If you have ever listened to a speech by someone who speaks monotonously, you will know that strong vocal delivery is vital to: 1) communicate your message clearly and 2) stop your audience going to sleep. The quickest way to make your startup elevator pitch stand out from the rest is to practise it with a simple technique: The Blind Cat Test.
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3 types of startup friend: How to pick the RIGHT advisor
As any startup founder knows, you need an advisor: to listen when things go wrong, to bounce ideas off and to tell what you need to hear: even when it’s not pleasant. But don’t make the mistake of picking the wrong friend for your startup. Do you recognise these 3 types of startup friend?
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Show your startup: 4 types of demo to make investors see, believe and invest
When you pitch your startup to investors, you need them to understand it. The easiest way to do this is to show them your idea visually: through screenshots, a video, a prototype-as-a-prop or a live demo.
But be warned: although it is the ultimate show of authenticity, the live demo is fraught with danger. Even Steve Jobs was only a falsified phone signal bar away from disaster.
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Run with it: Excite investors with your startup's possibilities
How do you excite an investor with your elevator pitch? It’s not enough to explain to them your startup idea. You need to show them your idea and then run with it: show them could happen with their investment. But be careful: there are two places you can run to with your idea, and only one is a place where the investor will stay excited about your startup.
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Crowd-sell your Elevator Pitch: the 5 types of social proof
One influencing technique that you can use in your elevator pitch to sell your startup is social proof: the idea that we are more likely to do something if we see other people doing it first.
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Bait your elevator pitch - capture your audience with a hook
Given that no audience enters a presentation with their minds clear from outside concerns, is your responsibility as the presenter to capture their attention. The most effective way to do this is with a “hook”, a handy technique I learnt from my time in Deloitte Consulting.
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