Do you know the secret
to successfully pitching an idea? Well, it's something kind of unexpected. It’s FOMO: the fear of missing out. [The Way We Work] As someone who invests in companies
early in their journeys, I listen to nearly 2,000 pitches a year, and I work countless hours
with company founders to help them make their pitch
even more compelling. You may equate pitching with a slick deck based on some standard format, but whether you're pitching a company or trying to get buy-in
for a passion project at work, so much of pitching
is a storytelling exercise. You need to bring people along with you. You need to tell your audience a story
that not only will draw them in, but it will make them feel
that if they don't say yes, they will be missing out
on something really big. [Step 1: Know your audience] When people think about pitching,
they're thinking inwards, they think about their nerves, how smoothly they're talking
or what it takes to get to a yes. But the secret of successful pitching
is to flip it outward. Who are you pitching to? What do they care about? How can you speak to what motivates them? For example, if you're pitching
your start-up idea to a venture capitalist who has lots of money to invest
and needs big returns, they probably care about backing
the next Uber or DoorDash. So you should focus your story
on the size of the market opportunity. If you're pitching
to a philanthropist or a nonprofit, their motivation is likely
about large social impact. So focus on showing how your product
or idea will improve things in a lasting way. If you're pitching a project at work, focus on the people
you're pitching the project to. What do they care about? More customer loyalty, more revenue, or perhaps a promotion? Tell them how your project will help them
attain the goal that they want in a way that makes it almost inevitable. Give them that feeling
of: “If I don’t support this, I'm going to miss out on something
I care about deeply." [Step 2: Think about the hero's journey] Pitching is much like telling a story. Just like a movie tells a story. You're charting the hero's
journey in three acts. First, you start by telling
about the hero's world, the status quo. In this case, the current situation that your product, idea
or service will be addressing. Then introduce tension and conflict, showing all the problems that existing
products aren't yet addressing. This will lead you
to the big confrontation. You, the hero, swooping in
to save the day. And from there, give the resolution. How are things changed
as a result of your actions? How does your product, idea
or service solve the problems you highlighted earlier? One of the best pitches I've heard
followed this arc perfectly. The story started
with a disturbing status quo. Depending on where and how it's produced, one gallon of milk can take roughly
1,000 gallons of water to produce and can create about six kilograms
of CO2 equivalent or more in the process. In this case, the hero was the CEO
and their team of scientists and food industry experts who have come up with a way
to engineer plants to produce the animal proteins. They showed how a small crop of soybeans
could create lots of delicious cheese and how this could feed
the global population in a sustainable and yummy way. To anyone who cares about both
the environment and good food, it was an irresistible story. It made me feel
like I needed to be part of it or I would be missing out
on a big opportunity. [Step 3: Shore up your weakest point] When people are done
charting their hero's journey, I make them identify
their biggest weakness. Is it that they're missing
somebody on their team or that it's very competitive or that they're trying to do something
that has never been done before? Most people's instinct is to gloss over it
or even skip it altogether. But that's exactly the wrong thing to do because the audience will notice it
and will ask you about it. Instead, face it directly. Tell your audience, "Hey,
you may think this is a problem, but here's exactly
what I'm going to do about it." And by showing the strengths
and weaknesses of your story and not hiding anything, you inspire confidence not only in you
but also in your story. The best storytellers,
they live in the future, and they come here
not to just tell us about it, but to show us the steps to get there. And this makes the audience lean forward. And all they need to do to be part
of this amazing story is say yes.
