The best management teams take every opportunity to evolve their pitches. This is a lesson I learned back in my investment banking days, traveling with teams on their IPO roadshows. The first few times a company gave their pitch, it would seem to be almost the same. 1/5
...Gradually it would become dull to sit through, even for the most exciting story. Then, at some point along the roadshow, the team would start to morph the presentation to reflect the feedback they were getting from investors. Certain investment highlights would resonate...2/5
...strongly, so the CEO would build on those. Particular questions would show up again and again, necessitating the question of whether the information was being adequately presented. It would become evident that some material that wasn’t included in the deck should have...3/5
...been, and it would be added to the “voiceover”. These themes didn’t emerge immediately; it was only after a significant number of meetings that the patterns became clear. But patterns will indeed emerge. If you’re out pitching to VCs, you will have even more flexibility...4/5
...than in the IPO setting. Don’t assume you’re wedded to the original deck, voiceover, or even list of presenters. Aim to “hear” as much as you say (it can help for one team member to keep a running list of Q's), and then evolve, evolve, evolve. 5/5
@SaraNayeem Thanks Sara. This one really resonates.
@SaraNayeem Love this advice!
@SaraNayeem For those first few pitches, where things may or may not have resonated with investors, how do you come back to those individuals and 'repitch' after you've made revisions and adjusted bases on learnings / feedback?