I love New York City. I am a fledgling entrepreneur and more than anything, want to see and learn from young entrepreneurs. So I went online, told MeetUp my interests, and was immediately directed to the New York Entrepreneurs and Startup Network organization. Within a week, I was able to attend an event at an incubator (definition to follow) with a night of networking, wine & pizza, and start-up pitches.
As promised:
business incubator: an entity that helps early-stage and startup companies by providing resources such as office space or training.
So cabernet and Dominos in hand, sitting in a beautiful New York City venue with the opportunity to interact with exactly who I want to learn from, let me reiterate: I love New York City.
This event, Networking and Pitch Night @ WeWork 42nd street (the incubator) was invaluable to me. Twenty different teams got to stand up in front of the room of ~70 people and pitch themselves, their business, and what they want going forward.
I must admit. I was intimidated. I think I have a great idea, but I was not ready to pitch cold to a room. But I think that is why it is amazing about having the opportunity to see a collection of startups and founders: inspiration can come from all levels. There are pitchers that make you feel motivated because they are so successful and started out just like you, doubting but ambitious. But then there are also pitchers who speak quietly and indefinitely and cannot explicitly explain their idea within 30 seconds. Personally it makes me feel empowered when I see the latter; I am so good at seeing all of my deficiencies in skills and experiences, but you do not have to be perfect to progress your idea to a high level. I admire these entrepreneurs who do not seem to have everything covered, but forge ahead without crossing every t and dotting every i.
That said, sitting atop my perch of judgment, be so kind as to allow my opinions on what makes a good pitcher:
As promised:
business incubator: an entity that helps early-stage and startup companies by providing resources such as office space or training.
So cabernet and Dominos in hand, sitting in a beautiful New York City venue with the opportunity to interact with exactly who I want to learn from, let me reiterate: I love New York City.
This event, Networking and Pitch Night @ WeWork 42nd street (the incubator) was invaluable to me. Twenty different teams got to stand up in front of the room of ~70 people and pitch themselves, their business, and what they want going forward.
I must admit. I was intimidated. I think I have a great idea, but I was not ready to pitch cold to a room. But I think that is why it is amazing about having the opportunity to see a collection of startups and founders: inspiration can come from all levels. There are pitchers that make you feel motivated because they are so successful and started out just like you, doubting but ambitious. But then there are also pitchers who speak quietly and indefinitely and cannot explicitly explain their idea within 30 seconds. Personally it makes me feel empowered when I see the latter; I am so good at seeing all of my deficiencies in skills and experiences, but you do not have to be perfect to progress your idea to a high level. I admire these entrepreneurs who do not seem to have everything covered, but forge ahead without crossing every t and dotting every i.
That said, sitting atop my perch of judgment, be so kind as to allow my opinions on what makes a good pitcher:
- Tailor to your audience. If you are talking to a room of entrepreneurs, why are you asking for capital?
- Know your message. It doesn’t matter if you are speaking for 30 seconds or 5 minutes, you have got to focus on a clear message or two.
- Be engaging and speak up (I sort of assumed everybody would be this… only ~5% were).
- Understand what should be reserved for background information – the stats you have if questioned - and what is actually essential for your pitch.
- Get to your thesis very quickly in a pitch. It should not be buried behind a wandering path of introductions.
- Be passionate yet earnest.
- Hooks or funny statements are good, but only if they feel natural. ]
- Focus your pitch on what and why.
- Practice! Speak to lots of people about your idea and learn what resonates.
So there’s my two cents. I also have to point out that only 3 of the 20 pitchers were women. Which leads me to my next big issue from this event. I spoke to a gentleman who pitched his idea, and I was not at all convinced by his business plan. His slippery demeanor and bombastic claims immediately sent red flags off in my mind. In the interest of anonymity, I’ll speak discretely, but he is operating in a very high cost industry, but was dismissive of that, waxing on the multimillion profits he was already making. It seemed like every dollar of revenue was equating to profit in his estimations, and he refused to acknowledge the costs or explain how in the world he was going to get customers. For example, he claimed he was going to offer subscribers of his service a 70% discount. It took me awhile to dig out that he was overcharging for non-customers (everybody), so the 70% discount actually meant his services were offered at market rate. So why would a customer sign up for a brand new subscription service that offered no initial discount? Now note, this fact was expertly hidden in unctuous overtones, and a less savvy listener who not have picked up on this.
Where I circle back to the women issue, is that this founder did not appreciate my questions. I don’t know if he usually pitches and persuades without resistance, but he almost shut down in front of my questioning. He would not acknowledge my points, but instead tried to dismiss my defiance with claims of dullness on my part. And then he really digressed: he started referring to me condescendingly as ‘sweetie’.
‘Sweetie’. I began to bristle with this arrogant and patronizing misnomer, furious that my dissenting opinions had been relegated to feminine silliness. I admit, I wanted to boil over. But I turned around, took some deep breaths, and realized there was no reason to let this imperious behavior really compromise the strength of my ideas.
And it was funny. I turned around to see him speaking to someone (a man) who had my same questions. Said silly cofounder still argued the same dense refusals of costs, but he addressed this man infinitely more respectfully than me. This second guy had the same points as I did, and although I did not get to see silly cofounder go down in flames, admitting his shoddy business plan, I found the higher ground in realizing there is no glory in winning arguments with impenetrable oafs. And perhaps I can be inflammatory and need to watch that - not because I am a woman - but because it is wise not to make people feel defensive.
I can't resist but boasting a little. Silly cofounder had claimed he had made 30 million, which later changed to 10 million, which later changed to future market capitalization. I looked up his company today. The website is non-functional and the GoFundMe campaign says he has raised $190 out of his $1million goal.
Not that I care…. But I was right. :)
Where I circle back to the women issue, is that this founder did not appreciate my questions. I don’t know if he usually pitches and persuades without resistance, but he almost shut down in front of my questioning. He would not acknowledge my points, but instead tried to dismiss my defiance with claims of dullness on my part. And then he really digressed: he started referring to me condescendingly as ‘sweetie’.
‘Sweetie’. I began to bristle with this arrogant and patronizing misnomer, furious that my dissenting opinions had been relegated to feminine silliness. I admit, I wanted to boil over. But I turned around, took some deep breaths, and realized there was no reason to let this imperious behavior really compromise the strength of my ideas.
And it was funny. I turned around to see him speaking to someone (a man) who had my same questions. Said silly cofounder still argued the same dense refusals of costs, but he addressed this man infinitely more respectfully than me. This second guy had the same points as I did, and although I did not get to see silly cofounder go down in flames, admitting his shoddy business plan, I found the higher ground in realizing there is no glory in winning arguments with impenetrable oafs. And perhaps I can be inflammatory and need to watch that - not because I am a woman - but because it is wise not to make people feel defensive.
I can't resist but boasting a little. Silly cofounder had claimed he had made 30 million, which later changed to 10 million, which later changed to future market capitalization. I looked up his company today. The website is non-functional and the GoFundMe campaign says he has raised $190 out of his $1million goal.
Not that I care…. But I was right. :)
RSS Feed
