Author Archives: Mark Lieberman

The Champions of the World

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Early in my career, I worked for a commercial bank. Most of the new Lending Officers hated the dreadful Wednesday morning Credit Committee meeting. There, the Officers presented client requests to the members of the Credit Committee, which consisted of the President, the senior risk officer, and a few other top lending officers, and hoped they were approved. But hope is not a plan.

The seasoned Lending Officers had a plan that was usually successful for their clients in these dreaded meetings. They understood risk and the likely questions that the committee members would ask at the meeting—and they always had an appropriate plan. Due to the limits of time during their presentation some item or characterization would be bypassed. They included anticipated questions in the lending documents. There may have been a request for additional collateral, a higher interest rate, shorter tenor or term or personal guarantees. The seasoned Lending Officers almost always had the client approval before the committee meeting and these additional requests were in their “back pocket.” As a result, when the conditional approval went through, the Lending Officer often had all the required additional documentation before the credit committee members returned to their office.

How were these lending officers so successful? Yes, in part due to experience. Mostly, it was that the loans were pre-sold (not in the mortgage way) to the credit committee members before entering the meeting. The deal was pre-shopped, and championed by one or two credit committee members. Walking in, the lending officers knew approval was in hand.

Entrepreneurs going to Angels also need to find their champion and pre-shop their deals. They need to find someone on the inside who will be the evangelist for the deal. Entrepreneurs need to get past the Angel’s investment committee. This is usually the investors’ spouse.  The pitch by the entrepreneur must be clearly articulated to ensure investors clearly understand the value proposition and can articulate how the investor can get investor committee approval.

If an entrepreneur can articulate their value proposition and demonstrate that their team is the best to execute on the new venture. Then go—and pre-sell the deal. The entrepreneur will appear confident, clear and worthy of investment of the Angel’s time and money.

Recognizing Opportunities

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The Oregon State Advantage Accelerator is not just an accelerator. We are not an incubator. We are a hybrid—a combination of both at the same time. Both accelerators and incubators provide important services, education and community to entrepreneurs. The major differences between the two is that incubators tend to provide office space and companies can stay there much longer than the typical three month accelerator stay. University research takes a significant investment of time, money and grit. Everyone dreams of the overnight success, but in fact original research takes years of hard work and persistence.

Working with our aspiring entrepreneurs—particularly those in the very early stages—requires patience. We must introduce key business components and enlighten scientists to the commercialization process. This is critical because almost all grants (federal, state or private) now require a commercialization plan that is focused on market-based application. Grant acceptance is determined by the marketability of the research.

We also accept later stage companies. These businesses are taken back to the beginning, to their roots. All clients must make certain that each opportunity is examined thoroughly. An opportunity has the qualities of being attractive, durable, and timely and is anchored in a product or service, which creates or adds value for its buyer or end user.

Opportunity is the basis for the company’s existence. At the OSU Advantage Accelerator, we have our entrepreneurs scrutinize as many possible opportunities as possible. With each potential opportunity we consider a number of variables, and for each variable we examine one set of opportunities for the business aspect and another for the technology itself.

For the business aspects, each opportunity is compared to:

Total market, addressable and reachable

The major benefits for each opportunity

Ease of entry

Cost of entry

Adoption rate and ease of customer reach

Key drivers of change

Channels, both physical and digital

Intellectual property or other market protection

Competitive response

Price/margins (price re-frames customers)

Potential early adopters

Strategic partners

Application platform, early features leading to a minimal viable product

Unique Value Proposition (What really does make you so special?)

List the unknowns, questions to explore, and the decision making process for the targeted customer in each opportunity.

On the technology side, the focus remains on commercialization but seeks the answer to other important questions:

Is the inventor or good substitute readily available to join the team?

What is the amount of the pain for our solution?

How far along is the technology? Is it prototype ready?

What are customers doing now? Are there other substitutes?

What is the industry’s infrastructure?

What is the regulatory environment?

Going back to the beginning helps to cut down on pivots during and after working through a business model canvas exercise. A pivot is a substantive change to one or more of the nine business model canvas components. Pivots may cost money.

Not pivoting when appropriate may also cost the business. Going through an opportunity recognition exercise before working on a business model canvas saves time and money. Is it possible to choose the better option earlier on? I know it is and our clients at the Advantage Accelerator know it as well.

We teach our clients to follow the three D rule: Be Daring, be Different and be Delightful (More on the three D’s in a future post). Test the opportunities as well as the nine elements of the canvas and the answers to each hypothesis will be found. These answers will eliminate and/or reduce the pivots when starting the new great entrepreneurial venture.

No Golf Joke

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I finally picked up my golf clubs after a 10-month hiatus. I went to the golf range to hit practice balls, get the rhythm back and the swing in tune. Upon my return, my wife commented that I appeared much calmer and that golf is possibly better for me than my morning runs.

It was not until later that I truly understood the meaning of her comments. Both running and golf are solo sports where you compete against yourself. I have only been golfing for about five years, but nothing has worked to calm my mind other than golf. When I am golfing, I am only focused on the club, the ball and course management. Nothing else enters my mind – It’s just golf and me. While running, my mind is racing despite the music blaring in my ears from my iPod. Tunes are rocking, my feet are pounding, yet I am thinking about work. I have always had trouble calming my mind. I have tried yoga, meditation, focused imagery techniques; nothing seemed to work, except golf.

I realized that the calming influence of golf was good for my family and me. There, I have a place not only to relax my body, but also relax my mind. It is refreshing even when returning from a lousy round. My head is clear and focused, my body relaxed from the exercise. I am ready both for family time and for work time.

Every leader, every entrepreneur needs that special place, space, time or tool to refresh and renew. The benefits are worth the effort and your family will thank you later. My special thanks to Nike, Callaway, TaylorMade and all the other golf brands out there. And my wife thanks you, too.

Start with the Business Model Canvas – Not Yet

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We at the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator are big believers in the Business Model Canvas methodology. We use the Canvas, we also use software for the Canvas, and we make our clients read the books by Steve Blank and Alex Ostervalder. However, the fact is that Canvas may put a technology entrepreneur at a disadvantage before he or she gets out of the lab.

Our clients at the University tend to be in the early stages of their development. Most of our researchers are doing cutting edge research. The entire set of potential opportunities for these clients have not yet been examined. Under normal circumstances, using the Canvas, clients would start with one or two potential target markets then try to validate the opportunity.

I suggest that this may not be the best way to begin. One of the tools, we use at our Accelerator is the opportunity matrix. The founder or Principal Investigator (PI), my co-director, mentor(s), intern(s), and I brainstorm on the possibilities of applications and industries in which this innovation can be productized. We also look at the numerous variables that could affect market entry. This tool was originated by the strategist Igor Ansoff and there are many versions found online.

The matrix provides focus and guides decision making prior to a long course of validating tests as required by Canvas methodology. Along the y-axis, we list the potential products and/or industries in that the innovation may be successful. Along the x-axis, we list variables such as size of market, ease of entry, competitive response and so on. The list of variables can be quite large and is on my version. The purpose is to determine through online research, phone calls with industry experts, which industry or market should be the top areas of concentration, which then becomes the business focus. This leads to a much clearer start on the Canvas.

The technology also needs to be checked for the opportunity as well. We have a great spreadsheet that checks on the viability of commercialization for the technology. It is similar to the opportunity matrix in that the various markets or projects are listed on the y-axis and a number of strategic questions about commercialization of technology are listed with weighting scores along the x-axis. This is another easy way to envision the technology side of the opportunity. Send me a note and I will send you either matrix.

These pre-cursors to the validating steps in Canvas will shorten the steps from hypothesis to validation testing.

It is highly likely that an entrepreneur will save time and money by doing the secondary research up front. This also creates a more focused entrepreneur who can easily begin the primary research work on Canvas.

There are a number of other activities that we take our clients through before beginning to work on Canvas. But overall, in the early assessment stages, we are seeking feasibility. Is the technology feasible within the means of customer wants? Does the business proposition make sense both in terms of its ability to succeed and financial viability?

Overall the big questions in this stage are:

  • Do I have a technology that has potential applications in the commercial market?
  • Are there customers and a market of sufficient size to make the concept for this technology viable?
  • Based on estimates of sales and expenses, do the capital and other resource requirements to start make sense? And;
  • Can you create an appropriate start-up or management team to execute the concept?

Just like in the Canvas, the answer to all the above questions is not that you believe the response, but rather, I know my response is true and here is why.

This early work provides sufficient data to understand the industry, examine an early value chain and process flow, understand your potential first and/or second market, organize yourself for validation of market(s) and get an early justification of pricing.

As I stated above, the secondary research requirements will enhance the primary research efforts required by Canvas. Go in smarter and ask better questions in order to obtain better results.

The Last Mile

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Fitness experts and athletes know that when they are lifting weights, the number of sets and repetitions within each set vary according to weight. On normal days their weightlifting tends to be three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions. Good athletes understand that the first eight of ten or thirteen of fifteen reps do not make the muscle grow. It is always the last two or three reps that causes the growth. They put all of that work up front, just for the last few reps.

If you have ever pumped a bicycle tire then you understand that after during the first ten pumps, the tire still looks flat, like nothing has changed. The same is true for the athlete. Work too hard in the gym and their muscles react and feel fatigued. That reaction is called over training. Over pump a tire and it explodes.

The same is true with entrepreneurs. It takes a significant amount of work upfront to understand customers, markets, and value chains in order to ultimately lead to a business model. Validating and testing customers as well as building prototypes is just preparation to get to the starting line. What about that last lift to finish? That’s just one more repetition to get to a first sale. And it is that last “rep” that is the hardest.

The same is true in all sports: Running a yard short of goal doesn’t make a touchdown, hitting the goalpost doesn’t score a goal, landing a golf ball an inch from the cup doesn’t matter at all. Nothing matters until a score is made.

Sports are games of inches, preparation, and work, and so is a startup. Entrepreneurs need all that preparation in order to travel that last inch and beyond.

The Entrepreneur as Magician

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We want our startups to act convincingly with passion and a compelling vision for their invention or process. We want them to suspend our disbelief and stunningly convey the magic of their innovation. A magical story is the single best way a startup can acquire the talent required to build a successful company.

Passionate people join startups when magic is invoked. Good people want to work in great environments with great leaders who bring their magic to that business. This type of magic is an honest and creative vision of the innovation with a vision about how it can change the world.

Magicians tell stories during their performances. For both the magician and entrepreneur, story telling is about engagement. Magicians need a story to set up the trick; entrepreneurs use the story to bring relationships and talent onboard.

Sometimes, a magician undersells and overstates the difficulty of the trick. Similarly, entrepreneurs may under promise and over deliver. Entrepreneurs are very good storytellers. They tell stories about products that define a path to the future, a problem solved, and a job accomplished, or increased efficiency. These stories paint an exciting picture of the future and these stories are what it takes to make early sales possible.

Entrepreneurs use good story telling setups. They map the benefits of the product back to customer needs and mesmerize future customer while doing so. If you think about it, stories are much more memorable than statistics. Everyone remembers a good story or compelling image. Do any of you remember a statistic from a commercial for a product or service? I don’t.

Magicians use small props to divert attention away from the real magic. Similarly, startup entrepreneurs effectively use limited resources to magically pull a rabbit out of a hat. They know that if they can’t pull off that trick, there is always a plan B.

As Elmer Fudd will tell you, wabbits can be very, very rascally and… tricky. The startup environment is tricky as well. Entrepreneurs need to learn to navigate its puzzling waters, pivot when necessary, and be ready to take advantage of new opportunities. Ready to execute on plan B.

Magicians use their talented assistants wisely. Magicians’ assistants make their boss look good. Startup entrepreneurs must also employ their assistants in order to efficiently build the business. Warning to both magicians and entrepreneurs: Never cut your assistant in half. Make the work fun and don’t overwork your assistants.

Magicians engage the audience during each of their tricks. They often invite an audience member onstage to participate. Good entrepreneurs engage their target audience – customers—early in the product development cycle as well as the sales and marketing process. Engaging customers’ interest is the single best goal for startups. Early involvement in the process helps prospects listen and buy.

Last of all, magicians and entrepreneurs both develop a special rapport with their audience or customers and receive appreciation. They also show their appreciation as well. When entrepreneurs show customers how special they are, the customers will return for more.

Remember that as a startup entrepreneur, your job is to show the passion and convey the magic of your innovation.

Grace is in the Resolution – Customer Service

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I know that all of you at some time have experienced poor customer service. Remember how frustrating that can be? Some of you might remember receiving outstanding customer service that is gracious and fulfilling.

Think about the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) and customer retention costs (CRC). However unfathomable it may seem, one poor customer service issue may lose a customer forever. There are a number of vendors that I will never use and there are vendors that keep my business despite having ordinary or even redundant products or services.

I am interested in hearing stories from those creative souls that either saved a lost customer or discovered an outstanding way to recapture a seemingly lost client. I am not asking about ways to throw money at a customer. I will admit that money and refunds can be excellent incentives for customers. Instead, I am looking for interesting stories in the art of the creative save.

One of my stories occurred at a high-end chain restaurant at a hotel in San Diego overlooking a harbor. It was near the fourth of July, and the restaurant was particularly busy. Our children were with us and, and we were looking for a pleasant family dinner. Suddenly, an unexpected firework show began over the harbor. We ordered, our drinks came, we were all laughing and talking, and clearly enjoying the evening. We were having such a pleasant time that we were completely unaware of how much time had passed since we ordered.

Soon the maître d’ came to us and apologized for our meals being so late. It had been an hour since we had placed our order, and we didn’t even know it. They offered us more drinks, and immediately served our meals and desserts, all on the house. Now I know some readers will see this as a monetary incentive. However, we had not realized how long we were waiting and did not complain – but the wait staff knew as well as the manager that this was not the good service they were trained to give. This was a case of the restaurant unilaterally deciding to take action, and doing what they perceived was the right thing before the customer could register any complaint. As a result, we have since favored that particular chain, when given a choice of other similar restaurants.

Poor service is only one way to lose a customer. Other common failures in the cost of customer retention (CRC) results from failing to maintain a relationship with your customer, failure to understand their evolving needs and requirements, or finding yourself edged out by another vendor who worked harder than you for their business. A heavy focus on product or service price may contribute to losing a customer. You work hard to bring in customers, why lose them?

Do the math. What is your cost of customer acquisition (CAC), cost of retention and cost of recapture? My guess is that employee training and empowerment can easily solve customer service issues, and come at a lower cost than losing good clients.

Consider this: How good are all your employees at managing customer interactions?

Out-Of-The-Building Blocks

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I had the opportunity to chat with Steve Blank about the Business Model Canvas and his Stanford class. I suggested that there is much work to be accomplished even before embarking on the Lean Launchpad Class. When I taught at the University of Southern California (USC), the cornerstone class before the Business Plan class was the Feasibility study. In fact, there were two tracks for entrepreneurs: one for technology and another for other businesses, and each had separate feasibility and business plan classes. (Disclaimer: I am not a believer in the traditional business plan, but rather focus on the operational and business-building sides of startups.)

I adopted many of the topics in both courses as a precursor to the Lean Launchpad class for mechanical engineers at Cal State Los Angeles, which I developed. When I taught at USC, the feasibility class was part of the MBA program. Therefore, many of the entrepreneurial and business concepts were already familiar to many of the students. However, the engineers at Cal State had no experience with business and entrepreneurial terminology and concepts.

I found the key to starting a new feasibility class for engineers was to introduce a few creativity concepts and exercises as a way of enriching their way of thinking. Engineers tend to think in a very linear fashion, and are sometimes uncomfortable with ambiguity in business. They weren’t as interested in variations in valuations or marketing—they just wanted the formula.

At some point in any business process, the research stops and the marketing begins. I am also a big subscriber to effectuation – the concept that entrepreneurs must think differently than ongoing businesses; using evolving means to reach new goals. Startups that are resource poor can’t throw money at a problem in order to make it sellable. A large business may be able to afford such a play, but not a startup. Entrepreneurs must use a different toolkit and a different way of thinking in order to succeed. Both effectuation and the business model canvas provide those tools.

In my entrepreneurship class at USC, students were required to meet 25 strangers. Steve Blank’s classic line is “to get entrepreneurs out of the building.” Entrepreneurial knowledge can only be gained through meeting people in their industry, advisors, and anyone else who can help budding entrepreneurs think through the parts of their business, how they compete, what niche does their competitor target, and just about everything required to be known before thinking about spending a dime.

So what kind of research could an entrepreneur do before starting on their entrepreneurial journey? This is secondary research to be completed before getting out the door. This needs to be done before to make the primary research (getting out the door) more valuable and shorter in duration. After all, having better hypotheses will yield more confirmations:

  1. Know thyself. What are you good at, who do you know that can advance the concept, and why is this an important undertaking? Can you articulate the value and benefits? Is the opportunity clear?
  2. Know the industry. Every aspect of the industry, every competitor and their niche, how would you find the pattern of change in the industry to become the leader of the pack, who are the major suppliers, can you successfully target the underserved market?
  3. Know the value chain – who gets paid and how, can you gain access to critical supplies on good terms? Do you know every step of your business process from order taking to fulfillment and post sale customer service? Where is the most value added?
  4. What is the best way to reach the customer? What effects their buying decisions?
  5. Who are your target customers and their demographic data? Are they big enough to constitute a market? What color underwear do they wear? Yes, you need to know everything about the client down to their undergarments.
  6. Financials – Don’t even think of continuing if you can’t do a spreadsheet forecast called a pro-forma. We all know the spreadsheet is a work of fiction, but how can you guestimate the entrepreneur’s bet? What are the premises underlying the data on your targeted financials? What is the delivered cost of the product? What are the multiple streams of revenue? Get the premises right and be convincing to yourself.

Possibly the most important skill to teach engineers and principle investigators is a little marketing and a whole lot of sales. Let’s face it; with few exceptions scientists are not famous for being extroverts. We need to impart to them that sales is not a shady profession, but rather an exercise in building relationships and helping potential clients solve problems. Good sales and marketing skills help build relationships allowing engineers to fix the world and its problems. Sales and engineering make for a good match.

However, relationship building is sometimes difficult for engineers and principle investigators. Social engagement must be built into all classes. In my class, everyone had to do a one-minute sales pitch that you could give someone in an elevator—a classic elevator pitch. After the first three or four intrepid students made their pitches, the whole class understood the key elements. Not everyone ended up being comfortable with selling, but then again not everyone will become a CEO.

So remember that before jumping into the Business Model Canvas, there is still much thought and research to put into your plan. If you are able to do the homework before embarking on validation tests in the canvas, my hypothesis is that you may have better information through good secondary research techniques before embarking on validation testing in each of the nine building blocks.

Effective Mentor Protégé Relationships

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We recently launched our Mentor program at the Oregon State University OSU Advantage Accelerator. In developing the program, I began to think about the attributes and workings of an effective mentor and a good protégé.

Effective mentors get off to a good start. They set good ground rules and hold them right from the beginning. My good friend and former collaborator at USC, Tom O’Malia, had three rules for the mentor-protégé relationship: (1) They should meet at regular preset meeting dates and times; (2) The protégé must send short notes from the last meeting and an agenda for the next session; and (3) Both documents must arrive at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting, or else it is cancelled.

These are excellent ground rules, but what else makes for a good mentor?

Mentors set high standards, constantly challenging their protégés.

Mentors make the experience worthwhile. They are truth tellers.

Mentors have good people skills and can manage even the most difficult protégé.

Mentors can have those teaching moments in all situations.

Mentors realize what they do not know.

Mentors make their advice actionable.

I know this will sound corny, but mentors don’t give their protégés a fish, but teach their protégés how to fish. In other words, mentors try not to give the answers straight out.

Mentors do not allow a dependency to build, but rather encourage personal and professional development.

Mentors ask questions and do not give lectures.

Mentors are very good about confidentiality.

Mentors are very candid.

Mentors come prepared and don’t let protégés come unprepared.

Last of all, mentors know when to say goodbye.

 

On the other hand, protégés:

Experiment with different behaviors. This is a chance to see what works.

Protégés do not fool themselves, or their mentors.

Protégés set an agenda ahead of time, also send notes of the last meeting – in advance.

Protégés stick to the allotted time and make the time meaningful.

Protégés take responsibility for learning.

Protégés listen carefully, always focused on the present.

Protégés recognize the gift of mentoring, give back and make the time meaningful for the mentor.

Protégés articulate what they desire to learn.

Protégés agree to and do what is asked or negotiate an alternative.

Protégés keep timetables.

Protégés are candid.

Good protégés eventually become good mentors.

I am sure that this only touches upon a number of the issues and behaviors that mentors and protégés are required to consider in order to create an effective relationship. What would you add to the list?

Pitching—But Not Baseball

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25 Rules for Pitchers

At some point in time, every entrepreneur needs to pitch his or her business. Rather than focusing on a specific pitch to a niche industry, these notes concentrate on the general aspect of pitching to potential investors. There is less focus on the content of the pitch and more on the style of the pitch.

1.  Throw curve balls. The best pitch is told by a story. A good story, like a good joke, is remembered. Most people forget numbers and statistics, but they will not forget a memorable narrative.

2.  Never read. Not from note cards and not from notes whether in hand or imbedded in your PowerPoint. Reading will put your audience to sleep.

3.  Never turn your back on the audience. Make it a point to make eye contact and face them directly. If you turn away, only do so to make a point and start a new subject. Never speak to your audience while your back is turned.

4.  Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Your pitch should not appear as if the lines were simply memorized. Your pitch is most effective when it appears natural and fluid. This is no different than acting. Rehearse often. If you need to ask how many times, then you need to rehearse more. Time yourself.

5.  PowerPoint should be alive with striking images, not words, and your audience should not need to read slides. PowerPoint is meant to enhance what you are saying, not say it for you. If your audience is reading, then they are not listening. Choose your words to make your points, and use your images to enhance your points. Use their visual acuity to drive your ideas home.

6.  Tell them first what you will tell them, and then tell them. In conclusion, tell them what you told them. Every pitch has a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning needs a hook, something that will draw in the audience, and an agenda, so the audience knows what to expect. The middle is heart of your pitch. The end is a conclusion, a summary of the most important things you want the audience to take away from your presentation along with a call to action. That is why school children have homework. The teacher tells them, and then they practice in school, and practice again through homework. Experts tell us it takes three iterations to identify and retain important information.

7.  There are a number of important parts of the pitch that investors want to hear: Why? Why you? Why now? How big is your market? Why should we care? How does your product or service offer significant value over your competition? Do you have a sound plan for the future? Will there be a reasonable return? Have you made good progress? Is there a large enough market and additional markets to tap?

8.  Make your pitch memorable and easy to repeat.

9.  Be passionate and sincere.

10.  The goal of the pitch is to get to the next meeting. You can’t possibly say all you want to tell in a short pitch to investors. If they sense an opportunity, your audience will be drawn in.

11.  The presenter must control the meeting at all times. Lose control and the major points might get lost or you will run out of time.

12.  Bring backup slides for the most likely to be asked questions.

13.  Know in advance who is in your audience and why they are there. Know also the rules of the funding game. Understand how much this group provide your company in terms of funds and expertise. Make sure the funds are building bridges not piers. Understand their process for funding investments.

14.  Appreciate the mind of an Angel or investor. By necessity, they have short attention spans. Just like everyone else they respond emotionally as well as intellectually. They are usually accomplished individuals but not necessarily very technical. That means you must describe your technology in its simplest form. Diligence on your technology and your business will come later.

15.  Kill the awful questions quickly…Aren’t you just like…?

16.  Know the plan to reach your target market.

17.  Know how you will grow.

18.  Show that you have delighted early customers.

19.  Dress appropriately.

20.  Keep everything simple.

21.  Be credible and build trust.

22. Use concrete examples.

23. Try to get a champion of your effort into the room. Someone the group knows and respects, and who believes in what you are doing.

24. Always have a Plan B. Be ready for the times the projector or computer won’t work, or the embedded video won’t play.

25. There are many more rules.

A Few “Don’ts”

A.  Don’t be vague.

B.  Always tell the whole truth.

C.  Don’t use jargon.

D.  Don’t sell or sound like advertising.

E.  Don’t overestimate the barriers to entry.

F.  Don’t have unrealistic financial plans.

G.  Don’t forget your contact information on the front and last slide.

H.  Don’t use cluttered slides. There is no need to have a logo on each page.

A Sample Pitch Outline

This is just one sample. Remember, the important thing is to get your key elements across.

  • Describe the pain and what you are doing to solve the pain
  •  Articulate the opportunity
  •  Introduce yourself and your company
  •  Describe what your company does and describe the benefits of the secret sauce.
  •  Identify your customers.
  •  Identify how you reach your customers.
  •  State why customers buy from you.
  •  Clearly state why you will win.
  •  Describe how you make money (for investors, bankers, etc.).

Of course, there are many variances to pitch outlines and depending upon the time allotted you can add or subtract slides. Some presenters prefer the problem – solution point of view for slides. I like the movie version of story telling:

  • Set the Action
  • Build the Background
  • Develop the story
  • Get to the Climax
  • Execution

There are numerous articles and books on pitching. Here are three I like:

Own The Room, David Booth, Deborah Shames

Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds

The Power of the Pitch, Gary Hankins

Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath. This is a great book on story telling rather than pitching using the SUCCES model.

Feel free to add your own tips and tricks, and links to great sites on pitching.