Tips on pitching

Tips on pitching for Nashville Startup Weekend

Your pitch is perhaps the most important part of Startup Weekend.  But how do you do it well?  What should you prepare to say?  How can you sell that killer idea to the crown?

First, the rules.  Well, there’s really only one rule – pitches need to be two minutes in length or shorter. 
Now, two minutes sounds like plenty of time to get your idea out, but it’ll fly by.  2 minutes is somewhere around 500 words, if you talk quickly.  So, in that short little time span, what are the things you should cover?

Here are the highlights that your pitch needs to hit:

• What’s the problem in the marketplace that you’re trying to solve.  What pain point are you making better for consumers.  (30 sec)
• What is your solution?  (30 sec)
• What is your revenue model?  How do you make money? (30 sec)
• What needs to happen during the weekend to realistically get this thing off the ground?  Do you need a full working web application?  Just a prototype?  Maybe you only need business and marketing plans, so you can seek funding.  Whatever it is, tell us how we can help. (30 sec)

The problem

When you talk about the problem in the marketplace you’re trying to solve, be specific.  Tell us what group is having trouble, give us the obvious scenario, and explain (quickly) why that group needs a solution.  (Hint: some areas of the marketplace have pain, but not enough to want to change yet)
The key here is to be very specific about a tangible problem.

Bad pitch:  “People want to be more connected”

Good pitch: “Grandparents need a way to exchange photos, video and audio with their grandchildren, in a way that’s easier to use for both groups”

The solution

When you talk about your solution, try an opposite tack than when you talked about your problem.  When you have an idea, the first reaction is to immediately start to think of the tactical execution of the solution.  You start to think in terms of features – we can have a blog, we can have a video upload area, etc.  Try to steer clear of these feature definitions during your solution pitch.  Instead, keep things general, and let your team help flesh out the details of the actual execution.  When you start to talk with your group, the execution of the solution will change – don’t box the group in (and use up all your time) by talking about “must-have” features.

Revenue model

Startup Weekend is about creating a business.  Businesses make money.  Show it to us.

It’s easy to slip into thinking “We’ll build it, then think of ways to leverage the technology to make money”.  Unfortunately, this kind of hindsight revenue modeling rarely works.  It’s far better to take a bit more time at the beginning the bake a revenue model into your company that works synergistically with what you’re creating.  Your customers will understand it better, and it’ll be an easy sale.

(Also, web companies….try to stay away from advertising as a revenue model.)

What needs to happen during the weekend

Finally, end your pitch telling us what needs to be completed to get the ball rolling on this company.  While it’s possible (and we really hope it happens) that a company can be launched in completion on Sunday evening, it’s also reasonable to expect that the weekend will serve merely as a staging ground to get work started.  Whatever is reasonable to expect for your idea – let us know.  A website might realistically make it to launch by Sunday evening, whereas a restaurant franchise might need a bit more time (although I challenge a group to get a restaurant open in 48 hours).

Remember this:  when you pitch, you’re pitching to build a team and have your idea chosen to be worked on.  The key here is to make it sound like a fun and interesting project.  While a horse stall cleaning business might be viable, few people will jump out of their chairs to join you.