What investors
screen out in a pitch
Investors don't add up your strengths. They listen for one reason to stop listening. Five things rule a pitch out before anything else is weighed: no claim, no evidence for it, no ask, no reason why you, and no alternative named. This page shows what each one sounds like and how to fix it.
One fatal flaw decides it
In a study of 150 televised pitches and 750 investor interactions, every pitch carrying one fatal flaw was rejected (134 out of 134) and every pitch without one advanced.
So check these five before you polish anything. A better opening line won't save a pitch that never says what it wants.
Maxwell, Jeffrey & Lévesque, Journal of Business Venturing 26(2), 2011.
No claim
Nothing is said that a listener could agree or disagree with. Describing what you do isn't a claim.
No evidence for the claim
The one thing the pitch rests on is stated and never shown. An adjective isn't evidence.
No ask
The listener doesn't know what you want from them. When the room expects an ask and none comes, the pitch is out.
No reason why you
Nothing says why you, of all people, are the one to do this.
No alternative named
No rival, no status quo, not even doing nothing. “We have no competitors” is the same mistake: it tells them you haven't looked.
A fifteen-second introduction
In a corridor, or when nobody asked you to pitch, the only screen-out is having no claim. An ask is the wrong move there, and so is describing the company. Offer the problem and let them ask how.
A sixty to ninety-second pitch you were asked for
A claim, evidence, an ask and a reason why you are all expected. This is the one room where you name the company and say what you want.
A demo day or a meeting
All five apply. In the longer rooms investors also expect you to know the alternative, and they will ask about it if you don't say it.
TOM checks for the screen-outs before it scores anything, and tells you which one you tripped, quoting the words (or the silence) that show it. A pitch that trips one can't score in the top half, however well the rest of it goes.
In The Office, the sixty to ninety-second room, TOM holds you to the first four. A fifteen-second introduction is held only to the first. TOM still checks whether you name the alternative in The Office, and it counts toward your score.
TOM doesn't count your ums or judge your voice, your face or your confidence. Why we left those out.
- Is there one sentence in it that someone could disagree with?
- Is there one thing a listener could check, sitting right after that sentence?
- Does it end by saying what you want, if the room expects you to ask?
- Does it say why you, in one specific line?
- Does it name what people do today instead?
If you're not sure, say it to TOM. Your first read is free.
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