I share short, partly visual emails, crafted through my lens as a creative director in deep-tech. Join me for insights on effective communication, marketing, design, psychology, and the philosophy of value.
Avoid stepping on Lego
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I'm allergic to any formulaic approaches to pitching, like the common 'problem-solution-traction-team' template. Not because it's uncreative, but because it's UNSCIENTIFIC. These top-down frameworks are too simplistic and lack the rigor tech professionals typically display in other parts of their work. Imagine you get up at night to get a sip of cold water. You have a sufficient mental map of your apartment so you don't even turn on the lights - that's top down. But as you take a step you spill over a box of Lego someone left in the hallway. Your mental map fails, and now you need to feel your way forward, step by step—that’s bottom-up. Most things, especially pitching, require both. You’re trying to find the magic words that will make an investor pick you over a 100 other startups. But nobody, not even the investor, knows what those words are. It's Lego bricks all over the place. so.. Given that this is the situation, what's your plan? Does it really make sense to follow a formula? While the uncertainty IS uncomfortable, it’s not as painful as stepping on Lego over and over again. Yours, P.S. Sharing is caring. If you enjoyed the read, please consider sharing it with a few friends who might find it useful. Thanks! |
Creativity in Deep-Tech
I share short, partly visual emails, crafted through my lens as a creative director in deep-tech. Join me for insights on effective communication, marketing, design, psychology, and the philosophy of value.
There are certain words that, as soon as you utter them, investor attention spikes. These words are not what you’d expect. They’re not buzzwords like “artificial intelligence” or “cybersecurity.” Nor are they money words - ARR, traction, or revenue to date. The magic words are: “Imagine you are…” Founders think they need a big story so they build their pitches almost entirely from abstractions and generalizations: The Problem, The market, the unmet need, the solution - trying to extract value...
In the previous newsletter, I shared a talk I gave at Nest Catalyst about investor pitching. That first talk focused on the mindset behind pitching complex ideas. This second talk is more practical. It focuses on how to approach shaping your pitch - through principles and examples. The last five minutes are especially practical: an easy framework to help you craft your narrative. This was quite challenging. After years of doing this work, a lot of it has become intuitive. Breaking it down to...
If you've ever struggled to move people toward a complex new idea, or if you just want to finally understand what it is that I do (like my parents), Or you just feel like watching something interesting … I finally had the opportunity to record a talk I’ve been piecing together for years. I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of scientist-entrepreneurs at Nest Catalyst - a Bay Area program supporting life science founders building companies in the biotech ecosystem. The talk is visual,...