Over the spring semester, Team ecoVent took Bill Aulet and Howard Anderson’s New Enterprises course 15.390. The course is a fast paced course that presents a step-by-step guide to founding a company and writing a business plan. The course was very valuable to our team, as it systematically led us through the many questions we need to consider and challenges we will face going forward. At the end, we were forced to condense our ideas into a 20 page business plan and were selected as one 12 teams in the class to pitch before the class and a panel of visiting judges.
In the final lecture before two class meetings of 6 pitches each, Bill Aulet gave a lecture on how to make a winning pitch. This class was one of the most valuable lectures I’ve heard while at Sloan. Dip and I have toyed with our pitch and are continually iterating on what we include and the order of our deck. Bill walked through what he has found to be the most successful. In addition to the guidance on the content of the pitch, Bill’s emphasized the importance of intangibles – it’s not what you say but how you say it.
Bill cited “Calla’s Law” as the key to success. Maria Calla was a famous opera singer who is quoted having said that “There are only two things that matter: how you enter the room and how you leave it.” Judges, audiences and VCs form their first opinions far before you open your mouth. Bill emphasized the importance of looking and speaking confidently. You have to know your business and act that way.
Bill had many other tips. Here’s a few:
- Know your audience – understand who you are presenting to and present to them… the message should change by the audience.
- Keep it short and on point – don’t try to put too much into your allotted time. A pitch should lead to a meeting or another pitch. You need to sell your idea, not divulge every thought.
- Start with a story that explains your idea and its use/importance/problem – not all VCs and “pitch masters” agree on this point… see the first bullet point.
- Focus on the ask – follow the adage “tell the audience what you are going to say, say it and tell them what you told them. Bill’s structure: start with a story, give a brief summary of your idea, tell the audience what you want them to take away from the pitch – the key ideas – and then tell them what you will ask of them at the end. This last part is crucial, and we have never done it in the past. This method is direct, targeted and frames the audience for what they are about to hear and what they will be asked to do in the next steps.
There were many more takeaways from the lecture, but I’m going to cut it there. Armed with these insights, Dip and I rejiggered our pitch and put on an audience choice award for best pitch of the first 6 team pitches (there was no vote between the two days). We received great feedback from Bill after the class, and one of the visiting judges has asked to purchase a beta system.
While it was nice to win the vote for best pitch, it was better to get great advice on how to structure our presentation and make the highest impact on our audience.