Serial entrepreneur. Professor. Longtime investor. Founder and executive chair of the medical device incubator ExploraMed, which created 10 companies. He has more than 300 patents. He’s even in a band. Josh Makower leads a fascinating life, and in that life, he has seen a pitch deck or two. He sits down with Laurie to uncork the secret sauce that leaders need to know to craft, prepare for and deliver a perfect pitch for funding, scaling, or customer acquisition. So stroll across the quad, take off your backpack, and settle in as Laurie and Josh talk about what you need to do to position yourself to go for the gold.
Key Takeaways
- Ninety Second Elevator Pitch: Having a succinct pitch will ensure potential funders get your main points, which will make your ideas both comprehensible and memorable. Be able to deliver the pitch with just the headings on the page.
- LOVE telling your story: Demonstrating enthusiasm about your idea and the future of your project will show funders that you are serious, and will show passion that investors will be able to pick up on. You should LOVE telling your story – you are going to be telling it over and over and over again. And you should love telling it and that should show. If you are tired and you do not love telling that story – do you have the story right?
- Make Sure you Know What Investors you are Targeting Actually Fund: Many VCs are specialized in what they fund, which can usually be determined through research. By targeting funders that have experience in the industry you are trying to break into, you are increasing your odds of getting funding and demonstrating knowledge of a funder’s background.
- Read the Room and Know who You are Pitching To: Although you may enter a pitch with a well thought out plan, being able to adapt to the people you are pitching to can be a valuable skill. Pivoting away from points that may not be well received and spending more time that potential funders are demonstrating interest in may improve the outcome of your pitch. Finally, while it may be tempting to reach out to potential funders directly after delivering your pitch, show restraint!!! If they are not following up, they are telling you they are not interested. Save yourself (and your ego) time and emotional bruising and move on!!
- When the heads are nodding – move on!!! When you see the signals that your audience is engaged and agreeing with your points/thesis….move on!!!! You want to leave them wanting more, you do not want to over explain and lose the magic of a moment.
Supporting Resources
- Still Trust, Dr. Josh Makower’s band on Spotify
- Pitch Preparation, Forbes Finance Council, 2023
- How to Build a better Pitch Deck, Y Combinator, 2024
- The Lifecycle of Innovation, Dr. John Makower, YouTube 2023
- Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies, 1st Edition, Textbook, Zenios, Makower, Yock, 2009
- How Pitches are Assessed, Lakshmi Balachandra, 2023
- Reading the Room–Can be Applied to Pitching, Rebecca Knight, 2018
- How to Follow Up on Your Freelance Pitch, Jon Clark, 2023
- Creating a Long Term Plan, Evan Singer, 2019
- Developing your Advisory Board, John Knotts, 2022
- How to Attract Investors, Forbes Business Development Council, 2023
Relevant Inspiring Women Episodes
- Episode 30: Only 2.3% of all venture funding went to female founders last year. Kristen Valdes changed her pitch to land her series A.
- Episode 64: Time to Move From Discussion and into DO with Ann Barnes
- Episode 146: Telling the category story. Naomi Allen on building Brightline.
