In November of 2011 I appeared on BNN’s ‘The Pitch’ asking for investment to grow SmartBrideBoutique.com. Since it aired, I’ve had tons of people asking for advice on how to prepare for similar pitches from in person meetings, or on live television like CBC’s Dragon’s Den.
First: 90 Second Pitch and Judges Questions. Next: Watch the Judges’ Final Verdict.
How to Prepare for Pitching Your Startup LIVE!
Here are 5 Steps to Nail Your Pitch:
Plan ahead – prepping for a 10 minute appearance can take 4+ hours to compile and practice to proficiency.
** To be clear, I don’t prepare in this manner for all pitches or presentations, but for short (under 10 minutes) segments on live television or those with the potential for extreme embarrassment, it really does the trick for me.
1) Determine how long you have for your initial pitch & how many words you can fit in
On ‘The Pitch’ they cut you off right at 90 seconds, so you certainly don’t want to run long and risk not getting all of your information across. I simply googled the average rate of speech and found that people normally speak between 150 and 160 words per minute. I tend to speak quickly, so I went with the upper limit but allowed about a 5 second buffer.
In the 90 seconds I had to pitch my business, I had approximately 240 words to play with.
You may also wish to vary your rate of speech throughout to emphasize certain parts of your pitch. Here are some ideas you can play with while practicing:
- FASTER speaking speed signals urgency, excitement, passion or raw emotion.
- SLOWER speaking rate signals importance, seriousness, summarizing or significant ideas.
2) Watch previous episodes of the show to determine what content needs to be in your pitch
I watched 5 or 6 videos from The Pitch online to identify what worked for previous pitchers on that show (every show or investor will be slightly different). I made sure to watch the segments where the judges asked questions to identify common questions. I made sure to answer all the common questions in my pitch.
For something like Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank this is especially important. You’ll notice that some pitchers get through a couple minutes of their pitch, while others get cut off really early on in order to get to the point. Pin point when they get cut off and you’ll know what to avoid.
If you are pitching an investor in person, this research may be based on their areas of expertise or interest and what they’ll likely want to know or appreciate.
3) Write the pitch in your own words so it rolls off your tongue
Don’t just copy and paste things from other marketing materials. Copy written for text-based marketing materials may not be easy to say when you are nervous and your pitch must sound natural and be easy to enunciate. Be as concise as possible while you are writing, but don’t worry too much about your word limit.
I included the basic elements of our typical elevator pitch plus any stats I thought might help to frame our growth and market size. If you have extra time, add in other content/best practices you’ve researched in step 2. Keep in mind that for television shows, they are also considering what is “sexy” and makes good TV.
4) Edit to reduce the text down to fit within your word limit
First try to reduce & rephrase your words. If you are still over the limit, then you might need to cut entire sentences or stats out of the pitch. I had to do this. I can’t remember what I had to cut out completely, but it seemed important at the time. Be ruthless.
5) Practice, Practice, Practice
Best to do it in front of the mirror and use a timer if you are limited to a specific length. Practice until you can recite the whole thing without looking at your notes, or stumbling between sections.
To help me remember the flow, I usually print out my notes (18pt double spaced font) and highlight certain keywords near the beginning of each paragraph to trigger my memory on what comes next. When using my notes to practice, the highlighted words form visual cues for an outline of the pitch. If I stumble while I’m pitching and forget my words, at least I’ll remember the topic to make the save. I also underline key 3-7 word phrases for the same reason.
If you consistently stumble on certain sections, consider re-writing or re-phrasing it to something more comfortable. Expect a couple re-writes during practice.
6) Rinse & Repeat 1-5 for any questions you are anticipating
I took some time to forecast questions I would surely be asked such as “what’s your revenue?” and “will brides seriously buy and sell used wedding dresses?”. I didn’t entirely memorize canned answers, but I practice key phrases for each topic.
Ok, you’re ready. Kill it!