I explore this question in my short, partly visual emails, crafted through my lens as a pitch designer in deep-tech. Join me for insights on effective communication, marketing, design, psychology, and the philosophy of value.
Blurry values
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This is what you think you see This is what you actually see Our high-resolution vision is limited to a small central area of our visual field (~26 degrees), yet we don’t notice it. Why? That bias occurs in our thinking as well Because we are able to think rationally in the areas we chose to focus lots of our attention, we don't notice that our mental representation of the world is extremely blurry. Here’s the problem for innovators You’ve spent years in R&D, testing, and perfecting your technology, so within that domain, YOUR world is incredibly high-resolution. But prospects don’t see what you see. They don’t have your context, your depth, your resolution. Subconsciously, presenters try to compensate for that, by cramming every detail into their pitch. but Instead of clarity, it creates confusion. Here’s the thing.. A meeting room is not an R&D lab. It's a place of blurry values - literally. Embrace and adjust. Your goal is not to pull prospects into your high-resolution world but to help them see just enough value to move forward, even if the details remain out of focus. Yours, |
What makes people see value in a thing?
I explore this question in my short, partly visual emails, crafted through my lens as a pitch designer in deep-tech. Join me for insights on effective communication, marketing, design, psychology, and the philosophy of value.
Here's a thought experiment. You are a VC. About to start yet another meeting with a startup that reached out. It’s your third today - your seventh this week. After a couple of minutes of small talk, one of the founders connects their laptop and hits “Present.” You lean back in your chair, ready to listen. Now pause. What do you hope happens next? What could the founder say or do that will make you go: "Yes! This is the one. Not the team from the previous meeting. Not one of the other 22 I've...
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...
If pitching feels like hard work, you’re probably trying to make investors agree with your solution. That’s not the optimal way to frame your pitch. Though we often ignore that fact - investors don’t evaluate your solution in isolation; they see many startups. That means that subconsciously, they’re constantly making comparisons. Here’s the thing Being selected is not the same as being agreed with. So, you need to rethink your framing: Imagine that, for the investor, each startup meeting is...