How do I match my pitch with my audience?

by | Sep 13, 2017 | Pitch FAQ, Preparing A Pitch

Although you might have one company, you will need multiple pitches.

Whenever I coach entrepreneurs on their pitch, one of the first questions I ask them is: ‘to whom are you pitching’. The type and amount of person(s) listening to you pitch, has a great influence on the way you should prepare your pitch.

Is your audience full of tech IT professionals? Tell them a little bit about your IT structure.

Is your audience full of financial experts? Don’t forget your financial overview.

Is your audience small? Make your pitch engaging, open your pitch with a question to the audience.

Every audience demands a different approach. Before you prepare your pitch, do some research about who will be listening to your pitch and use that to your advantage.

For more concrete tips on designing a killer pitch, check out the Ultimate Pitch Guide.

Hi! I’m Ralph. I help startups to get funded by designing a persuasive pitch.

Make my pitch investor ready

Do I start writing my text before I pitch?

by | Sep 13, 2017 | Pitch FAQ, Preparing A Pitch

A while ago I heard somebody say: ‘preparing a pitch is for amateurs, the professionals freestyle their pitch’. Although I really like and admire this entrepreneur, this is the most stupid thing I ever heard.

A pitch generally doesn’t last for more than 5 minutes, it’s an opportunity to make one, or many people excited about your company. A great pitch requires an introduction, a problem statement, a solution statement, a market description, a team description and a call to action. Every sentence should be thought of. Every sentence should lead to that moment where your audience says ‘wow, that’s a great idea’.

You can guess my answer to the question: ‘Do I start writing my text before I pitch?’

Yes. You should write and practice your pitch thoroughly.

For more concrete tips on creating a killer pitch, check out the Ultimate Pitch Guide.

Hi! I’m Ralph. I help startups to get funded by designing a persuasive pitch.

Make my pitch investor ready

What do I do when I need to pitch unexpected?

by | Sep 13, 2017 | Pitch FAQ, Preparing A Pitch

It happens quite often, that investors, entrepreneurs or other business men ask you to pitch your company. This is an exciting chance to make a new person excited about your company. If somebody asks you to pitch your company unexpected, you should always do so.

In these types of situations, you should aim your pitch at anywhere between 30 and 60 seconds. I advise you to have a pitch of this length ready for moments like these. So go ahead and create one, practice it and make them flabbergasted the next time somebody asks you to tell about your company.

For concrete tips on creating a strong pitch check out the Ultimate Pitch Guide.

Hi! I’m Ralph. I help startups to get funded by designing a persuasive pitch.

Make my pitch investor ready

Do I always say yes when they ask me to pitch?

by | Sep 13, 2017 | Pitch FAQ, Preparing A Pitch

When people ask you to pitch your company, it’s my advice to have a big fat ‘yes’ as the standard answer. If somebody asks you to pitch your company in anywhere under 5 minutes, you should have an idea of what you want to talk about. So even if you’re really busy and it’s a last-minute request, you should have no problems preparing when they ask you to pitch.

The only exception, where you might want to say no, is when they ask you to do a 30-minute pitch (or any other crazy long format). This basically isn’t a pitch anymore, but rather a long form speech. Preparing a 30-minute talk costs you several days (if not weeks) and could potentially screw up your schedule. Then again, if it’s in front of an interesting crowd,

Hi! I’m Ralph. I help startups to get funded by designing a persuasive pitch.

Make my pitch investor ready
How To Talk About Your Achievements Without Being Arrogant

How To Talk About Your Achievements Without Being Arrogant

by | Aug 30, 2017 | Pitch

How to talk about your achievements without being arrogant. This is probably one of the most complex social questions there is.

There are many situations where you want other to know you’re skilled and/or knowledgeable on a certain domain. A few examples:

  • You want investors to know you know a lot about the market
  •  You want potential partners to know you have a lot of experience with this industry

 In both scenarios it’s important the investor or the potential partner know you’re skilled. This gives you an authority and a certain credibility which increases your (negotiation) power significantly.

In short: In certain situations, you want other people to know you are highly skilled or educated in a certain object. It’s your goal to tell or show them.

At the other hand, you don’t want them to think you’re an arrogant jerk.

Let’s put it into a formula. The more you brag, the higher you score. If you never brag, you score zero points.

0 = Nobody thinks you’re arrogant, but nobody knows about your skills either

100 = Everybody thinks you’re arrogant, but at least you told them about your skills

If you score 0, that’s bad.

If you score 100, that’s also bad (who would ever listen to a person like this)

So how do you talk about your achievements without being arrogant?

You would probably think that the right approach would be in the middle. You brag a little, but not too much. You would aim for a score of 50.

Right?

Well, not entirely. Today you’re going to learn a few tricks to talk about your achievements without being arrogant.

By using the tricks mentioned below, you can demonstrate your skills, but nobody will think you’re arrogant. Apply these 7 methods, and you’ll know how to talk about your achievements without being arrogant.

Is your startup ready to pitch?

Impress investors now

You think that’s impossible? Let’s start.

 

How to talk about your achievements without being arrogant

If you don’t feel like reading the entire article, feel free to use the headers below.

#1 Use facts, not opinions

Demonstrate authority by using facts instead of opinions

I can tell you that I’m the best pitch coach there is. However, I can also tell you that I coached hundreds of entrepreneurs with their pitch.

By simply mentioning facts instead of an opinion, I leave it up to you to decide what you think about it. As long as your facts are positive, so will be their judgement of you.

#2 Mention we-achievements, not I-achievements

For some reason it’s annoying when somebody talks about how good he/she is. However, when he talks about how well his/her team has been doing, this changes everything.

When you pitch your company, talk about the things your company achieved, instead of just you.

#3 Avoid superlatives

It can be tempting to use words such as ‘super’, ‘very’ and ‘the best’. However, this decreases your credibility and will make you sound arrogant.

Instead of saying ‘our team works super hard’ you should rather say ‘our teams works hard’. Simply deleting one word changes everything.

 

#4 Be grateful about your success

Let’s say your company is doing really well and at some point throughout your pitch you mentioned this. It can be incredibly powerful to add the following few words after that: ‘I still can’t believe how fast we’re growing’. You can also use variations such as ‘I’m still shocked sometimes how fast things are going’.

#5 Use your business partner

This one works especially well when you’re in a meeting with an investor or a potential partner. Bring your business partner to a meeting, and have him/her mention a few of your achievements during the meeting. This won’t make you seem arrogant, but still gets the message across.

#6 Don’t share all your achievements

What? Don’t share all my achievements?

That’s right. If you mention all your achievements, this will be overwhelming. Try to use the ones which are relevant to this person or to this situation and use them to your advantage.

#7 Share the struggles too

This one derives from the same thoughts as number #4. Instead of mentioning all the success you’re having, it can be powerful to (quickly) mention one of the struggles you had too. Not only does this make you sound humble, it also shows that you were able to fight yourselves from a bad position to the position where you are today.

If you really want to leverage this tactic, try to blend it in a story. ‘The first few months we knocked on every door to do our sales. Some days, we wouldn’t even close one customer. I’ve had days where people would be screaming at me, in the rain. That was tough. It’s crazy to see that a few months later, our company is doing $250.000, – in sales per month’.

This does not only meek you sound humble; it also involves a little bit of storytelling. Who doesn’t love a good story?

Conclusion

It’s okay to talk about your achievements. Better yet, you should talk about your achievements. Use these tactics to talk about your achievements without being arrogant. Good luck!

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