Congrats! You have been selected to come pitch the investors on The Pitch 🎉 Now what?
Step 1: Fill out the paperwork
You should have already received an email from the team with details including the day you'll be pitching and who the investors are, as well as the forms you'll need to fill out before you pitch.
Step 2: Watch a video
Watch this 5-minute Loom for what to expect come pitch day.
Step 3: Book a call with Josh
Once you've completed steps one and two, book a call with Josh to go over your opening pitch on the show.
On that note...
What makes a good pitch on The Pitch?
The 90-second pitch on our show is composed of five parts
- Intro
- [NEW in '23] Why you? (two sentences of your backstory/accolades/credentials)
- Personal story/attention getter (this often doubles as an explanation of the problem you're solving)
- Quick product description that segues into traction, proof points, market size, thesis proven or the pivot & learnings etc. (the idea here is to create momentum and confidence in your business, this section will set the tone for the rest of your pitch)
- The ask
If you haven't heard Leigh Isaacson's pitch for Dig, I'd highly recommend it. Her opening pitch was the only one we published without any edits in post-production. It's not that her overall pitch is better than others, but her opener was a masterclass on how to begin a conversation with investors on our show.
When you listen, notice how calm and confident she is in her delivery. Even though her pitch is tight, it doesn't sound rushed. She even slows down her delivery at times to make sure certain words stand out.
Here's Leigh's opening pitch broken down in four parts:
- Intro: Hi. I'm Leigh Isaacson, CEO and cofounder of Dig, the dog person's dating app.
- Personal story/attention getter: A few years ago, my sister was dating a guy who tried to be a dog person for her. By the end of the relationship, he didn't want the dog in his apartment, or he'd put towels down on the couch so the dog didn't touch anything. And she said to me, I wish I just knew from the start that this wasn't going to work because of my dog. Together, my sister and I launched Dig.
- Product description + traction: Dig is the best way for dog lovers and dog owners to find a compatible match and plan a dog-friendly date. We're addressing pain points in both the booming $75 billion pet industry and the growing world of niche dating apps. Both industries are begging for more in-person dog-friendly experiences. In the past few months, we've seen 80,000 total downloads and 25,000 monthly active users looking for love on Dig.
- The ask: We're raising $1.5 million to scale and help people find someone they really dig.
And one thing you may not have noticed, but it's actually really important for our show, Leigh did not use any industry jargon or acronyms. And her ask at the end is super simple. She didn't get into pre-money, post-money, SAFE, priced round, lead investors or anything beyond the total amount she's raising. The investors will most certainly ask a series of questions about your round, but in your opening remarks we need to keep it simple.
The Pitch Room is yours to lead
One more pitch I'd like to highlight, for a completely different reason is Dennis Meng's pitch for User Interviews.
Dennis delivered a solid opening pitch as well, but where he really excelled was in the Q&A with investors. Notice how he reads the room and adjusts on the fly. Not just the moment where he saw the investors' brows furrowing, several times during the conversation Dennis steered the conversation away from confusion and led the investors through the pitch he wanted to give.
This leads me to the important bit, you are the expert in the room. Not Josh (he won't even be in the room), not the investors, you! Yes the investors are smart, curious people with a thesis for just about every startup... but if they're going to invest in you, they need to believe that you know way more about your business than they do. So use what you've learned from past conversations with investors to lead the conversation in the room.