The short pitch

I have been working with an entrepreneur who is preparing for a long week of investor meetings. As part of that week he is presenting at an event where he has three minutes to "pitch" his company and if investors are interested they schedule a meeting with him to understand the business model in detail. Its a common event in the startup world, but very difficult to prepare for.

How do you use those three minutes? How do you present in three minutes the passion, the business model,  that made you give everything up to start this business?

I'm not the biggest fan of this format but it serves a very important purpose. It speaks volumes about an entrepreneur  if they  can articulate their business model in such a concise venue- why are they pursuing it, what are they solving, what is the business model, how is it different, what traction do they have ?

If they can generate interest and excitement in such a concise venue, it speaks to focus, to deliberation, to analysis and prioritization; it speaks to deliberation, to an understanding of key levers.  It shows the investors a lot about the entrepreneur  - how the assimilate, how they present their ideas, how they structure ideas into action.

 

Often, when we have extremely important presentations to make, we are tempted to create big decks, with many examples and details - we anticipate all the questions we might be asked and insert the answers into our presentation.

We should be well served to remember that concise presentment, while much harder to do, is much more effective. It speaks to organization of thought, understanding of the objective and the audience. And it speaks to confidence.