by Tom Marcoux
Taylor Cone encourages us to begin with empathy which will empower our pitch and connection with investors.
Interview with Taylor Cone
1) What is crucial for someone pitching to do?
Any time you’re addressing an audience (even an audience of one), your message will be more impactful and effective if you start from a place of empathy. Just like designers begin by attempting to understand their user’s perspective and needs, you must understand who your audience is (background, experience, expertise), what they care about and why, and even how they’re showing up that day. It could be as simple as knowing how to pronounce their name, a mistake Nike infamously made in their 2013 pitch to NBA superstar Stephen Curry, or as significant as ignoring their background, which Reebok did when they lost Beyoncé’s athleisure line, failing to include anyone on the team who, in Beyoncé’s words, “reflects my background, my skin color, and where I’m from and what I wanna do.” Take extreme ownership not just of your intent, but of your impact. When you do, you’ll create a strong, trusting connection between you and your audience.
2) What mistake does the pitch-maker need to avoid?
Never have your pitch be the first time you do your pitch. In the design world, prototyping is everything. Prototyping your pitch allows you to practice, enables you to learn (from hearing yourself as well as feedback from others), and identifies any gaps that might exist. It’s also a good idea to prototype a Q&A session—what questions should you expect and be prepared to answer? That way, when the time comes for your pitch, it’s like riding a bike.
3) Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently in business?
I would have been more fearless. Very few things in the world are truly irreparable or unresolvable, and realizing this is an empowering thought. I would have tried more things and more completely committed to the “forgiveness not permission” philosophy. Similarly, embracing a “good enough is better than perfect” approach unblocks me regularly. Publish that blog post you don’t think is quite ready. Put that prototype that you’re not quite sure is finished in front of someone for feedback. Schedule that event you don’t think you have quite enough time to organize. You might be shocked at how much of success is simply about putting things in motion. Take that first step.
Taylor Cone helps people work better together. He believes in the power of creative collaboration to enable teams to do amazing things. He is the Founder & CEO of Lightshed, an innovation, leadership, and design firm that specializes in facilitation and executive coaching. Taylor has worked in the U.S. and internationally with clients including Fortune 500 companies, city governments, startups, non-profits, and foundations. Taylor is a Certified Professional Coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), where he also holds an Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner certification. A former Lecturer and current coach at the Stanford d.school, he’s taught courses including Design Thinking Bootcamp and Design for Extreme Affordability. Taylor is also a Board Member and river guide for ARTA River Trips, a non-profit rafting company. Whether on the river or in the office, Taylor’s passion is for guiding individuals and teams through transformative experiences. www.lightshed.co
Power Principle: Develop Extreme Confidence as you use the Confidence Toolkit Blueprint.
Power Questions: When will you being rehearsing Recovery Methods? Who is someone you trust and who will listen you as you rehearse? Will you work with a coach?*
* Reach Tom Marcoux at GetTheBigYES.com
Section Seven
How can I speak with No Fear?
Countermeasure: Correct a Default Rehearsal with a
Directed Rehearsal.
Where does the fear come from? For many of us, on some level, we feel we’re not ready. How can we feel ready?
We learn to shift from Default Rehearsal to Directed Rehearsal.
Default Rehearsal – This includes rumination over past mistakes. It also includes fearful projection as to what might go wrong. Some people merely “rehearse in their head.”
Directed Rehearsal – You practice Recovery Methods, and you rehearse with the guidance of a coach.* Rehearsing aloud helps you fine tune your instrument (vocal tonality, posture, word choice, body language).
* I coach clients via Skype and in person in my work as Spoken Word Strategist and Executive Coach.
We’ll use the A.I.M process.
A – ask compelling questions (30 answers)
I – imagine best outcomes
M – measure
Ask compelling questions (30 answers)
What are the 10 Worst Questions the investor can ask? This is a compelling question that can launch you into excellent Directed Rehearsal.
What would you rehearse? You would rehearse three good answers that you could use to respond to one of the Worst Questions.
Ultimately, you think through and prepare a total of 30 responses (three for each of the 10 Worst Questions.)
Here are two more compelling questions:
What is most important to an investor who would invest in your startup business?
How can you demonstrate traction to this investor?
Imagine best outcomes
To hit a target, you must see the target. We do this by imagining best outcomes. In order to get an investor to fund your startup business, you need to design your pitch, so all elements inevitably lead to a big YES. (By the way, my website is GetTheBigYES.com).
I ask my client: “So, tell me. How do you see the investor saying YES? What is the crucial detail that gets them to smile and say, ‘Okay. I’m in’?”
Measure
How do you know you’re getting better? You measure your rehearsals. You keep track of how many sessions and how much time you put in.
I even use a Progress Log as I type these words. I know at this moment that this book is 38,549 words. I also know that I typed 1,019 words today.
Use a Progress Log so that you can prove to yourself that you are doing the required preparation to perform at your best.
Additionally, measure the time you practice your Recovery Methods. (See another section of this book for Recovery Methods that you can use if your mind goes blank—during a pitch).
In summary, you eliminate fear by taking conscious and deliberate action toward preparing to perform at your best. No wise stage actor would get on stage without enough excellent rehearsal.
Similarly, we use the A.I.M. process to hone our craft—that is, we are professional in our approach to pitching.
Power Principle: Correct a Default Rehearsal with a Directed Rehearsal.
Power Question: When will you rehearse? (Consider rehearsing for 9 minutes in the morning before your brush your teeth. In this way, your subconscious mind can work on the material all day.)
Section Eight
How do I show confidence when under
fire from an investor’s tough question?
Countermeasure: Rehearse methods to gain time so you avoid looking scared and avoid burning a bridge to the investor.
When a tough question hits you as a bad surprise, you must avoid two things. First, avoid looking scared, and second, avoid blurting out some comment that will burn the bridge to the investor
We’ll use the G.O. process:
G – gain time
O – offer a response in 2 days
Gain time
Your goal is to buy yourself some time so you can think before you offer an answer to a tough question.
Investors want thoughtful people. The investor may be testing to see if you’re thoughtful, deliberate and careful with your words.
You can respond with one of these comments:
I see that’s important to you …
I need to pause for a moment. I want my response to be valuable to you …
Try those comments out. Say them aloud. Then see what phrase works for you. Perhaps, you’ll customize some phrase that helps you get a few critical seconds to th
ink. I call this getting some thinkspace.
2. Offer a response in 2 days
If an investor asks you a question and you do not have a definitive answer, is it okay to “fake it”? No!
Why?
The reason is that if you fake it and you’re caught, you’ve lost the whole game.
Instead, we need you to respond firmly and with confidence, “I'll look into that, and I expect I can get you an answer on Thursday afternoon. How does that sound?”
In this example I am identifying a time and date that are 2 days after the conversation. Why? Because we don’t know what’s going to happen that evening or the next morning.
Perhaps, one might face a family emergency or an emergency at work. If you promise too much, like I'll get that to you tomorrow morning but find yourself staying up all night tending to the health needs of a family member, you might miss this important deadline. Instead, buy yourself time.
In summary, make sure that you use the methods of G.O.—so that you avoid the two big mistakes of looking scared or burning a bridge to the investor.
Instead, you’ll come across as confident and professional.
* * * * * *
I’ll now share my interview with David Joud who gives us insights in how you need allies to be present in a room when you pitch …
Interview with David Joud
1) What is crucial for someone pitching to do?
Many startup founders make the critical mistake of being too technical. It is crucial that a person makes a pitch with an emotional appeal. In my experience judging a number of pitches, I have found that startup founders need to make an emotional connection with investors. The investors need to know the vision of the startup founders. If you don’t engage my emotions, and I don’t know exactly what you are trying to accomplish to benefit customers, then we have a non-starter.
To make this emotional connection with the audience, founders need to pay attention to three critical factors. First and foremost, they need to protect their intellectual property by patenting their ideas, processes and products. This ensures that they can have some level of discussion where they can gain favorable attention when they are discussing their ideas. This involves some legal work, well worth the investment (which always ends up increasing the value of their startup).
Then, they must make friends: Networking with investors and making friends before the pitch is critical. Having those networking discussions and discovering what investors are looking for will help the founders tailor their pitch and get valuable input on their ideas. Lastly, having a strong vision that others want to get behind will win investors over before the pitch.
This work is critical and takes time. When they craft a vision statement that is both short and powerful, they will win over the crowd and may not even have to pitch to get investors’ interest and support. The well-crafted vision statement wins everyone over and generates a stronger emotional connection with investors!
Tom: What mistake does the pitch-maker need to avoid?
David: A major mistake that startup founders fall into is staying in stealth mode too long. When startup founders pitch, they really need to have a network and to have allies in the audience. These allies will talk up the value of the startup company.
Additionally, one needs to emphasize values within your startup company. For example, I was working with a client and the founders of the company were talking about creating great revenue, but they were missing the powerful vision that would engage investors. During my coaching, my client’s whole energy changed when they identified that their true value was to “end world hunger.” That is a vision that intrigues an audience of investors. That is a vision that can be fundable.
Tom: Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?
David: I would have gone into coaching much sooner. For years, I had a truly successful consulting company. I wrote many powerful reports that had good ideas in them. Only a very small portion of the good ideas were implemented. However, in coaching, I support the company leaders to come up with their own good ideas. They have ownership over these ideas, and so they implement them. I also help companies that have multiple partners in leadership. I help them connect on a common ground of values. I help them reconnect with a passion and vision that they started the company with. Coaching is such a successful paradigm because it is more reliable for people to implement their own ideas, while being supported.
David Joud, President of Dynamic Strategic Alignment, is a Certified Business Coach who speaks regularly at events and interactive workshops. He works primarily with top level executives and entrepreneurs. His seminars and speaking subjects are presented in an interactive setting. Participants always gain great insight they can use immediately, and we share the feedback we received with the event organizer. www.dsalignment.com
Power Principle: Rehearse methods to gain time so you avoid looking scared and avoid burning a bridge to the investor.
Power Questions: What responses will you use to gain time—if an investor asks you a tough question? Who will support you and listen as you rehearse for facing a tough question with poise and confidence?
Reminder:
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Section Nine
What can I do if I lose heart in my
project/company?
Countermeasure: Use the 3 R’s of Empowering Your Heart.
One of my clients said, “I just found out that investors in the USA do not invest in my kind of company.”
When I hear a client say something like that, I invite them to pause for a moment. Whatever information they just saw that says that investors in the USA don’t invest in X-type of company—this is just one datapoint. Additionally, you only need one investor to open the door for other investors. So, we notice getting disheartened by one piece of news can be crippling and unnecessary.
Still, this is a real phenomenon—becoming disheartened by one piece of news. Then, add all the rejection experiences one gets on the fundraising trail, and it’s important that you have methods to help you climb out of an emotional rut.
We’ll use the 3 R’s of Empowering Your Heart.
Realize that “it’s just one datapoint”
Return to the essence of your vision
Revitalize by “Changing on a Dime” … Adapt
Realize that “it’s just one datapoint”
I’ve already mentioned two vital elements
a) It’s just one datapoint
b) You only need one investor to get started
Here, we’ll add: “It is just one datapoint. We don’t really know what it means.”
We might have a guess that some “expert” has noticed a trend that USA investors avoid X-type of company. However, just one investor might change their mind. Or you might be bringing something so extraordinary that an investor can experience an Aha Moment or a Moment of Discovery. That’s the time when you can convince an investor to fund you.
The point here is: Do not let one datapoint stop you in your tracks. The metaphor could be: “Oh. It’s raining. I’ll bring an umbrella.” You still leave for your business meeting.
Return to the essence of your vision
Why did you start your company in the first place? What was your vision? What made your heart beat faster? What great benefit were you bringing to your future customers/clients?
We get so bogged down in fundraising details that we can forget the whole point of our endeavor. Sure, you can say, “Our company disrupts the XY industry. We’re the first to help people do ____.” Unfortunately, many people start to tune out to their own message due to the human experience of familiarity dulls our senses.
Pause. Remember when you first burst with energy as you told someone you trusted about your Great New Idea.
Additionally, one of my mentors said that people who sell something get disheartened by focusing on th
e wrong people.
He set up these categories:
Top 2% (are completely in sync with your vision)
Middle 20%
Bottom 20% (will never invest)
“Where do you think people concentrate their efforts?” he asked.
“I would hope that they’d focus on the Top 2%,” I replied.
“Many of them use up their time on the Middle 20%” he said.
My point here is to encourage you to focus on the Top 2% and your original vision. Reconnect and reenergize yourself.
Revitalize by “Changing on a Dime” … Adapt
The great thing about running your own business is that you can adapt and change. An old phrase is stop on a dime. This means to stop quickly on such a small coin.
The truth is: You can stop on a dime and create a change fast.
It’s reported that FedEx began as an idea related to banking. However, Fred Smith found it necessary to change course to a delivery service we see today.
Similarly, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he promptly changed course and cancelled many good projects in favor of focusing on extraordinary projects.