Kat Weaver and Stacy L. Chin explain why corporate funders reject applications that break their rules. A pitch video even one second over the 90-second limit gets tossed. Same with proposals that don't match the exact page count, font size, or line spacing they specify. Funders use these constraints to screen for applicants who actually read instructions.
It says submit a 90-second pitch video. If you submit something that's 92 seconds and they get 10,000 applicants, what do you think is going to happen with 92, 91 seconds and over? Doesn't even get looked at. And so it seems harsh to some people, but it's like, hey, when there's a lot and you didn't follow directions, they're purposely testing you to filter out the people who have like really paid attention and put forth effort.
There's very particular details that you have to follow to the T. These documents have to be this page limit. You have to use this font size, make sure the line spacing is 1.0. Anything that is outside of that range, it's easy to just reject you or withdraw your application.
