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Why you shouldn’t be scared of pitching
We are all familiar with the Shark Tank format. Four tough millionaires sit in judgement as one-by-one a procession of founders pitch their startups.
It’s brutal and soul destroying if you fail, but a life changing moment if you win.
The unfortunate result of this pitching-as-entertainment model is that it terrifies everyone. We associate pitching with a life-or-death scenario, when really it is a great way to sharpen your ideas and solicit useful feedback.
What makes a perfect pitch?
A perfect pitch can be a single sentence or an 18-minute TED talk, but the idea behind it is still the same. You want your audience to take a specific action at the end of it.
Start off by telling people who you are, what you are passionate about and why you are worth listening to.
Then you tell them what problem you have identified and how it might get worse in the future. Propose a solution and give some proof as to how you can help people.
Then the final step of any pitch is to ask for something. What do you want people to do next?
The pitch structure is the same, whether you give a TED talk or a dinner party conversation. You should craft a pitch which is only a few sentences long, and practice it until you get it just right.
