not labor under any delusions that they are gifted, naturals who can rise to the occasion, so repeat your pitch twenty times in front of your colleagues, family, or friends. If you think you’re a natural who will rise to the occasion, you are wrong. Steve Jobs practiced his presentations for weeks, and you are not Steve Jobs.

Second, get to meeting place early to set up in relaxed manner. Bring backup equipment in case your computer fails. You can assume Internet access these days but be prepared to pitch without it.

Finally, remember to take off like a fighter jet and when you’re not talking, actively listen to what’s being said and don’t just wait for the person to stop so you can continue. Take notes even—this will flatter and impress the people you’re meeting with.

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Follow Up

Within a day after your meeting, follow up with your contact. Ask if they need any more information. Provide information that may have been requested of you during the meeting. Hope that they say they’d like a follow on meeting to learn more and begin due diligence.

That said, the odds are against you. Most venture capital firms make a few dozen new investments a year of the thousands of pitches they get. So don’t be shocked by rejection after rejection.

This is the game you signed up for. And this is no different for book, movie, or song proposals. If success were easy, more people would be successful in many fields. By the way, Melanie Perkins, the CEO of Canva, was rejected approximately 300 times before she secured financing. This is how it goes, so pick yourself up and keep pitching.

Resources

Check out these two resources for further guidance on your future pitches!

1. The Zen of Business Plans: https://guykawasaki.com/the_zen_of_busi/
2. The 10 – 20 – 30 rule: https://guykawasaki.com/the_102030_rule/

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