How to Pitch Any Idea Successfully | University of Aberdeen Business School
Hi. Everyone and thanks for joining the webinar tonight on deliver, learning patch we're. Joined today by the University, of Aberdeen Steve, Harrison will, be taking you through some practical techniques, to help you design and strengthen, any patch I'm, now going to hand over to Steve go begin the webinar. Hi. Everybody. Delhi, just said I'm a honorary. Fellow at, the University. Of Aberdeen, Business. School by over 20 years experience in, helping to craft and coach others to develop their winning pitches, previously. I've had a corporate, career where. I wanted a successful, at, board. Level pitch for. A billion. And today. I worked as a project manager, for Scottish enterprise which is the economic. Development agency for, her Scotland over the past three years when I came to the upper half-plane with a hundred founders, and teams to try and pitch to win and my. Plan today is to try to share someone's thinking with you and currently. I need to say thank you because I'm actually sitting in the Center for Entrepreneurship, or as I like to call it elevator HQ, and I. Understand, this is going out across six different continents, to over 500, people thanks. For joining. To. Start with I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my story and, in. Doing so try, and show one of the important. Aspects, of the one of the models that we're going to talk about which is establishing, credibility. So. I'm an engineer and. I've engineered various, things from very early days in the 1980s, you'll see there I was involved in engineering. Desplaines, and cars, and I also, have my first pitch in business where I got, to say how, to save a couple, of million pound with an idea I got, hooked. I've. Worked for a large multinational it's, a large part my corporate career where. I had responsibilities, across a range of different divisions, I mainly. Worked in the processing, industries at, one time looking after 400, million working capital. Being. Part a team put together a billion pension faculty, the billion payment acquisition, plan and I've, worked across Europe, India China the Middle East. Great. Times in. Time I've crafted and pitched the. Coached others to pitch ideas but. I've also worked with social enterprises, schools, and individuals and charities. In. 2007. I came Scotland and. Working. The Scottish Enterprise I now, work with small medium enterprises, high-tech. High-growth companies. Biotechs. Digital. Media I. Develop. Bold ideas, and I coach others to try to pitch to win and. I. Spend most of my time in Addis fishing event should be tried to note to the next unicorn, or should we do rabbit farming. For. The major projects I'm involved in today and they all involve, elements of. Ideas, bold, ideas disruptive, ideas and. They all involve entrepreneurs. And helping those entrepreneurs, to pitch and. To be able to win business and be able to win investment. Digitally, offshore, energy the, digitalization, of the oil and gas industries. Digital. Health, seeing. Where and how data. And data driven health. Circular. Economy or, the low-carbon, economy and. Overall. Largely. Notecards, mayor's are all to do with the digital economy and how, that's transforming.
The. Country that I live in working and the globe. Today. I'm going to talk to you about three different techniques, and. You come about because there's practical, experience, of working with entrepreneurs what. I call the three C's one. Of which I'm trying to establish now, which. Is compelling. Credible. And confident. I'm. Going to talk to you about a technique called daft. Daring. Also. And fabulous, thinking. Which. Is a methodology we developed to help people think up and sharpen. Bolder, ideas and. PMI. Plus, the. Positives, the minuses, the, things that are interesting and the actions you need to take to refine to strengthen, your pitch this. Is a technique I've used many entrepreneurs, and. Founders to. Help them to sharpen, their pitches and to improve them to play. Anyone things we're going to do is we're going to talk about an. Example. Of a number of businesses, and, one of those businesses, to, start with is. A guy called Eric and Eric, is fed. Up of stepping. In dog mess. And. Eric. Loves, drones. And. Eric. Has a bold idea he. Thinks, maybe. He could use drones to. Eradicate, this problem. One. Of the things we're going to do is we're going to look and the existing business that many of us will know which. Is air B&B and. We're going to use that to make comparison. To some of these tools and techniques and methods and to, see how the, evolution of a story the evolution, of a page. So. Where did Airbnb, start. Airbnb. Started, when. Some people had an idea and then. Realized this could be quite a big idea and that. Idea was, about, renting, air beds on other, people's floors. And. They thought you'd realize but actually some. People like this and maybe this could be something that was worth exploring further and they could do something with. Over. Time they. Managed to get some funding for that idea. What. Was the idea as good as they may have thought it was. Paul. Graham the. Founder, of Y Combinator and investing, in early-stage idea, entrepreneurial. Ventures. Said. That the idea is terrible. But. I like the founders, because, they won't die and they, are very imaginative. Eventually. Paul decided track seven, an. Airbnb, finally, made that massive, $20,000. Later. On we. Can see they, were successful, with a further seed round a. Few. Years later everybody. Wanted to invest. In. My day, Scottish Enterprise as. I say I helped many people pitch, many. People improve. Ideas. And, projects, concepts. From your ventures and, one such was a company called dated text an actual, spin-out from University, of Aberdeen, and. In 2009. There was three scientists, and there's one entrepreneur and, we were sitting in a meeting room and, we was exploring.
Potentially. How was we going to convert and take, this idea, there, was all about natural language, generation and. Being. Able to actually convert that and build a business around it as, you can see by. 2014. And floated, on the alternative, investment market four hundred million and today, it's trading at circa 35, with an employment of bed fifty data scientists. When. People ask me what my day job is I often, refer to this and, say my job is to create jobs by, investing public, sector, money you. Know help people to be able to create bold business ventures, but. I also refer to this the, nooks and the cooks, of what was at the heart of day to text, which. Was imagine, there was a machine offshore. And it's gone down and it. Takes a time. It, takes a couple of hours for, all these different steps to be taken. But. With the engine the data takes creative, it. Took one, minute for, all those same activities. To happen and it was consistently. Just one minute and, that image helped. Data.txt. To. Win business from a number of large oil companies, and, to be able to get traction. And also, to start to get investment. But. I also be, involved in early-stage businesses, right, from that very first concept. Somebody. Says Steve, I have an idea all. The way through to established. Businesses, seeking. Here they can find new additional ways of growing their revenue or their profit. So. Back to Eric. Eric's. Pitch. We. Are going to a company, that, will identify and. Remove canine. Excrement, through. The use of unmanned. Aerial platforms. Just. Have. A think about that for a moment. We. Need to raise 10, million to, develop this, solution. We. Will now use the three C's to, review Eric's, pitch and to. See how we can strengthen it. So. The three C's, credible. Confident. And compelling. How. Credible. Is. Eric's pitch. Does. He have the technology, to be able to do this do, you have doubts that he'd be able to do this. How. Compelling, is. Eric's pitch, do. You have concerns, that. Maybe there. Might be other issues, about using drones to do this service. Do. You think that other customers would, actually be willing to do this some. Of you may have thought of privacy, and data concerns. And. A confident, is, Eric. In this business how confident, to you that, Eric would do this. Remember. Paul Graham back. To air B&B because. He's like the founders, the. Tenacity and, their, creativity. So. Yes I think, maybe I'm willing to back Eric and to see where he could take this business. Let's. Go back and, look at Airbnb. When. Paul invested. The. Airbnb story, shows, essentially. Selling. Air beds and they. Were making money to survive by selling Syria. It. Didn't seem very credible, it. Definitely didn't seem very compelling, but. They had confidence. As it. Starts to grow it starts. To become more credible, then, they're making $400. A week they're. Starting to prove the model. Was. It compelling enough if. It's credible its, confident. That's. Good. Is. It really enough if. It's, not compelling, if you're in that piss space where you're credible and confident, there's. Nothing that much to care about. So. Although we, believe that these founders, can take this story and we. Think that they can deliver on it how. Far can they take it how exciting, is the opportunity, and we believe we need to use techniques sometimes to help people to be able to improve. The nature, of how, they express. Their opportunity, to be able to demonstrate and build FOMO, fear, of missing out, and, encourage. People to see that this is something they need to be part of let's. Go back to an earlier point in the story. Although. Air B&B, was growing it, wasn't, enough for Fay Wilson. Friends, words we. Focus too much on what. They were doing at the time and not. Enough on what, they could do would. Do and did. Do. Volume. On, the cofounders, of Airbnb, we. Were attempting to raise. 150,000. At a one and a half million valuation, you. Could have bought 10%, of Airbnb for, we. Got five rejections and, two. Didn't even reply and here's, an example of rejection. Apologies. For the delayed response, we've. Had a chance to discuss internally, and unfortunately. Don't think this is the right opportunity for, us from, an investment, perspective, the. Potential, market opportunity. Did, not seem large enough for arrow required, model. In. Hindsight. Do. You think they were still think. So. Today, Airbnb. Is proven, it's, gone from being confident. Demonstrated. Its credibility, and now. Proven. There's a compelling. Market. Player, it's, a very exciting. Proposal. We. Can all see and we, all know how, this works. Can. We learn from that same journey.
There's. A conflict, with, investment. That. Bold ideas. We. Often, find that when we need the money most we, can't excite the investors. And. Conversely. When. We don't need the money most is the, time when the most investors, how interesting, us. So. Let's go back to Eric, and. We started off by saying Eric. Was, confident. Confident. In his belief that he, could do something about Messi shoes. Hopefully. Make this story compelling. How. Can we make it so it's we, want to care we, need to care we need to be part of this store. But. If it's only compelling. Compelling. And confident, together. We. Don't believe you're going to deliver. We're. Not going to trust you. So. We have to be careful, because, if we are confident, and we, demonstrate, a really compelling idea, you. Know what will happen, you're, my deal we sold somebody, else more credible, to deliver. So. We need to ensure that we can establish credibility. Your. Credibility, and. Do, that you need to establish your own credentials, as, I. Did earlier beginning. Of this talk I share. With you my background I share, with you some of the things I've done and hopefully. I've managed to establish a level that says listen to Steve you might know what he's talking about. We. Can seek others and borrow, their credibility we. Can have partners, we, can share those names. It's. Also important, that we show you, do what you say and that. You trap that probe s. Demonstrate. To people that. You were in control and that helps, to demonstrate credibility. Now. If Eric was, credible. And compelling but. Not confident, we. Have a very different problem. If. Eric was credible and, compelling, there. Would be a weak delivery, we. Wouldn't feel as confident. In this idea, as. We potentially do, we. Would think that maybe he's unlikely to win when. We see this a lot with a lot of technology, generated. Ideas where. The clarity, doesn't. Come across in the presentation. And instead. The hesitancy. May. Be a feeling, of lack, of total enthusiasm. Lack of total commitment comes. Across in the body language. May. Be that all demonstrates, to an investor, or to others observers, that, the confidence, isn't there and. If they're not confident, in themselves I'm unlikely to be confident, in their. Some. Of the ways to remedy this. Build. On your own authentic, voice and style. It's. Very easy to listen, and watch many, TED lectures, many. Pitches, many. Online videos, and to. Try and replicate the, same terminology, the same phrasing, the same techniques. And methods, but. Even better is, to find your own authentic voice, and to. Practice, an usual and an authentic voice to. Get really confident, in the message that you're delivering to others, people. Often ask me how long should a pitch be and, I say depends, upon how much time you have with a person so. If you can pitch it in a minute pitch, it in a minute to get a further 5 on those. Further 5 pitchy to get an hour on, the hour pity to get a half a day and. By then they're probably bought into your idea. It's. Also useful, to pitch for feedback find. As many opportunities in ways you can to pitch to people who don't know the technology, or the opportunity, or the market, you're talking, about help. Then to. Help you to. Be able to help yourself. There's. A good technique from the lien toolbox and for the development toolbox called a be testing, a be. Testing, is where you try one idea with one party, try different idea with a different party and, you see what works it's. A good technique to help to craft and strengthen a pitch, by. One idea see if it works try a different approach a different message see, if that works all. Of that is about how can you to. Become more confident, in how, you deliver. Every, recall. Eric's. Idea wasn't overly compelling. When. I suggested a technique called, daft. Daring. Also. Fabulous. Thinking. This. Technique has been developed to help people to think of bolder ideas to. Take their idea, and to, take it further forward, sometimes into the stratosphere. And. We'll go through each question and we'll see how it can apply. Saudis, for daring, how. Can you make this idea more daring for, whom. In. This, case for Eric how, could we get local government, to pay for this, imagine. Come, to Aberdeen the city with no dog mess image parks and streets. Who. Will be scared by this idea well. If you have a dog and, you don't pick up you, could get fined and you might get prosecuted. Awesome. Or. As my kids say awesome. Who. Or what is this idea disrespectful. Of. People's. Privacy. The, drone could snoop on dog owners who don't clean, up.
Who. Will be singing the praises of this idea in the press. To. Their communities, to their friends. People. With children. No. More cleaning up messy shoes. Fabulous. How. Can you make this idea more fabulous more. Delightful, for, who. Imagine. If the drone helps the council, to find the dog owner as well, as to clean up the necks. How. Could this idea create even more smiles, and on whose faces. Imagine. If that dog net was collected, and used, to generate energy that. Powers charging, points in community, Wi-Fi. The. T stands for thinking, this. Is how we can best communicate these, thoughts to others by, an image metaphor. Or story. Imagine. If we develop a short film or a cartoon, showing. How the service, could work and the, various benefits it could generate and. To. Move an idea of interaction, we, always need other people, to get on board with the idea who. Do we need most to get on board with this idea we, need, city leadership to get excited about this. Now. If I tell you that all those points that we've just been through have. Been developed, in workshops, of various entrepreneurs, founders. One, of the entrepreneurs, people. And MBA programs, people, in established, companies, this, is a mix how, this exercise has been used, and. You can see how simple and how easy this technique is daft. Daring. Awesome. Fabulous. Thinking. So. Eric. Has applied some of daft and. Here. Is a revised, page. Dogmas. Cost. The UK, fifty. Million pound a year to clean up this. Is estimated. To be a potential, fire of more, than a hundred million pound not, being collected currently. We're, drone cleaners, have a patent-pending, technology, to. Collect the less clearly. An area affected and find. The owners, of the dogs. What. Do we think. As. It, helped which page to move more towards the middle is. It delivered with more confidence. Does. It seem more compelling, is, it, more credible. Let's. Refine it further. Let's. Sharpen, it. The. Tool we're going to use. Comes. From the father of lateral, and creative thinking techniques, Edward. De Bono if. You haven't heard of him I advise you to look it up from, loads of techniques and methods loads. Of practical experience and loads of practical, techniques for you to use yourself. This. Technique. P. Stands, for positives. The. End the, minuses, that I the, interesting. Points, that, we haven't thought of all that come to mind when we think about things and, the. Plus is a reminder, that the action, that we need to take to, overcome, the negatives, build. Upon the positives, and connect. And make something of the interesting point. I'd. Like you to reflect and think on Erik, pitch as we've thought about this or, maybe even on your, own pitch. One. Of the positives, of the idea and the pitch one. Of the strengths that can be built upon. The. M is for - one. Of the minuses, all the negatives, of this idea we'll pick what.
Are The weak areas, we need to address. The. Eye is, for interesting, what, is interesting about this idea what, other new ideas come to mind. And. As we say it the plus is for actions, while. Actions can be taken to build upon these trends address. The weak aspects, and progress, the idea or pitch. Now. We can combine both these models together and, in. Doing so we'd, create a matrix and. Matrix as, I, said that I've used a number of times the number of founders, and it. Helps us to be able to see how. We can, take, a process. Approach. To. Being able to look at a pitch and identify. Best to improve it. As. You can see we look at our three dimensions, of compelling. And credible. And confident, and for. Each one we will look and see what the positives, the, minuses, what, interesting, thoughts and, what actions can be taken. So. For me one of the positives that comes out that's most compelling about the new page is a hundred, million in the UK alone. It's. Also, patent-pending. And. It. Seems to have a strong, action based words. These. Are a good, platform, to build upon. But. I have concerns. Privacy. Could, be a lot negative, could be difficult to overcome especially in these times of data and. Data privacy. There. Is no mention of the customers who's actually already paying for this already. Might. Be a good idea. But. Maybe the business model doesn't work so, I'd like to see something in that space. Well, it's difficult without seeing, Eric actually delivering, this it's difficult to see if he's as confident, in this as I. Would like to believe he is. What's. Interesting well, as I went through that pitch I think. What. Could be done with those collected, faeces what. Is the value of them who wants them how could they be used and. That's a different technique for, a different time, called. Disrupt. Cliche. Flipping nobody. Needs the collected, faeces flip. That cliche, turn, it into money find, a way to do that and here. You'll see we've identified an, action includes. A pitch can, we take can. We make we produce energy from. That elected. Mist. And. Could. That help to be able to change the, business model be. Able to change the financial structures. If. We. Think about this from a credible, perspective, there was no mention of customers. One. Action we could take is bringing. Clients and client testimonials. One. Thought that comes to mind hey to establish more credibility, how, does a previous. Job help with this well. You don't know is that Eric, used, to work for the local authority. And the. Eric's role was. To look after the. Streets, and the sanitation. And. Ensure. That they were kept clean and they was managed effectively, that. Gives you a different state. Of credibility, to, this business, compared. To if I told you that Eric, was a shoemaker or, that, Eric actually. Ran a news agency. So. We need to be clear, how we can establish credibility, on the facts that are known and think. About where. There, are gaps in that credibility how. We can find ways to, establish that credibility through, partners, do.
Connection, With others do, activities, that we've done. Moving. On the piece for me that, needs to be still there the. Action of build that confidence is, a bold future statement, of vision I get, that Eric is going to build usually use drones it's gonna collect the mess it's, gonna clean things up once the bold vision what's the end statement. All. Of this as. Examples. That I've actually come again when this technique has been used with others and the, missing gap there is because people have told me that without seeing Eric, pitch it's, difficult, to know what else comes out that's about how to make this more confident, so it depends, what you imagine if you imagine Eric was found in there as a, bold. Entrepreneur. Seeking, to build a very disruptive business a confident. In his delivery you. Know and. That's that's a real imagine that that's what this is there. So. Eric stands to you and he says. Dogmas. Cost the UK, 50. Million pounds a year to clean up this. Is estimated, to be a potential fine of 100 million not being collected currently. We. Are working with, three local authorities, to trial a patent-pending technology, to. Collect the mess to, convert it into energy to. Clean the area affected and find, the owners of the dogs all. Through, the use of drones. In. Future, our, vision, is no. More messy shoes. At. The. End of this I hope. Like me you agree that Eric's, pitch has moved, far. Closer into that circle, right in the space in the middle. Delivered. Confidently. With. Great credibility. And. A compelling, vision. For, people to build into and to bind it I. Started. By saying I was going to explore some tools and some techniques and I've, used those same tools and techniques as we've, gone through the presentation, so. For, the three C's compelling. And credible. And confident. I hope, those started, by trying to establish my. Credibility with. You I hope. That throughout I've. Had to show a compelling, nature of what could be possible, for your pitch how, could you make it bolder, how, could you transform, if they key braver make, it more daring, awesome. Or fabulous. Throughout. I've. Used, the same technique to myself so. This pitch has been refined using. The, PM and I plus technique, with, a number of people providing. Me feedback on the pitches itself for, which I'm very thankful and for. How to explain, and now to discuss, this to others, but. The technique of positives. -, is interesting. And action, can help you all to be able to refine and strengthen, your, pitches, so, that you could pitch, to win. Thanks. Very much I'm going to hand it back to Dani and I think we're going to have a Q&A session yep. Thanks, for Steve, so. We've got a question here from Sarah, who, has asked you. What. Not to include in, a pitch and what, to leave in. So. Maybe, it's. A great question and what. Not. To improve, is something, that could potentially jeopardize, one, of those three aspects, so. If by including, it you jeopardize, your credibility or. You, potentially, jeopardize, the compelling, nature. Or you. Potentially. Jeopardize. The confidence, that there may be in you then, I would suggest not to include it I know. Many other gurus and, advisors, would suggest that you need to be totally open and transparent and, say as much as you can but. I think that the early stage is when you're pitching you're, basically asking permission to continue a dialogue and a discussion beyond. That point so. I think it's something that's going to potentially, jeopardize. Then, take it out every something. Is gonna enhance, then, bring it in we've. Got another question here I think it's something you touched on during the min webinar Steve but a few people asking a similar question about team recommendations. Or they're concerned that they're going over you know some maximum length and I. Don't think you want to add anything to that I, mean. I'm obviously you take about ten now I'll explain the third so for me a pitch. Needs to be based upon the time you have in an individual, so, if you have 15 minutes with an individual, don't pitch with the 15 minutes because you want some question time pitch, for maybe 5 of those 15 minutes yeah. And design, a pitch that's really compelling maybe. Get it so that your pitch can be told in a minute really. For me simply Eric's, pitch no more messy shoes we're going to help the world to have no more messy shoes would you like to learn how let's. Talk about it. And. Then you could expand that so have a pitch prepared, that's. 5 minutes 10, minutes 20, minutes an hour you. Know has more detail, but. Still, builds. Upon those three aspects, credibility. Confidence. And compelling, major, so. Answer, the question Dan yes, that's perfect, with someone else who's asked, if you have any advice, for incorporating.
Storytelling. Anti pitch, I'm. A big fan of telling a story, and. Number the founders that work with will know that I helped, too I'm, genuinely want any of the techniques that would've used today it's storyboarding. Being. Able to actually tell story, of the product or service being. Able to tell the story of whatever business is going there's a venture where it's moving forward I think. There's also some great techniques from storytelling, the ability to actually, bring. You, know a middle, and a conclusion. You. Know to, a story as a narrative being. Able to add he put the hero's journey and, used some of the techniques from hero's journey and from writing to beats and to, models about stories, I think. They're great and I, think you need to work upon what the story actually is and how you tell it but. Try not to get the story to overtake, what, the purpose of the pitch might be so. There's, a slight negative sometimes that, you, get people carried on with. The story. Aspect, of what the business is but they week on what, the business aspect is or they're weaker on have, the what they're going to do with an investment, money so, you need to be balanced across all those points. Perfect. Thanks later Steve we've got a few some of our questions again with, people asking if there are any questions you should expect, to be asked after a pitch. Always. Expect the unexpected and, that's one of the advantages of doing it with as many people as you can by pitching for feedback is help you prepare and. I. Think, I think some great questions that. Generally come out are things like what would be your first hire, you. Know what. Would you do is the competition does this have. You thought about that you. Know and that all helps you to be able to show and demonstrate to, the people who you're pitching to your, level of preparedness your. Level of agility your. Level of you, know how flexible, and responsive you're, going to be to these type of things another. Question, is okay. So what seeing, all that ice gray but, what they make six weeks what you gonna do in the next six weeks how you moving this forward I know the saying you know entrepreneurial. Action beats, entrepreneurial. Thought every day of the week what, action, could Eric take to, get this moving forward family. Came and pitched this to me I'd be saying when are you having that conversation with the next local authority, when, are you actually going. To demonstrate this, in a safe environment and, prove it to people let's, video that example. For. Me it's about moving. It on and being. Able to sort of I, guess. Then. We get that balancing. Piece right and between. These points so, is that answered if you think yeah, that's good. Again, we've got a couple of people have asked a similar question about, how you decide how, much investment, to ask for a win pitch you know how you value your company when pitching your idea to investors, that's. A different question for a different day or believe because valuation, is big, topic, and for. Me the. Best way to get valuation, is to get sense of similar. Businesses, and what the raise has been and at. The early stage an, idea. That hasn't got any technology, that hasn't gotten to the market, that hasn't got client traction, and you're, seeking a one to three million, pound valuation, and you.
Know You've got to have a really confident, in compelling, process, to be able to support that getting. Insight early, as to how companies are valued, how, potentially. You could see have, the others potentially. Being reinvested into in the same space that's, always useful and an. Alternative, ways to say one. Of the techniques I often use people say right we're going to find the company a million what, are we gonna do to, valued the company at a million what's. Good what's going to be in place is he gonna be clients is he going to be technology's gonna be IP, what's. Gonna mean the people who are willing to see this is a million pound wind, put hundred, thousand in for 10 percent or more, for. Bigger percentage so. You. Know it's, about getting a sense of how. Others, will, value your company it's, far more important, how you see, the value of your company that. Way, thanks. Again. A lot of a few people have asked if you'd be able to expand on cliche. Cliche. Flippin. Placing. Flipping is a technique from sort, of disruption. And thinking. About things from a description perspective. Basically. Has three phases to it so if you want to think of a disruption they. First of all of the cliches, of the norms, of the assumptions, in the market or in a sector, so, if we think about the coffee, shop yeah. If we think about a coffee shop the, cliche. In a coffee shop is that you, sit, in a chair and you drink coffee and you talk to your friends so. If we can think about how we could flip that imagine. That the, coffee shop comes to you to a portable coffee barista the terms of it you're at your workplace, that could be one else we. Could imagine, that, you don't, actually sit in having no chairs in a coffee shop and it was just standing room only, imagine. That it was just you know a different form of where. It's a different beverage altogether it's no longer coffee but it's you, know it's, a milkshake store, as opposed to a coffee store awesome so, flip, the cliche, is basically, just a technique to say what's the cliches, in this market sector, and what would be the opposite of them so, we go back to, Eric, example. The. Cliche, was dogmas. Is worthless. Hey. Do we flip it we say dogmas is valuable. How, do we find out that dogmas available, or we find what else could it be converted into in, that case energy. That. Answer. That that's. Good we've, got a question here from Sam, who asks if you have any recommended. Sort, of methods, or environments. Even for. Practicing. And receiving. Feedback on a pitch I think the public speaking say the things, and. I. Always, advise three things one do in front of friends and, getting. From the people who you know doing, for the people who actually do. Review, people's, pity sue maybe, a few investors, maybe a few people who were in the investment, community made some professional advisors, lawyers accountants, and maybe. Maybe, some academics, be. Prepared for feedback that might not be what you want to hear should, be ready to listen to all the feedback not, necessary for you to respond to it but be willing to listen to it all and be. Thoughtful. About how, other, people perceive it, one. Of the things is video so, a tee if you capture, yourself, on video you'll, notice, your small mannerisms, you'll, notice your small tails for small tics and you'll, be able to see whether or not you should have moved your hand 15,000. Times in 10 minutes or whether just actually putting something in your hand would have held it steady and then, that you know distracted people and so. Sometimes videoing. Is quite useful as well and if. You've got the option I mean today it's a lot easier you know being able to get some with your video you using an iPad or phone it's. Quite a simple technique it can help to get you some real time feedback. Another. Way to, do that is is, also easy to get somebody else to do your pitch for you and for you to watch it so, get work with another one to preneur you, give them your pitch and get them to pitch it to another group of people in your watching and. Then you'll get to see it from a different perspective and you'll be able to ask questions with, you. Yeah. Thanks Steve we, have someone else who's asked how important, as a patent, or some, other form of IP protection. It. Depends very much one what the shape of the business is and depends. Very much on you. Know what you're trying to build and grow so, I understand, a patent in the right space and you.
If It's, critical, technology. FAS, you know stuff. That actually you feel that there's a there's a, novel. And unique. Methodology. Or technique or method, scientifically. And you need to protect that however. And the far bigger fan that the market is the is the best driver of success, you. It would be very difficult for Airbnb to have patented, you, know we're going to put an air bed on the floor we're going to charge people money for it and and. Yet they've managed to raise significant. Chunks of money the. IP is. Available. As. Opposed to the patented, aspect, of IP and and. That's important, so you can having tech intellectual, property you, can have a knowledge and expertise, in your company, which can be valued, it doesn't necessarily need to be patented. Perfect. Thanks Steve we, have one, else who's asked, if you could go, in a bit more detail our embassy unicorn, not chirring and rabbit farming. Rabbit. A rabbit is, a real awesome business, building, interesting, technology. And it's, a term that was, coined by, CB. Insights. On. The. Back of the piece of our unicorns. And so. Unicorns. As you'll know is a company, with a billion-dollar valuation, or. More a valuation. Point, and the. Thing with unicorn, nurturing, is it's, about being able to say. Okay. We've got something which is big and bold how, are we going to help you to get to that next stage in Scotland we've had two unicorns, and we're trying to help to be able to develop the four or five behind them, rabbit. Farming, there's, a lot more rabbits, in the real world and there are unicorns, and it's. About the same and by the way did you know the unicorn is the, the. Emblem of Scotland, you know so it's a its representative, in a different way well but, if we go back to rabbit, farming. And you, know we want to create the environment and the conditions, that allow a lot more businesses, a lot more innovators, a lot more entrepreneurs, to, get their businesses, off the ground and start to scale and so, some of the activity, that I do is about improving the ecosystem. For entrepreneurs whereas. The word word unicorn nurturing, is working directly with the individual founders of. The companies that potentially. Could be unicorns, in the future, okay. Thanks, Steve I've. Got a question here from Gustav, who asks if you have any examples, you can share real wife patches, that you've heard recently they made an impression on you. Unfortunately. If then I do isn't the confidence, and so. Most the things that I see, I can't, what we will do is I'll talk to some of the entrepreneurs I work with and when. We put out some material about this we'll put some direct, links to some of their pitches, or some of their video pitches you to look at watch, perfect. We've, had a few similar questions, again asking, if there are any inaudible, for powers or things definitely not, to do during, a pitch. And. Overly. Complex, technology. Generally tends to go wrong, so. You, end up losing all the time that you had to pitch because you're trying to get your overly complex piece of technology, to prove how credible you are and all, it essentially, does is just end up with everybody going okay, yeah, you can't make it work in a room with us now and, we're going to believe it's going to work in the future so.
I Always say sort, of tend away from eye. Tech pitches. Likewise. I find, pitches, that are very, free for. You. I've seen people stand up and if their opening line has been is I'm not prepared anything to you today I just thought we'd have a chat and I'm just thinking instantly. You know there's, a few red flags in my head about that point. Wild. Rambling, technologies, cushions that focus. Just on all the technology, and the science and the deep science and the deeper technology, aspect and doesn't. Allow me to answer any questions about, the market or about, business models or their operations, or competitors. That, doesn't, really help a, lot the damages. Credibility, because people look at this and just say yeah so look science venture you. Know they're seeking more grant funding, or seeking more technology, funding auntie. What's needed a good, example there is go back to that dated, text. Company. Out of University. Of Aberdeen originally. Three k2 scientists, nine hundred preneur when, they and they was just in that grant loop of, chasing. Additional grants and, being able to get new projects, off the ground to put their science and technology, into great. Projects, but none of them really with great commercial prospects it. Was only when the entrepreneur, came in that the conversation, started to change the focus started, to change and Ian, did a great job and, developing, and sharpening the page for the business overall. Bewick. On. Our kingdom really I've got a question here from Gloria, who asks if recent. Developments. And technology. May have some impact or, effect on, the, way that we act seek investment, in the future. And. I'll, assume that that means that, technology. Drivers in general, as, opposed to technology about pitching, so so, we'll just talk first about technology, about pitching, and then we'll go back to technology drivers in general so, there, is a lot of new approaches. So you don't need to stand up for full of a power point any longer there's numerous ways in which that could be done can, the crazy you.
Know Live streams, there's, all sorts of different techniques, and methods and yes that technology, if it, enhances, across your three C's if. It enhances, your credibility, encourages. And includes the compelling. Compelling, nature and establishes, your credibility you. Know then lose. Your confidence II then, I think all of that together yes, it's great to use those new techniques and methods assuming. That's not what the question is about and instead it's about the driving force of digital. Technology, as a, transformational. Agent, for markets, you know all sorts of sectors and all sorts paces back to the base we're all in right, through being, able to bring data-driven techniques, and methods to the dentist's, office to. The, farm to. The shop floor in a manufacturing facility being. Able to encourage people to see the business benefits of those technologies. As opposed to just the technology themselves that's. Where the trick is so. It's not just about the tech what, we need to do is on for those offenders and business people is, RTK clearly, where the business benefits and gains are what's, the value proposition, who's gonna buy it why they're gonna buy it how are they gonna buy it what C kill'uh matter who's, gonna make them more competitive is, it going to help them to deliver more value for, their clients. Perfect. Thanks Steve and we. Have another question here from Marco. Who asks if you have any advice for getting, people to listen to your patch in the first place, well. Get in the first couple of minutes and I. Think the key is back to that compelling, nature you know you've got to you've got to find a way of getting that compelling, aspect, so. That somebody's, willing to spend three four or five minutes if you say I want an arrow of their time that's hard did. You say can I buy you coffee for five minutes that's a lot easier yeah. If you say can I find, 10 minutes on a Skype call that's a lot easier than trying to find an arrow in somebody's, diary three cities away or half. A continent away you, know soup I think. The key is showing your tenacity, often. There's lots of gatekeepers. Off there's lots of obstacles in the way and they're, deliberately so many, people, would. Like to you, need, to work through introducers, do you need to find somebody who has a reference already. Has an established relationship. You. Prove your credentials, to them and then, they may make introduction. Or open the doors for you. Good. Thanks, Steve. We have another question from someone who's asked if any of this place, is any different, in the case of nonprofits. I, think. All the technique can be used equally the same so I think the PMI, and the compelling the credible and, confident. Nature that's, exactly, the same for nonprofits, and social enterprises. I think. The difference comes as to, the nature of the business shape itself, so for me I like to call a non-profit. A cause based business a passion based business and for, me the heart of it stories about what's the passion what is it this actually trying to achieve is he trying to eradicate disease, is it, trying to improve. The, state. Of people in the slums, what's. Its purpose you. Know and if if that purpose, is articulated. Clearly and then we bring back out through the three C's then that's as equally, as applicable. Okay. Thank, you. We've. Got a question here from German who asks what level of detail we, should go into on a frost patch ie financial. Forecasts, etc. Depends. You pitching to and, depends, very much on your, confidence, new authentic voice if you are for, the financial, background and the numbers of what's the passion for the business that you're me and you, really get them in your media understand them and that's what your you, can make your compelling story around then, yes build, those financials, into that pitch and make sure you stress how, exciting, the financials, of this business actually are if forever that's me to your weak area, an, area, where there's lots of, uncertainty.
There's, Lots of unknowns there's, lots of assumptions, then. Maybe that will damage your credibility. So, maybe having something that alludes, to that financial. Success. In the future maybe, having something that states. The level of ambition that you have is sufficient. To be able to improve and demonstrate, that compelling, nature. Good. Thanks Steve we. Have someone else who's just asked specifically about the concept, of element and, whether you could speak, on that a little bit and. Then they later pitch versus a pitch for me just a pitch so, an elevator pitch I mean, used to work in a corporate office though it's ten floors but there was an elevator and literally, we, would test people, could, they get their idea down and who by the time somebody had gone to the top floor to the bottom what's on the bottom floor to the top and that's the meaning of an elevator pitches can, you if you had that moment of time can, you make the most of it so in, the corporate environment you, learn how to say your story at our water-cooler in the lift in the elevator. In the, cafe area you, know how'd you get you bring somebody say to you Steve what's. What's, happening that's, going on with your project you know and that's a senior director you, don't wanna say oh it's terrible and things are falling over and I'm not getting any results and, I'm having a really bad day you, want to say yeah we're rocking it we're doing this for doing there and we're gonna have you 20%. Increasing in venture terms by the end of the week why, don't you come down and see the tea yes, ooh it's. An understanding, of what's fit for that purpose, and how do you know to drive that through for me the, concept of the elevator pitch is the condensing. It down so, if we went back to Eric Bates, Erick's that elevator pitch is essentially, what we've given you, he's working with a few local authorities, he's trying to eradicate missing, shoes how he's, using drones to be able to do so do you want to learn more.
Good. Thanks Steve. We. Have someone who's, asked if you have any tips. For appearing. More confident, while delivering a pitch. Practice. Practice. Practice. And change. So. Practice. As many times as you can keep on practicing, encourage, that you've become very confident, with your material, and you've made comfortable with the material but. Also, change. Things and see how that responds, you, know what response comes back from that change because. If you just get cemented, down into, the same pitch given in the same way and save style and everybody says no to it it, might be that everybody says no to it because it's not as compelling as you might think it is or. You're not as credible as you might think you are or, it's not delivered as confidently, as you might think it so. That would be my big tip is just practice practice practice and find things and change them deliberately, and see, what response you get so really precision. Level changes, you, know is it the style, of the graphics you'll. Be surprised at how often they change. For them clipart professional, photo to basically make a big difference, is, it the style of the tone, of language, that's used the modularity of your voice what. Is it that you use to make people excited about what you're doing versus. What do you do to stand back and establish, a position. Of authority. That's. Good thanks Steve and, someone. Else here has asked if you, can recommend any resources. For new entrepreneurs, I'm missing books videos, etc. Again. I think that's a really a really, deeper, wide topic, and we'll, make. Sure we put something out in the notes that go along with this and the. Quick thing if my head would. Be. Anything. To do with Lean, Startup anything. To do y combinator. Anything. To do with elevator, in the UK, anything. To do founders ooh that's a new thing that's just started, just find time to zoom and follow the end that's going to massive. Blitzscale. Was. He called Reid Hoffman masters. Of scale podcast, that's a great thing to listen to and there's. Lots we'll put some things on the other on, the documents, they go, out and people can think about that me, isn't thanks Steve. We, have a question from Jules who's asked how can your playlist advice as a freelancer. Offering a service I think. I. Think. This is relevant to. Any, former Pitts who we've, assumed that it's mostly you know people pitching, ideas for, investment. But I think it's equally saying if you're sharpening, up a value. Proposition how, do you ensure that that is compelling incredible, and confident, and how do you how, do you make sure that you're making value, to the to the potential client the, PMI approach again, equally, applicable to, to, arrange, a different environment anyway. Where you really need to refine and improve something, the PMI technique, work were you out daft. We've used Afton all sorts of market. Sectors, and opportunities, so I think that can work quite well and I. Think the key for me would, be put. Your client at the heart of the story that you talk about and, then. Help. Them to see how you need to be part of their journey. Okay. Thanks, Steve and.
I Think we just have one final question here from Angus, who's asked f/2, Pearson's patchworks, M if. You're working with a business partner, or should you just stick to one no. And other fellow multi voices I think you can use that well I think you could potentially, use, the. The difference between your two voices and styles, to. Be able to give some variety, and some color in that pitch what. I'm not so much a fan of is when you have two people and, one. Person basically. Does all the pitching, and the other person answers all the questions I'm. Not such a fan of that and I'm, also not such, a fan of when you, have the two but they actually cut against each other what I did see once was actually three people pitch and as. One person started, to say something the other person who is their co-founder, on this business said I think. You'll find it's not really, like that it's more like this cutting. Across them to. Which the other person, in the threesome said, afterwards. No, you're, wrong it's more like this now, imagine there's two of us sitting there as potential, investors, do we have a red card or do we have a green flag you know I think at that point I was in a red car quite. Heavily you. Know it. Didn't show me that the team was actually gelling, well it, didn't show me that they actually respected. Each other you, know and they they were more important, red flags back to credibility it had gone in an instant. That's. Great thanks you've actually just got another questions coming where you've been answering that and, someone. Has asked. Shark. Tank investor, Mark Cuban always, says that we should never sale 50%, of our company what, are your views regarding this I totally. Agree and I, always, advise people to keep the controlling, share I've seen, a number of founders, still have the control taken, away from them even by not, giving away 50% of the company you, need to be in it to win it and you need to be in it to make the most out of it otherwise, if, I'm investing in you I'm feeling, that actually you might not be as in, it as much as you might like today so. Yes, some people give some silly valuations, and some silly equity stakes but, my advice keep. Things practical, keep, things at a level where, the, next stage and the next stage beyond, that things are still manageable it's, easy and clean for investors, to see how things will work out in the future, and don't. Make it so that you I'm going to be the guy owning, and running this company when. It's you is the founder of it you need to stay that person. That's. Good thank Steve and one more question that's just come in and someone's. Asked for advice for pitch in specifically, and if. You. Are presenting a mine, to a manufacturing. Company for, a representation.
Opportunity, To a new market so if they're taking something to a new market presumably. So. I just assume, that that's like a distribution, opportunity, so essentially, somebody else is making it and you're going to be you're going to say you could, distribute that for them in a different Jamba feel different. Market sector so, back to the same answer as to the the, sort of the service. Environment, or consultancy, environment I think. You can still apply the same techniques, and methods we use those same techniques and my corporate career with business development for a number of years you, sharpening. The sales pitch and, understanding. The value proposition, one, of the things I would recommend would. Be the. Work by Ellie gold right, on. Distribution. And. Distribution economics. And David. Constraints, the distribution. Partners, being. Able to get a gain share as a reseller, and being, able to actually open up an entire new market for a manufacturing, company is, a, great built build your value proposition upon, helping them to. Be able to get that additional sales, you. Know if you can link your services. To to, their profit that's a great place to be. That's. The name of the book I was looking for isn't it obvious right so that's, the that's the book I put for the element, yeah. Perfect, thanks Steve and again. We'll just have another question, about, if. It's advisable to fuel. The investors weaknesses. As well or only focus on the good side of the venture. Going. Back to credibility one. Way to show credibility, is to actually say you know what this three of us wants a technical one as a marketing guy one's an Operations guy but we're missing a finance person and we're weak on Finance and we're looking for somebody to fill that space and when we get investment then we would be able to find that bit you know fund somebody to come and fill that space being. Able to demonstrate and show that is fine it helps to show that you're serious about your business and you understand, it and you. Know being, able to show, that you are aware of your weak areas and that, you're doing something about them is important, just, saying you've got a weaker area and not doing anything about it doesn't establish credibility, so. If you say well we're a techy company, and we're really terrible at marketing, and, we need a couple of million pounds to be able to build our company you. Know you don't tell me what you get how you're going to use that money to be able to improve your marketing capability. You know that's. For me gives me a mixed flag. Hey, thanks, Steve I think that's all the questions we've, got so I think we just wrap, up I just, like to say thanks again to Steve, presenting. The web and after there and thanks. Again to everyone for joining us and for all the questions so. Thanks, again and we hope everyone has a great day.
2018-08-22 21:04
