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The Power of Listening to Pitches: Lessons Learned from Impactathon 21

We often think about pitches, pitch events, and the act of pitching happening to improve the pitch.

But, through co-convening nearly two dozen events culminating in 1-5 minute social enterprise startup pitches, I can firmly say there is tremendous, overlooked value in listening to pitches.

Impactathon #21 – Pacific Northwest (PNW)

A few weeks ago marked the 21st convening of Innov8social’s signature event and the first one in the Pacific Northwest. We call it Impactathon® and its various forms bring people together to identify issues and brainstorm business solutions.

This Impactathon MINI – Quick Pitch Edition, hosted by Startup253 at TractionSpace in Tacoma, Washington, had a special goal. To support participants’ creative thinking and quick pitching. Many participants were active entrepreneurs, angel investors, and ecosystem-builders accustomed to sharing and listening to pitches. And, some were newer to putting thought to idea and pitching with an ‘ask’.

The Goal: Pitch Something New

Considering the wisdom in the room, we added an element to this unique Impactathon: pitch something new.

Through a guided mini workshop, participants five-minute sprint rounds to help brainstorm issues, converge ideas, map out solutions, and identify what they might need, have, and ask for from the judges at the event.

As founders, we sometimes experience periods of stagnation in pitching. We repeat phrases to explain our work, not because they convey it more clearly or persuasively, but because they are familiar, memorized, and part of our rote flow for the pitch.

So, this goal and exercise gave permission– a mandate, even– to come up with ideas that were brainstormed in just a few minutes, and to which participants might feel able to openly and boldly pitch– with little at stake, and little actual sweat and financial equity to the idea. It was a call to reconnect with the fun and sense of ‘play’ in brainstorming and pitching. With the idea of putting us back in the playground sandbox, so that when participants revisited their actual, hard-fought ideas and enterprises, they may infuse their usual pitches with new perspective.

What Actually Happened: Learning Through Listening

These were the things we hoped for when designing this Impactathon Mini. And, from the enthusiastic feedback, I hope we supported that. However, after listening to over twenty pitches, I was most struck by what we learned by listening.

There was a pitch that shared a personal search for social connection through an idea for an app to connect fellow individuals interested in attending the same concerts, events, and new restaurants. There was pitch that shared the challenges of having a loved one on the autistic spectrum and ideating ways to introduce potential stressors of group interaction through VR. There was a pitch about the new lens of the need for wearable tech that can alert wearers about sudden spikes to blood pressure gained through a lived experience of a recent stroke. There was a pitch passionately articulating the challenges of being a single parent and a founder trying to network and connect with the entrepreneurship ecosystem with that lens.

The solutions were innovative and bold, but the stories are what have stayed with me. I always encourage Impactathoners to identify and seek to solve problems that they can validate, that they may have some insight into. By sharing, it may have released or opened something for the Impactathoners, and it definitely did for me as a listener. I was put in the shoes of another’s experience to relate to the issue faced.

With these seasoned entrepreneurs, I was struck that they used this time to do exactly that, in some of the most personal ways. If (and when : ) I become an investor, I would like to ask founding teams what they are vulnerable about, what they might be healing from. Even if not comfortably shared in discussion, the questions themselves are catalyzing. I believe sharing our stories and truths make us more human, relatable. Rather than detracting from our acumen as founders, can help us pinpoint the greater ‘why’ and provide a pathway to invite others to engage with our work in deeply authentic ways.

Pitch Awards

Prizes were handed out to teams to recognize great ideas, compelling pitches, and entertaining solutions, including:

Photos

 

You can view more photos from Impactathon 21 Mini : Quick Pitch Edition.

Gratitudes

First and foremost, thanks to every person who pitched. For some it was a fun, easy, breezy opportunity to share. For others, they leaned into courage in stepping on to the podium. Your voices were heard and your ideas can continue to impact others through being shared.

I am grateful to Ston Nguyen and Startup253 team, Richard Fichera and TractionSpace, and Karina Martija-Harris (she/her/hers) and Maritime Blue for being part of the event and serving as judges.

It was wonderful and very special to have Innov8social team member Klara Hermesz join her first live event.

And, the event happened at the After Party following a vibrant day of panels and discussions at the South Sound Tech Conference held at the University of Washington Tacoma and co-hosted by the Economic Development Board of Pierce County. Thank you to the teams at both institutions for creating an inclusive space that flowed through in the post-event gathering.

Impactathon is a registered trademark of Innov8social.

 

👋 I’m Neetal Parekh, the founder of Innov8social, author of 51 Questions on Social Entrepreneurship, and convener of Impactathon®. Innov8social works with individuals, companies, and institutions to help build ecosystems for social impact through designing convenings, content, and communication strategies. You can follow us at @innov8social and @impactathon.

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5 Tips on Pitching Your Social Enterprise Startup to VC’s

Effective pitching or telling a compelling startup story can take many hours of practice to perfect, is honed and shaped by feedback coming from diverse perspectives, and can require a different kind of courage than in actually building your startup. One of the most important things inevitably, is to start. Pitching early and often lets you get comfortable with telling your story in a natural, conversational way; receive feedback like a pro; and find ways to process and integrate comments without losing sight of your company’s vision and your personal momentum and drive.

These are the sentiments I had in mind when I submitted an application to pitch Innov8social, an engagement platform that connects people that want to create social impact with actionable tools and resources on ways to create impact, to a panel of 5 VC judges at Pitch2Sharks in San Francisco. The pitch event was a valuable and insightful experience. And though I have heard many startup pitches (and serve as a judge at times), I learned a great deal from being in the hot seat both about pitching, and about pitching a social enterprise startup.

As social entrepreneurs explore how and where to pitch their startup ideas, I thought it might be useful to share what I learned from my experience of pitching a social enterprise startup here.

1. Define success, then decide if it’s the right time to pitch

 

It can be helpful to define what success looks like to you before pitching. It’s a way to set expectations and also to be able to process critical feedback in a constructive way.

Since it was the first time pitching Innov8social to investors, and that too at a public event, I decided early on that showing up, not freezing or melting mid-sentence, and articulating my key points with clarity and confidence would be success. Those things fortunately happened, though I did read much of my pitch which the judges mentioned, and I left feeling satisfied and glad for the experience.

Had I set the goal of receiving funding and/or doubling my social media followership, I could have left feeling pretty lousy about the situation, and may have missed the incredible value of getting feedback from a group of people who listen to numerous startup pitches regularly, and that too fund a few too. A comment or insight from them could potentially inform my pitch in meaningful, impactful way, that could save me time and effort effort ahead.

2. Pitch events can be a great way to start…

 

Depending on the stage of your social enterprise startup and your goals, a pitch event could be a great way to start pitching. If you select the opportunity wisely, you can pitch at an event that aligns well with your social enterprise startup’s mission, or is for  startups at the same stage you are in, or features a VC or judge you particularly want to engage.

A pitch event can also be a bit more of a ‘safe space’ to test out your pitch and receive some initial feedback. Before you hear more fierce, unapologetic criticisms that VC’s can be famous for at pitch meetings, a pitch event can provide you a platform to share your startup story and get feedback, all in an abbreviated timeframe.

For my experience in pitching Innov8social, it was a great place to start pitching and I learned as much by what the VC’s didn’t ask as by what they did. It gave me some quick investor feedback of what was conveyed in my pitch and what may have been unclear or ambiguous.

 

3. …but DON’T expect an investment

 

From my experience in attending dozens of pitch events over the past half-decade, one thing I have noticed (and have even asked startup founders about) is whether they expect investments from pitch events. The consensus seems to be a pretty consistent no. Some pitch events, by default, however, do offer a prize to the winning pitch. Winning a pitch event comes with the bragging rights, that can be shared not only over social media and the company website, but at future pitches to potential investors as well.

But even without an investment or a win, a pitch can be the start of potential connections. Whether it is building relationship with one of the VC panelists, with someone in the audience, or the event organizer—those relationships may actually be incredibly valuable as you progress and grow your social enterprise.

 

4. DO plan to educate your audience/judges about the concept of social entrepreneurship

 

Perhaps one of my biggest takeaways was that as social enterprise startups, we are wise to explain and contextualize social enterprise in a simple, easy to follow way within our pitches. Since social entrepreneurship is a growing space, VC’s or audience members may not have heard of related buzzwords in the field, and frankly, may come away thinking you are pitching as a nonprofit. If you are, that’s not a problem, but if you are trying to show a for-profit business model, potential of growth, scale, and revenue potential and/or relay the double or triple bottom line—this may be problematic. Especially since you might not even realize the confusion until the pitch is all but over.

Better, is to be proactive and avoid assuming your audience’s familiarity with the social entrepreneurship space. As a still-emerging and evolving space, social entrepreneurs are also ambassadors of social entrepreneurship. We have to find easy and accessible ways to explain how impact and business models can co-exist and even thrive.

 

5. DO use your pitch experience to THINK BIGGER about your social enterprise startup

 

One of the undeniable advantages of pitching to VC’s—who have likely heard hundreds of pitches, is that in just a few words or with a question or two—they can help you think bigger about your company, goals, and process.
I was asked about Innov8social’s traction and value proposition. Though I had mapped it out, in the context of hearing the other pitches and understanding the viewpoint of the judges, their questions actually helped me to think bigger about the scope and potential of our work.

So, as ever, it’s a good rule of thumb to pitch your social enterprise startup early and often. If you can take the good, the bad, and the ugly in stride you will be able to effectively iterate and improve your pitch and may even gain new clarity about your startup’s path to success.

 

A few photos from the event

Here are a few photos from Pitch2Sharks, hosted by The Expat Woman. Photography is courtesy of Yeluguri Entertainment (see all of the photos on Facebook here). Good luck with your social enterprises…and remember, always be pitching!

 

The organizers

 

 

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