The Pitch Is Right
Pitch coach, Donna G., shares pointers on how founders can showcase their unique story
Donna Griffit shares views on how founders should showcase their story during a demo day pitch
Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Donna Griffit, a pitch alchemist for startups and startup founder. I’ve seen her in action working with startups in accelerator programs and I wanted to ask her a few questions on what founders could improve during their Demo Day pitches. Below is an excerpt from our quick conversation with slight edits for context and clarity.
Earnest Sweat (ES): You have a ton of experience advising founders on pitching their startups, what are some of the most common mistakes you find entrepreneurs make when they make their 4-minute pitch?
Donna Griffit (DG): Not starting with a strong enough Problem/Challenge story. The “Why” is soooo important here. And you aren’t in an Investor meeting, you’re showcasing your story and trying to get noticed so they ask you in for a more serious meeting. Number, spreadsheets, technobabble, bit and bytes should all be left out — pique their curiosity and show them that you have a solid opportunity here.
ES: Over the last decade more and more entrepreneurs are participating in accelerators and the Demo Day is usually the last event of the programming. From your experience, where do you think accelerators help and hurt founders in their ability pitch?
DG: They Help when they start off with a session on how to pitch well at the beginning so entrepreneurs constantly can have the framework in mind as the go through the program. The Demo Day pitch is the culmination but founders will constantly be meeting persons of interest and they must have a good “quick pitch” as I call it — ready to pull out at any given moment. Accelerators harm founders by suggesting the pitch be too structured, too cookie cutter. I recently coached a cohort for Demo Day and they were trying to fit their story into the very rigid structure their Accelerator had put forth. I appreciate that they wanted uniformity and I’m all about structure, but it’s a structure that must allow for flexibility and creative expression. Kind of like Legos — there’s one way to stack them but a million things to create!
ES: How would fix the one size fits all approach that accelerators seem to put their founders in?
DG: By providing guidelines of what the MUST see and recommendations of what accelerator directors think should be there. Programs can also provide entrepreneurs with some good training or coaching in putting together and delivering the pitch as well as ample rehearsal/feedback time. Don’t make them squeeze their feet into a tiny glass slipper — the shoe doesn’t always fit and here, that’s the beauty!
ES: What is the one thing founders should come away with from this interview when it comes to making the perfect Demo Day pitch?
DG: Put yourself in the audience’s position — it’s a blend of investors, industry leaders and friends & family. You aren’t just trying to impress an investor — you are trying to captivate the entire audience, to move them and illicit a response from them. That will be impressive to everyone. It’s about being memorable and UNDERSTOOD! The more jargon=the more attention loss=the less memorable. Four or Five minutes can go by in the blink of an eye, making the audience hungry for more, or it can plod by endlessly, making the audience wish they were anywhere else. Which one do you want to be? 😎
ES: I want to be the founder that makes each audience member feel like they won the Showcase Showdown!
Donna Griffit, Corporate Storyteller, has worked globally for over a decade with Fortune 500 companies, Start-Ups and investors in a wide variety of industries. She has consulted and trained clients in over 30 countries, helping them create, edit and deliver verbal and written presentations, pitches and messages. Donna has the ability to magically spin raw data into compelling stories that captivate audiences and drive to results. Through her guidance clients have raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Donna is Co-Founder and CEO of www.invisu.me — a tool that helps startups create their pitch to investors and get the meetings they want! To learn more, visit DonnaGrif.com.
Earnest Sweat is an Entrepreneurial Engineer for Camelback Ventures and an Investor in Residence for Backstage Capital. If you have any questions or requests please connect with Earnest through LinkedIn, Twitter, or AngelList.
If you liked what you read tap or click “♥︎” to help to promote this piece. #readingEarnest