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.
The one thing your pitch must do, no matter how deep-tech
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If you're in deep tech, you probably don't think of your presentations as "conveying emotions." That's something for actors or marketers, right? Wrong. Emotion isn't a side effect of your presentation—it's the goal. Every presentation aims to inspire action. Logic alone doesn’t move us—emotion does. (hence e-motion) Researchers found that people with damage to the emotional centers of their brain (specifically the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) couldn't make decisions—not even simple ones, like what to eat for lunch Without emotions, decision-making becomes paralyzed. This doesn't mean you need melodrama—like bursting into tears over a data point. But it does mean being intentional about the emotional subtext. What emotion are you aiming to convey—excitement, curiosity, or urgency? Without an emotional connection, your audience won't act, no matter how clever your technology is. |
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.
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...
Deep-tech startups are building transformative technologies and care deeply about what they do - yet their ideas often get trapped behind layers of complex communication. A long vacation gave me time to dig into the root causes - and how we can do better. Here are a few short, easy reads from that reflection. The belief before logic manifesto What belief keeps deep-tech professionals from communicating effectively? Read more How clinging to logic is costing you A false belief is draining your...