An Introduction to Pitching

Pitches are communication devices used to convey ideas to prospective audiences that could benefit from these ideas.

What’s in a Pitch

Pitches have three key components. They explain why a problem exists, explain what can be done about it, and explain how the problem can be solved.

Elements of Great Pitches

Great pitches are audience-focused, narrative-driven, designed to drive engagement, presentations of logic, fun to consume and delivered by great presenters and teams.

Great pitchers are passionate and experts about the problem that they are trying to solve. Great pitches are also often delivered by teams. These teams are authentic and personable. Great pitchers are dedicated to their craft; they practice and reflect to improve their pitching ability.

Tools Used in Great Pitches

Great pitches leverage tools. Tools such as hooks, empathy driving items, slide decks, and prototypes.

Hooks are devices used to gain audience’s attention; they make the audience curious about what comes next. Some examples of hooks are shocking statistics, questions, and quotes.

Great pitches use empathy-driving items including examples and anecdotes to make their ideas more perceivable.

Slide decks are commonly utilized in pitches too. Their role is to act as visual aids that help pitchers tell their story.

Methods of Persuasion

Pitches are inherently persuasive. They attempt to get users to act, whether it be to invest in the company or to buy their product.

One key concept to consider is the rhetoric triangle. The rhetoric triangle is composed of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is about credibility, logos is about logic, and pathos is about emotion. The rhetoric triangle was originally created by Aristotle, and is still a prevelently used persuasive framework today.

Another good framework often used in persuasive arguments is the AIDA framework. AIDA stands for attention-grabbing opening, interest-building details, desire-grabbing arguments, and action items. Moving a user through the AIDA framework, can help a pitcher drive audiences to take action.

Implications

Great pitches are great stories, designed to persuade the audience. Pitches must be empathetic for the audience, they have to make the audience feel valued and clearly explain the benefits the audience will receive by taking the action that you ask for (note that the audience will be initially unreceptive).

It is fundamental that pitches have three parts: why there is a problem, what needs to be done about it, and how the solution can become reality.

Great pitches contain all three elements of the rhetoric triangle. It is a pitcher’s job to prove credibility, by delivering an emotionally engaging and logical pitch. Pitches use tools such as hooks, slide decks, and prototypes to produce these rhetorical artifacts. 

A great pitching team is full of experts who are passionate about a problem and who are determined to solve that problem. These individuals must be authentic and personable. Holistically, the team should be a group that the investors want to join, for that reason team chemistry is an essential part of having a great team. Individuals who become great pitchers do so by dedicating themselves to practicing so that they can improve their ability to pitch.