I explore this question in my 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.
Because you say so?
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If you’re scientifically minded, shouldn’t you question the entire premise of pitching? The idea that you are supposed to TALK people into investing in you. It’s not obvious to me that humans work that way. Don’t get me wrong, language is useful. It made us what we are as a species. But it’s also just noises you make with your mouth. It costs nothing and our subconscious knows it. Look at nature: A female wont "invest" in a mate unless he can present an impressive peacock tail or large set of antlers. Bees perform a waggle dance to signal to their hive mates that a source of nectar was discovered. The richer the storage house the faster they dance. That gives you a sense of our own wiring: we’re tuned for BEHAVIOURAL signals. If I see you energetic and enthusiastic about something, I assume you believe that the goal is truly worth the effort otherwise you wouldn’t be expending all that energy. This sensitivity is useful if you set out to recruit others into your vision, pay attention that what is spoken is but one layer of the communication in the room. Take the typical team slide. What you might think it says: “We’ve assembled a qualified team to solve this problem.” Should they take your word for it? What it actually signals: “This founder was able to recruit and pay strong people - who had other options.” That signal is independent of your words, has a real cost and it's verifiable. An exercise to get you started: Imagine your audience doesn't believe a word you say. Yours, |
Creativity in Deep-Tech
I explore this question in my 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's a way to improve your startup by orders of magnitude in 10 seconds.Here’s what you do:Go to your email signature and add this to your title: CVO, Chief Visionary Officer. (You can keep your CEO title or replace it — I don’t mind.)Boom! You just made your startup more effective and drastically increased your chances of building a great product.By assuming the CVO title, you made something explicit that most startups leave vague: that there is a single source of intent in the system....
Most deep-tech pitches are weak due to confusion about the relationship between facts and narrative.At best, people aren’t sure what a narrative is. At worst, they think facts and narrative are opposites — that narrative is something you use when your facts are lacking. A simple scenarioImagine you meet someone and they treat you kindly. You note it as a fact. You might conclude: “This person is a good person.” Then later, that same person treats you poorly. Another fact. Now you have two...
No one knows what investors are looking for Not even the investors themselves.If they did, the whole process would look very different. Investors would just ask for the specific information, compare the answers, and make decisions quickly. But the investment process in deep-tech is long, iterative, and deeply human.That’s not to say investors aren’t qualified. Seasoned investors absolutely know how to invest to achieve the outcomes they desire - but they can’t give you a formula.Knowing how...