Foreword from Doreen Huber, Partner at EQT Ventures

In a turbulent finding environment, startup founders can’t afford to make mistakes when they pitch. But few understand how to deliver the kind of pitch that makes investors sit up and take notice.

That’s why we invited Iskender Dirik to explain how to create the perfect pitch at EQT Ventures’ ‘Founder Day’ in Berlin, a coming together of EQTV team members, founders from our portfolio, and special guests. With experience as an investor and operator, Iskender has seen pitches from both sides of the table and understands what works — and what doesn’t. In an entertaining session, he revealed the fundamental concepts founders often overlook, and how they can capture attention to pitch with more “bam, boom, pow and wow”.

What startup founders can learn from Mickey Mouse

Have you ever seen Steamboat Willie? It’s the first Disney movie starring Mickey Mouse. Somewhere in the lost days between Christmas and New Year I sat down with my daughter to watch it.

Within minutes, I was scrolling on my phone. Steamboat Willie is unbelievably slow.

It’s no surprise — nearly a hundred after Steamboat Willie was released, our attention spans are shorter. But most founders fail to appreciate that when they pitch, and that’s where they’re going wrong.

When you’re pitching to me, what you don’t see is that I have three screens in front of me at my desk. On these screens, I have a window opened for WhatsApp. And LinkedIn, and Gmail, and Slack. Your biggest battle isn’t against your competitors: it’s for my attention.

Why pitches should target the reptilian brain

Capturing attention is all about pitching to the reptile part of the brain. Most founders pitch to the part of the brain that’s responsible for rational thinking instead. But that requires too much processing power. Pitching to the reptilian part of the brain gets people to like you without thinking about it.

There are several stimuli known to trigger the reptilian brain. It’s selfish; it loves contrast and tangible things; it responds well to beginnings and endings, visuals and emotion.

Founders can use these triggers to create the perfect pitch. Of course, you need to start strong. Open with a hook, something that will grab attention from the outset. But once you’ve got it, how do you keep it? How do you make sure your audience remains engaged all the way through your pitch — and remembers it afterwards?

Create cuts

In the 30s and 40s, the average shot in a Hollywood movie lasted 10 seconds. Since the 2000s, it’s shrunk to 4 seconds.

Cuts keep audiences engaged. In pitch terms, creating cuts means changing up delivery. In a 10–12 minute pitch, you should create cuts every 2–3 minutes. That can be simple, like asking questions, or asking people to read things. Or you can get creative, by inserting audio or video.

Keep it short

This also helps keep things short and sweet, which is critical to hold your audience’s attention. Startup founders often struggle with this. They’re experts, and they want to showcase all their knowledge and all their product’s capabilities.

But there’s power in the deleted word. Writers often talk about ‘killing your darlings’: letting go of the things you love. All that extra detail can be held back for follow-up meetings. In the pitch, your goal is just to get to the next level, not all the way to signature. Focus only on the attention-grabbing elements that will get you there.

Repeat, repeat, repeat

The most important element to include is your core message. We’re all familiar with Simon Sinek’s iconic 2009 Ted Talk, ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’. 14 years later, everyone still remembers its core message: ‘start with why’.

That’s because Sinek repeats his core message 7 times in his 17 minute talk. Most startup founders don’t do this. Some don’t have a core message at all. Some do, but only say it once. Then, they embellish it with a series of progressively weaker supporting arguments. The core message loses its impact.

When the people you’ve pitched to go back to their buying circle, you want them to remember your core message. If you’ve talked them through 4 strong points, then 3 mediocre ones, then another 2 weak ones you didn’t want to let go of, you’re muddying the water. Make sure you have one core message, and keep repeating it.

Create STAR moments

Founders know beginnings and endings of pitches matter, but many overlook the middle. They’re the danger zone, when attention is most likely to wane, and audiences will start reaching for their phones. Cuts and concision help, but you need good content in the middle, too.

Include some STAR moments (Something They Will Always Remember) to win attention back. Middles are a good place to show off your product, perhaps with an interactive, personalized demo.

Bin bullet points

Bullet points aren’t your friend. Sure, they condense information — but you never see bullet points in isolation. If there’s one, there’ll be another, and another…

If audiences are busy reading bullet points, they’re not listening to you. And if they’ve read a bullet point before you’ve begun talking through it, there’s no incentive for them to start listening again.

This gets worse on Zoom. When the image is small and there’s less human connection, slides become the focus. Suddenly, a bad slide is a 10x problem. Make sure your slides are working with you, not against you. Never use your handout slides as presentation slides. Keep them clean: stick to one image per slide, and only show your visuals when you’re ready to start talking through them.

End strong

Research shows that endings are what the reptilian brain remembers most. Make sure you don’t waste yours. End with an inspiring vision or an interesting fact. Close the loop by referring back to something you said at the beginning. A creative ending can change your audience’s perception of your entire pitch.

Prepare

Being aware of the core concepts for capturing and keeping attention is critical. But there’s one more trick to creating the perfect pitch: prepare like hell.

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was giving a huge campaign speech. He prepared thoroughly, writing a script that ran to 50 pages. Moments before he went on stage to deliver it, he folded it — all 50 pages — and put it into his chest pocket. During that speech, a would-be-assassin shot at him. The bullet hit its target but, slowed down by the thick wad of paper, failed to breach Roosevelt’s internal organs. Preparation was the difference between life and death. The same goes for your pitches.