How to Make a Five Minute Business Pitch | Startup Coach and Investor Reena Jadhav

So this is a 5-minute pitch which you can definitely adapt to the pitch that you've talked— that you're going to be doing. And I'm not gonna go through this 'cause we just went through this. This is a pitch that is actually a 5-minute pitch that has actually won every angel presentation that they did in the last 4 months. They won like 8. And again, you can read this. You can get the full deck. You can follow it line by line. But this is an example, because I wanted to share with you guys an example of what a winning pitch looks like, at least in Silicon Valley. So some of you are taking photos. I'll give you a second. Okay. And it's broken down problem, solution, benefits right up front. So there's no easy solution. Rewards is a mobile and email set it and forget it. And see those sales grow by 7% and profits by 20%, right? So your problem, solution, benefits. How it works in market, exits and team in the ask. And this has won pretty much every pitch contest. We get to your point now. Pitches must evoke emotions. If it's a story, it's gotta evoke an emotion. There's good emotions and bad emotions. You will never know what emotion you evoke. The only way is to ask someone else to tell you what emotion you evoke. We are always biased about the emotions we evoke. I hate watching my own videos because it always shocks me. So what I highly recommend is that you do your pitch on a video, maybe Google Hangout, maybe Skype, whatever it is, and please email 3 people that don't like you. No, I'm kidding. Email at least one person you know is not terribly fond of you. And yes, you can email your mom if you absolutely have to, but please don't email, you know, don't try to get feedback from family and friends because clearly they're biased. So 3 people that really don't know you, maybe, actually this would be a great group of people if you're not best friends, right? Yeah. It won't work very well. And don't ask for feedback. Ask for what did you walk away feeling? Did I come across as a jerk? I know everything. Did I come across as incredibly long and boring? Um, this Mac can't connect to iCloud. Is there a way to exit out of that? Yeah. OK. Or did I come across as engaging? Did I come across as talking too fast? Correct? So you want to get those points of reference now. Before you go and get that feedback from an investor that has a checkbook. So if there's anything you walk— so back to what do you want— what do I want you to remember today? You must record your pitch. You must get 3 people to give you feedback, not in terms of the facts, but what emotion did they walk away— what did you come across as? And here's what you want to— I'm going to give you the answer to this. Here's what you want to come across as. Authentic. You want to come across as a genuinely authentic founder who is so passionate and committed about their idea that they're going to give it their all and more, that they are nice, that they listen. It's horrible to argue with investors. Never argue. You can respond if you don't agree with something, but there's a difference between Disagreeing authentically and arguing for the sake of arguing. And there's a, there's a fine line, and you want to be very careful about and mindful about that. So be very careful how you come across, because here's a secret: 50% of people who get funded don't necessarily get funded because they said all the right words. It's because the investor walked away with the right feeling. I'm gonna say that again. Most founders that actually get funded don't get funded because they said all the right words. They get funded because the investor walked away with the right feeling. Like, I wanna— I think this guy's got it. I think this girl's got it. I wanna put money in this person. Why? Because a lot of startups pivot. A lot of startups go through a lot of ups and downs. So you're not necessarily funding the words, although the words are critical. The words is how I test how smart you are. That's my gauge in terms of can they put a pitch together that makes sense, that's intriguing, that's captivating. But really what I'm looking for is that is this a founder I want to put money into? That's important. How do you get there? Amy Cuddy. Who's watched Amy Cuddy's Power Poses? I hope all the women. Okay. I have. All the women must go and watch Amy Cuddy's. So the men, please watch. But apparently men already have power poses and women don't, which I agree with. At the end of the day, Amy Cuddy is a Harvard MBA professor that I had the amazing fortune of actually listening live at my last reunion. And she talks about all the studies she did where they found that just throwing up your hands, Oh, there's no hand. Oh, that's not there. There's another pose she calls the Superwoman pose. Yeah. Doing this and then going into an interview gave you a higher probability of getting that job because it's all about the confidence. And all of us are frightened doing our pitches. So how do you go from frightened, nervous, scared to strong, committed? You do some power poses, whatever, whatever that is, right? Whatever those poses. Whatever makes you feel good. Do those poses before you pitch. There's nothing wrong. All my 8 women are gonna be doing their power poses today before they go and do their pitches. You've gotta get into that mode. And then finally, are you ready? Is it written down? Another really important— so one is a recording, the other is writing it down. When you write it down, it engages a different part of your brain. And it's important to write down your pitch. I see. I swear to you, it's very important to write down your pitch. You must do it. Does it evoke the right emotion? You're going to do the video and get that tested. You're going to practice till perfect. You're going to brush your teeth and pitch. What do you do? Right? Practice, practice, practice, practice. Did you double-check your facts? A lot of students make that one. So they'll Google kind of cursely and they'll find some facts which Maybe true, maybe not. And they'll come and pitch it. Problem is these investors know everything because they see so many pitches. And the investors are like, that's not true. Let me give you another research which says this. Now you look like a total fool. So when you do your research on facts, do a thorough, detailed research of facts. Make sure that nobody can come back and say, that's not true. Let me show you a different study. You gotta own your facts.