Welcome to the Dreamit Dose. In the next five minutes,
we'll talk about how you should end your pitch so investors are excited,
hearts are pounding, and they want to learn more.
How do you do it?
It's all about how you talk about and deliver your vision.
It's not that hard once you know how to do it. Let's dive in.
The big mistake we see startups make
is when pitching and talking about their company,
they typically look at and they're almost myopic to talk about
what they need to do to get to next base.
What do they need to do to get to that next round?
So they're focused on their next inflection point.
Maybe it's monthly recurring revenue, annual recurring revenue,
number of customers, number of users, or number of downloads.
But they forget to talk about the big vision.
VCs are looking for a grand slam.
A lot of times you'll even hear the expression...
how are you going to hit this out of the park?
So how do you show them your vision for the end game,
not just the next play or the next round of investing?
Andrew Akerman at Dreamit will say, I'm worried that you're playing small ball.
You're just trying to get to the next base.
How does this get big and really interesting that venture investing makes sense here?
So how and when do you hit your vision?
Towards the end of your deck or conversation you're having with someone,
hit your vision.
My favorite way to start this section is with the phrase,
"This is just the beginning."
So you talk about today and then eventually where you're going to get to.
What are things going to look like in three to five years?
How is the world and industry going to change because you're in it
and your solution is in it?
What's it going to look like when you're dominating in the industry?
How are you going to become that standard or evolve into a platform?
And think about how you could become a noun or verb
like Uber, Airbnb, Kleenex, or Band-Aid within your industry.
And this is a great time to use your go to market strategy
and talk about how you're gonna dominate the market and expand across vectors.
We have a great Dreamit Dose on that,
make sure to check out go to market strategy Dreamit Dose.
So how are you going to become a platform and a standard
and it all starts with... "This is just the beginning."
Now there's one thing you need to avoid here and that's going
too far too fast where you stretch it and you strain credibility
because your vision is too big. So how do you deal with it?
Talk about how things are going to look when you're dominating
but also talk about the major milestones along the way to total global domination.
It's a little bit like I want to fly to Mars, but you know what,
first it's going to take three days to fly to the moon.
I need to get good at that before I'm flying seven months to Mars.
What are those key milestones along the way?
It's a great use of your go to market strategy and how it's going to evolve.
If you look at a company like Amazon,
they started in one place and evolved into something huge.
But in the beginning, they talked about that huge vision
but they talked about the milestones along the way.
First we're going to start with books, then we'll expand into other categories.
Remember when you're talking about a vision it's like a fairy tale.
So you want to paint the picture
of how you're going to get to that happy ending
and the steps along the way, the chapters of the book,
that are gonna get you there.
The other big mistake we see people make when they're talking about their vision
is they start talking about their exit strategy.
And exit strategy does not equal a vision.
Please don't make that mistake.
Investors want visionary entrepreneurs, not mercenary entrepreneurs.
They want to see that you're swinging for the fences,
looking to hit that big grand slam home run, back to that whole baseball analogy.
In our next Dreamit Dose, we're going to talk about that
how do you talk about exit strategy or how do you answer that question if they ask you….
”What’s your exit strategy?”
But again, when you're talking about your vision, don't talk about your exit strategy.
Talk about how you're going to build something that dominates
and those milestones along the way.
That's it. That's how you talk about your vision at the end of your pitch deck
and end on a high note.
You're ending in a situation where investors want to know more,
their hearts are pounding,
and they really want to figure out what are the next steps.
Don't just think about that next move or that next step.
Think about the entire journey of your business from the beginning to the very end.
How are things going to look like years from now?
Remember, end it with… “This is just the beginning",
and paint that vision with the major steps along the way
of how you're going to win and totally dominate your market.
Last thing to remember, when talking about your vision,
don't talk about your exit strategy.
That's not a vision. That's a termination point.
That's your Dreamit Dose in about five minutes.
Please leave your questions in the comments section and
make sure to catch our new weekly live show, Dreamit Live,
with interesting guests and live Q&A.
You can find more information about that dreamit.com/live.
Make sure to follow and subscribe on all of our social channels.
We have a lot more coming.
Really looking forward to answering your questions in the comments section.
See you next time.