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Speaker 2: So okay, talk about elevate yes, and seven steps to
Speaker 2: nailing Yeah. So first things first, is anyone that's listening
Speaker 2: to this if you're going to be pitching, whether it's
Speaker 2: at invest fest or you're going to be pitching at
Speaker 2: any place, the first thing is you want to have
Speaker 2: a clear and concise message. Who are you, what do
Speaker 2: you do, who do you serve? What is it that
Speaker 2: you're actually giving to people? What do you want the
Speaker 2: judges to know or the investors to know? So have
Speaker 2: a clear and concise message. The second commandment that I
Speaker 2: would say, is make sure that you know the problem.
Speaker 2: What's the problem that you're trying to solve. Lots of
Speaker 2: times I've seen people come and pitch Rashad and they
Speaker 2: really don't know what the problem is that they're trying
Speaker 2: to solve. They just want to sell a product to
Speaker 2: you or say, hey, can you invest in my product?
Speaker 2: So you have to make sure that when you're pitching
Speaker 2: with your message being clear and concise, you need to
Speaker 2: make sure that you also know what the problem is.
Speaker 2: And then third, know the solution to the problem. Right,
Speaker 2: what are you trying to solve? I understand you want
Speaker 2: to be able to have a tech company, but what
Speaker 2: is the what is the solution or what's the problem
Speaker 2: that's being solved, and what's the solution how what are
Speaker 2: the vehicles to solve that problem? The third thing is
Speaker 2: make sure that you know your market stats. Right, what's
Speaker 2: going on in the market in the industry right now?
Speaker 2: A lot of people don't do their research on the
Speaker 2: industry stats, which leads to the next one. Who's your competitor? Right?
Speaker 2: I've seen people do pitches and we don't even know
Speaker 2: who your competitor is. You just tell us all about
Speaker 2: the business. But if we were to go deeper beyond
Speaker 2: a sixty minute elevator pitch, a sixty second, sorry, elevator pitch,
Speaker 2: and let's say you all were to ask more questions.
Speaker 2: One of the questions that investors are going to ask
Speaker 2: is who your competitors are? What's the market? So because
Speaker 2: of that, it's important for anyone that's pitching to do that.
Speaker 2: Make sure that you're using proper visual aids. That's another
Speaker 2: thing too. I'm not really sure how it's going to
Speaker 2: be for investments when we get there, but if there
Speaker 2: are going to be visual aids, make sure that your
Speaker 2: visual aids are not all over the place. Make sure
Speaker 2: that you're not using all these different fonts and colors
Speaker 2: and everything like that. Keep it clean, keep it fresh.
Speaker 2: But make sure that everyone, every judge that's looking or
Speaker 2: any investor that's investing into what are interested in what
Speaker 2: you have to say, can understand it clearly in your
Speaker 2: visual aids. I will also say, just making sure that
Speaker 2: as they go through their pitch that they speak clearly
Speaker 2: that they understand, and also do a call to action.
Speaker 2: We've had pitch, I've sat and pitched up matches or
Speaker 2: pitch competitions. Where so what are you asking for? You
Speaker 2: never really say what you're asking for. Be clear and concise,
Speaker 2: and make sure that whatever the call to action is,
Speaker 2: that it is clear, it is realistic. I'm looking for
Speaker 2: two million dollars to do what with? What's the budget?
Speaker 2: What's the forecast? What's the numbers? That's another one. Know
Speaker 2: your numbers, right, What are the numbers going to? Where's
Speaker 2: this money going to? When is it going to happen?
Speaker 2: Most investors don't want to be married long term to something,
Speaker 2: so we want to make sure that we understand. I'm
Speaker 2: an investor myself, make sure that we understand what's the
Speaker 2: return on investment? Do we get equity right? All of
Speaker 2: these things are what people should be considering when it
Speaker 2: comes to their elevator pitch. Whether it's sixty seconds, two minutes,
Speaker 2: five minutes, even up to a thirty minute pitch.
Speaker 1: That tremendous insight, because we get pitched all the time. Yes,
Speaker 1: and so you actually have now just helped us, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure everybody that's listening will take notes from it
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, you said that vocal health is important,
Speaker 1: and so these things sound like how I will prepare
Speaker 1: as I'm going to the stage, yes, but there's that
Speaker 1: build up. And we talked to a lot of people.
Speaker 1: We just had a pitch competition a few months ago,
Speaker 1: and people were talking about the anxiety that it felt
Speaker 1: leading up to the day. So what are some of
Speaker 1: the type of things that you suggest for people leading
Speaker 1: up to the event. What should they be doing at
Speaker 1: home the week before, the month before to prepare themselves
Speaker 1: for this moment, this five minute moment that could change
Speaker 1: their lives potentially?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? First things, practice practice, practice, practice, And there's a
Speaker 2: couple ways in which a person can practice, right, Troy.
Speaker 2: So the first thing I will say is practice in
Speaker 2: the mirror. See yourself, so you can see how your
Speaker 2: face expressions look, see if the nerves are taken over, right,
Speaker 2: see yourself. And lots of times people do not like
Speaker 2: to see themselves, They don't even like to hear themselves
Speaker 2: back right, You'd be surprised that a lot of anxiety
Speaker 2: that happens on the stage happens because of what people
Speaker 2: are going through in their personal lives and it just
Speaker 2: comes over in there. So practice practice, practice, practice in
Speaker 2: front of family and friends and peers, a mentor, a coach, right,
Speaker 2: And also record yourself on video and watch yourself back
Speaker 2: with no judgment. That's one of the ways in which
Speaker 2: you can actually help yourself prepare for the pitch. Another
Speaker 2: one is actually do what we call mindfulness, walk through
Speaker 2: the pitch without you having to say something. So, how
Speaker 2: am I going to enter the stage, How am I
Speaker 2: going to intro myself? How am I going to speak
Speaker 2: what I need to say? How am I going to
Speaker 2: exit the stage? How am I going to leave?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: All of that is what we call mindfulness, whether you're
Speaker 2: performing as an entertainer or speaker. That's one of the
Speaker 2: things that I'll tell people, sit through in mind do
Speaker 2: mindfulness of it. Way to prepare is breathing techniques. Believe
Speaker 2: it or not, There's a couple breathing techniques that I
Speaker 2: tell people to do. One is the four seven eight
Speaker 2: is you breathe in for four counts, you hold it
Speaker 2: for seven counts, you breathe out for eight counts. What
Speaker 2: this does is it triggers what we call the parasympathetic
Speaker 2: nervous system, which is if you're having like a warm
Speaker 2: bowl of super ice cream and you're kind of like calm,
Speaker 2: where there's something called the sympathetic mode, which is that
Speaker 2: fight or flight mode. The moment people get on the stage,
Speaker 2: their palms get sweaty, they want to use the bathroom,
Speaker 2: their knees want to buckle, their mouth gets dry, and
Speaker 2: so mindfulness breathing helps them to trigger that p ands
Speaker 2: that parasympathetic mode. I always say too arrive early. I
Speaker 2: tell people go to the venue, see what it looks
Speaker 2: like like, look at the stage, sit down in the chair,
Speaker 2: and actually visualize what it's going to look like, the
Speaker 2: audience that's gonna be there, walk yourself through it as
Speaker 2: you do mindfulness but in the environment as well. That's
Speaker 2: going to help a lot in preparing and then also
Speaker 2: to making sure that you have a backup. One of
Speaker 2: the u I had a pitch competition that I was
Speaker 2: a judge at. One of the persons forgot their visuals
Speaker 2: and so they did a whole entire pitch asking for
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of money with no visuals whatsoever. Mess
Speaker 2: up their entire elevator pitch. And so I tell those
Speaker 2: that are preparing, make sure you have a backup. If
Speaker 2: you're going to be doing something where you're sending something electronically,
Speaker 2: make sure you have something on a USB drive, a
Speaker 2: Google drive, some sort of electronic drive, show that your
Speaker 2: anxiety can actually decrease because lots of times people kind
Speaker 2: of cause their own anxiety to because of lack of preparation.
Speaker 2: So those are practical things that they can do to
Speaker 2: prepare for their pitch.
Speaker 1: Just a follow up, because a lot of times people
Speaker 1: will confuse anxiety with nervousness. Yes, some people will say
Speaker 1: it's healthy to feel nervous, or it's healthy to feel
Speaker 1: anks before something because you're prepared for it, you want
Speaker 1: to deliver it. Yeah, to do a great job. Is
Speaker 1: it healthy or when does it not become healthy?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's absolutely healthy to be nervous. I was nervous
Speaker 2: coming here because I've never met you guys in person.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what are they gonna ask me? I don't know.
Speaker 2: So there's some called good nerves. You just can't allow
Speaker 2: those nerves to take over and become your master. And
Speaker 2: that's where anxiety comes in. Anxiety and angst really says
Speaker 2: what if something happens, and what do I need to
Speaker 2: do to prepare just in case what have happened? So
Speaker 2: there's something between wisdom and then allowing anxiety to take over.
Speaker 2: Wisdom says, you know what, let me have a backup.
Speaker 2: That's not anxiety. That's just wisdom. But anxiety is like
Speaker 2: all of the intrusive thoughts going through your head. That's
Speaker 2: literally just thoughts. Two things that I've learned in life guys,
Speaker 2: no one owes me anything, and never create a story.
Speaker 2: Anxiety is the culprit that helps people create stories that
Speaker 2: literally don't even exist. And so because of that, absolutely
Speaker 2: there's a difference between nerves and anxiety. Nerves is good, right,
Speaker 2: but you don't have to let it master you.
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