How to Pitch the Big Idea (part 1)

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Phase 0. Initial Contact

Phase 1. Introduce Yourself and the Big Idea

  • Ease the audience.
    • "This pitch is going to be short, just about 20 minutes, and you won't be hanging around too long afterward"
  • Pass some material:
    • Marketing, visuals, samples.
  • Start with your track record of success. 
    • Not all your projects, life history, or places where you worked for.
    • Things you built, and projects actually worked out.
    • Example: 
      1. "My degree is from..."
      2. "After I was at... for X years, my home run(s) were: a)..."
      3. "I left Y to work in the Big Idea"
    • Tell people one great thing about yourself and stop.
  • Set up the Why Now Frame. 
    • Start by thinking in the broadest terms possible, going back as far as you need to go, to understand and explain how it comes from the past into the present and why it is important.
      • "In recent years, there hasn't been much going on in the business of... In fact, it would be fair to say that the market has been dead."
    • Explain your idea in terms of an emerging market opportunity (use the Three Market Forces Pattern).
      • "But now things are heating up, first Financial..., second the Social/Institution(s)..., third Technology/Competitor...."
    • Picture the idea of moving out of the old market into a new one.
  • Introducing the Big Idea:
    • Use the Big Introduction Pattern.
      • "For companies with large buildings in California and Arizona"
      • "Who is dissatisfied with their aging solar panels." 
      • "My product is a plug-and-play solar accelerator"
      • "That provides 35 percent more energy from old panels."
      • "And unlike the cost of replacing panels, My product is inexpensive and has no moving parts."

Phase 2. Explain the Budget and Secret Sauce

  • Explain what Problems the Big Idea really solves and How it actually works.
  • Pitching numbers and projections.
    • Unrealistic budgets and miscalculating costs are the greatest risks to a growing company, especially a startup. 
    • Focus on demonstrating your skill at budgeting, which is a complex and highly regarded executive talent. 
    • Spend almost no time on your skills at projecting revenue, a task any simpleton can perform.
  • Explain the Competition
    • How easy it is for new competitors to jump into the game?
    • How easy it is for customers to switch out your product with another?
  • Explain the Secret Sauce.
    • Show what your competitive advantage is based on. 
      • This one thing will give you staying power against the competition.
      • Briefly describe it as your "secret sauce", the unfair advantage you have over others.
    • Ideally 3 minutes and no more than 10 minutes.
  • Hold the audience's attention.
    • Use any of the Three Tension Patterns.
      • YOU:  "Look there isn't too much else to do here. Let's call it the day, gentlemen thank you for your time.", pause, Person: "Is that all?". 
      • YOU: "You are a nonbeliever, why should we waste time in Kabuki [theater]"
      • YOU: "Guys, since you can't think of any questions to throw at me, let me get those materials (those which you gave at the beginning of the presentation) back from you." Start walking around taking them gently out of their hands. In some cases pull more aggressively. Now they had something to lose and questions should start flowing.
    • Withdraw any material if you are not stopped when leaving.

Phase 3. Offer the Deal

  • Describe to your audience what they are going to receive when they decide to do business with you. 
    • You'll want to push through this quickly for the sake of time
    • In clear and concise terms
      • Tell the audience exactly what you will be delivering to them.
      • When it will be delivered, and how. 
      • If they play a part in this process, explain what their roles and responsibilities will be. 
      • Don’t drill down into a lot of detail
      • Just provide summarized facts that they need to know so that their mental picture of your offering is complete.
    • It does not matter if you are offering a product, a service, an investment, or an intangible—there will be a fulfillment process involved, and that is what you must explain. 
  • Keep it brief but rich in high-level details so there is no question as to what the audience is going to get. And remember, the most important deliverable in your deal is you.

The Three Market Forces Pattern: Trendcasting

  • Economic Forces. 
    • Explain what has changed financially in the market for your Big Idea.
    • Forces that have a significant impact on business opportunities.
    • Forecast trends, an important development in your market and beyond. 
  • Social Forces. 
    • Emerging changes in people's behavior patterns exist for your big idea.
  • Technology Forces. 
    • Technological change that favors the Business Model or Industry of your Big Idea.

The Big Introduction Pattern

  • "For [target customers]"
  • "Who are dissatisfied with [the current offerings in the market]"
  • "My idea/product is a [new idea or product category]"
  • "That provides [key problem/solution features]"
  • "Unlike [the competing product]. My idea/product is [describe key features]"

The Three Tension Patterns

  • Low-Key, Low-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. 
    • PUSH: "There's a real possibility that we might not be right for each other."
    • Pause. Allow the push to sink in. It must be authentic.
    • PULL: "But then again, if this did work out, our forces could combine to become something great."
  • Medium-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. 
    • PUSH: "There's so much more to a deal than just the idea. I mean, there's a venture-capital group in San Francisco that doesn’t even care what the idea is—they don’t even look at it when a deal comes in. The only thing they care about is who the people are behind the deal. That makes sense. I’ve learned that ideas are common, a dime a dozen. What really counts is having someone in charge who has passion and experience and integrity. So if you and I don’t have that view in common, it would never work between us."
    • Pause. 
    • PULL: "But that's crazy to think. Obviously, you value people over smart ideas. I've met corporate robots before that only care about numbers—and you are definitely not a robot." 
  • High-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. 
    • PUSH: "Based on the couple of reactions I’m getting from you—it seems like this isn’t a good fit. I think that you should only do deals where there is trust and deals you strongly 
    • believe in. So let's just wrap this up for now and agree to get together on the next one." 
    • Pause. 
      • Wait for a response. 
      • Start packing up your stuff. 
      • Be willing to leave if the target doesn’t stop you.

References

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