Lead with “The Why”
Your business idea is going to change the world, right? So why isn’t anyone paying attention?
One easy fix : lead with the “why”.
When pitching a big idea, people often get bogged down talking about the problem, the history, or the strategies. But to be truly compelling, you’ve got to show your audience why they should care. There are only three main reasons people get funded:
- Someone likes and believes in you personally. This can be your background or a shared history.
- Someone really likes the problem you are solving.
- They think they are going to make an incredible amount of money from investing.
You have to convince them of one of the three.
Find the people who resonate with the “why” of what you are doing, then convince them your team is the one who can do it.
I recently talked to a guy developing a solution to prevent teens from dropping out of sports. He lead with the problem. High prices, bad coaches, no personal attention, etc. and didn’t address the why until much later in his presentation. By then, the potential investor had lost sight of why this could be a good investment.
Simon revamped his pitch to lead with this: “11.6 Million of U.S. youths (54%) will quit high school sports citing lack of fun and progress as their main reason. A positive experience with sports can lead a lifetime of confidence and skills. Over half of teens are missing out on this experience.” Not only does this clearly identify why you should care, but also points out how big this opportunity is. You want to make your investor believe if they pass on this project they’ll regret it to the day they die.
Look for people that resonate with your “why” — and ignore anyone that doesn’t. Zero in on the people who are as passionate about your mission as you are. This is the tribe that will support you to the end. This is crucial in the beginning before you have traction to back up the story.
Have you successfully revamped your pitch? What results did you see? Share your story with me at thewillbunker@gmail.com.
Good one Will! I've heard from investors to demonstrate... "Why your product?" "Why now?" and, "Why from you?"
Great advice. Thanks!
As a product director, while I'm pitching I tend to get into the weeds and forget to communicate the essence of what we're doing. For me, it's not easy to switch personas and be both the technical guy and the storyteller. I lost many opportunities by not being able to engage people into the problem we're solving. The "why" is so attached into me that I forget to talk about it and then I stick to talking about "what" we do and "how" we do it. Learning to tell the "why" is my communication goal for this year.
would you be my advisor/mentor? ;)
Very profitable articles!