In this economy, startup funding can be hard to come by. All the more reason to hone pitching techniques going into the new year.
Business First asked a handful of startup leaders who recently secured funding to share their pitching strategies and lessons learned. Here are their top pieces of advice:
Just keep pitching
Practice is key for Nhat Nguyen, CEO of Otrafy. Take every opportunity to pitch your startup and get feedback. Oh, and don’t be afraid to fail.
“I’ve had a lot of failed pitches before,” said Nguyen, one of 43North’s 2022 $1 million prize winners. “If I was discouraged by the failures, I wouldn’t be standing here. You don’t hear the failure stories.”
CaHill Tech founder Carley Hill practices her pitch with members on her team to get feedback, and she records herself practicing and rewatches the videos, said Mariah Ramos, growth, marketing and customer relationship management specialist for CaHill.
The startup was a 2022 43North contest finalist and this year closed a $1 million seed round.
Do your research and make personal connections
Before CEO Bianca Gonzalez pitched at this year’s 43North contest and won a $1 million prize, she met some leaders in Buffalo and researched the area. She cold-emailed locals she found on LinkedIn. She talked with other 43North companies before AMPAworks even applied to the pitch contest.
“You really need to do your research … who you’re pitching to, what your priorities are,” she said. “The other thing I would advise is look at who else is the decision maker on any investment panel.”
Don’t over rehearse
Alex Porter, CEO of Mod Tech Labs, practiced her pitch 10 to 15 times for the 2022 43North contest. Too much rehearsal doesn’t work, she said, though the number of ideal practice runs depends on people’s different speaking styles. Typically, trying to memorize a pitch usually comes off dry and robotic.
“I can never say the same thing twice, so I needed to just be fully formed, have an understanding of what it is and then say something cohesive,” she said.
Think about your storytelling strategy
CEO Kadie Okwudili used to struggle pitching because she has an emotional story and connection to her company Agape Wellness Inc. But by using the storytelling framework "self, us and now" – telling the story of self, story of us and the story of now – helped her harness her emotions in an effective way and ultimately win one of this year’s $1 million 43North prizes. (The startup and organization couldn't come to an agreement, so 43North ended up not investing in the business and picked an alternate in Agape's place.)
For Porter, a method she called “traction dripping” works best. Instead of talking about her company’s traction on just one dedicated slide in her presentation, she sprinkles examples of growth throughout her pitch. That includes both revenue and non-revenue examples of the business’ development.
Be honest
CEO Alex Parmley said pitching at this year’s 43North contest was the first time he’s pitched in front of a crowd. He thinks he won his company Phood one of the $1 million prizes by being honest.
“I took a risk telling the story of my childhood, and it paid off big time,” he said. “When they asked questions, I answered them directly in the best way I could."
