We attended Peak Pitch last week, and thought we’d share some of the lessons that we gleaned from the experience. Namely, points about pitching to investors that every entrepreneur needs to know.

FYI, every year, Peak Pitch brings together 40 or 50 seed and series A investors (some of whom may come from finance, while others are recovering entrepreneurs themselves) and 40 to 60 curated founders for networking and informal pitches on the slopes. Skiing is not mandatory. Pitches can also be done fireside, speaking of warm introductions.  There is no shortage of investors there to listen, give constructive criticism or offer advice. The activities and shared experiences are enjoyable, to be sure, but at the end of the day (actually, all day long), everyone is there to do business.

We reviewed What Investors Are Really Looking For in a pitch deck just last week. Since Peak Pitch is the next stage – your deck has passed muster and you’ve moved up to the next level – what’s the drill once you have the ear of an investor – or 40? It’s not just a rehash of your deck. It’s the points that are going to pique and keep an investor’s interest.

“The biggest failure of companies when they make a pitch is not saying in the first two or three sentences what their company does, the value of it, important clients, traction and sales, and what they have accomplished,” said Katherine O’Neill of Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network. “If you don’t tell us that up front, we’re lost. We’re looking for missing pieces: we don’t know if you’ve launched, we don’t know what you’ve got, we don’t know if there’s a patent, we don’t know if there’s revenue, and you’ve lost our interest – you’re not making the sale.

“If somebody’s not mentioning something, that’s like a dog whistle,” she continued. “Why aren’t they saying that? Why aren’t they giving us this information? They have launched, they haven’t launched? What’s going on? Where did the technology come from? Who’s buying it? They concentrate on the technology, at the expense of the business. We don’t care. We scan – we’re scanning for everything. They’re dribbling out information – why didn’t you say this upfront? You’ve got a great client! Why didn’t you say that! In the first two sentences, you’ve got to set the framework. Then you can feed the stuff in. But if you don’t set that framework, we’re going to look for it and we’re going to say, ‘you’re not good salespeople. We can’t figure out what’s going on. Why are we going through slides without knowing what the answer is?”

We’ve said it before – you can have the best technology in the world, but if no one knows about it, you – and your business – are not going anywhere. Note to self: tell the investors about it, too: the business, not simply the technology, which is there to facilitate the business that you’re attempting to build.

As for the importance of putting together the financials, which we know is the bane of every early stage founder, said Katherine, “We need financials because they tell us where you think you’re going. We need this as a guideline: if it’s too crazy, then it’s crazy. If it’s too small, we’re wondering why is it so small? That gives us your vision of where you’re going right now. And don’t overstate it,” she chuckled. “It never happens.”

 

Do make sure to ask first what the investor’s or fund’s particular focus is. There’s no need, for example, to explain frontier technology to an investor whose focus is frontier technology, and we did witness a founder do just that. Some investors are subject matter experts and will tell you so. Do not condescend and assume that you are better informed than are they and we witnessed this happen more with founders addressing women investors. Note to self:  Investors are evaluating you based on your attitude, the questions you ask and whether or not you listen. No investor wants to work with a founder who doesn’t listen. or who assumes that he/she knows has a deeper knowledge of a given vertical. Trust us: they’re looking at a lot more tech than you are.

Peak Pitch is almost a perfect parable for the entrepreneur’s journey. As one founder whose name we didn’t catch put it, who could have been referring to either the entrepreneur’s journey, event itself or d) all of the above:

“It’s a fun ride and a hell of a journey.”

 

Pitching is done on the ski lift while heading up the mountain. Make your pitch count or unless and until you find another investor with a willing ear, it’s all downhill from there.

 

Onward and forward.