Loosen Up When You Pitch!

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Loosen Up When You Pitch!
Read time 1.4 minutes.

Last week, I talked to a few VCs about some reasons they have refused to invest in companies lately. I noticed one interesting trend; it's an easy mistake to fix, so let’s dive into it.

Many VCs said that they don't invest because founders have pitches and answers to questions that are too well prepared, making them appear robotic.

Digging into this a bit more, many VCs said that a big part of the meeting process is about knowing:

1. What will it be like to work with this founder?

2. What type of person is this founder?

3. Will I enjoy working with this person?

When you come off as robotic and aren’t actually engaging in social interaction with the VC, you fail to leave a positive impression concerning these three things.

How can you fix this?

1. Never have a fully outlined pitch script. When I work with clients, we have 3-5 scripts we prepare that are 20-30s long. These are key scripts that serve a psychological function and are spread throughout the pitch. Aside from those, everyone pitches using their own words, and I teach them to adapt their pitches based on the tone of the room. You CAN be prepared without being robotic if you follow this formula.

2. Always read the room and adapt to what is going on. If you see a VC on their phone, make a joke and call them out. Engage with them, show that you aren’t just delivering a presentation, but you are truly there to have a conversation.

3. Don’t use any obviously pre-rehearsed “routines” unless they are comedic. Some founders have painfully choreographed pitches with cringy handoffs. The way you see people pitch on Shark Tank isn’t what you should be doing in a boardroom. One is TV; the other is reality. It would be like running infomercials during the Super Bowl. Both are ads to get sales, but the tone and quality are very different.

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Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:

📢 Promote your startup to 2,000+ VCs including investors from a16z, YC, Techstars, Rarebreed, Sequoia and more.

📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)

📺 Access FundraiseOS, the ultimate fundraising course with video lessons and practical worksheets helping with everything from deciding how much to raise to understanding a term sheet.

💸 Promote your product or service to 100,000+ entrepreneurs.

🌐 Connect with me on LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter) to get access to new content about startups, fundraising, venture capital and more every day.

Your continued support means a tremendous amount to me. Each person subscribed to this newsletter is trying to improve themselves and their business every day. Always remember that the best goal in life is to make sure every day is better than the last. Keep putting in the work, find the right mentors/advisors, and you will see the results!

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill

P.S. It would greatly help me if you could share the newsletter with more founders to help grow our community!