So far, we have discussed how to map your ecosystem’s network to identify and research key stakeholders, and how senior allies can help your ideas reach the right ears.
The next step is ensuring you arrive at each meeting well prepared, so you don’t squander the unique opportunities ahead.
It is not just about having a polished pitch. It is about anticipating the questions you might be asked and being ready to answer them.
The Power of Passion
Narrating a compelling story that inspires belief starts with having genuine passion. If you don’t care deeply about what you’re saying, your body language and tone will betray you, and your audience will disengage.
The best pitches aren’t just lists of facts delivered via slides. They are stories that evoke emotion.
When you are passionate, it shows up in your body language; your hand gestures, your voice, your energy. If, on the other hand, you’re unsure or indifferent, your audience will pick up on it almost immediately.
There are loads of resources out there on how to adjust your body language to increase engagement. But what I have found is that if you truly love what you are talking about, your body will communicate that naturally.
One of my mentors, Judith Stampler, once told me, “Pay attention to what doesn’t make you hesitate”. If you have to enrol in a six week course just to look like you care about your pitch, then you probably don’t actually care.
Framing Your Pitch
The hardest part of creating a pitch is often just knowing where to start. Many times, I have seen founders download a pitch-deck template and force their ideas into it. This is backwards. If you use slides, they should support your words, not replace them.
Ask yourself:
- Why is this meeting important? What do I want to achieve?
- Who is the audience? What mindset are they likely to be in when I start talking?
- What do I want them to feel and believe by the end?
- Which aspects of my product do I need to highlight?
The answers to these questions will shape your structure. The Map of Life article offers a great way to frame your mindset before you start writing your script. The guiding question is simple: How do I take the audience on this journey?
Show, Don’t Just Tell
The essence of a great pitch is that the idea, product, or service becomes vividly real for the audience. If they can’t see it, they will struggle to believe in it.
Whenever possible, allow your audience to see and physically interact with your product. In my case, it was essential that meetings happened in the garden on a sunny day.
Taking people out of their office and into a secret garden they’d never seen before created an immediate sense of wonder. The tranquil, almost sacred atmosphere opened them up to what I had to share. Every time I led someone there, they would react with the same “Wow”, a moment of surprise that made them curious and receptive.
Of course, I can’t take the garden with me into the Google offices, and not every product is physical or portable. That’s where slides come in. With the right visuals, you can recreate the experience and help the audience see what you’re describing.
Develop the Pitch as a Journey
When you set your pitch up this way, it becomes not just a narrative, but a journey – often a literal one. Structure it like a guided tour.
The best way to script this kind of pitch is to walk the space yourself, and speak out loud. Let the script emerge organically. For instance, along the way, I shared the story behind the secret garden:
- How old are the trees?
- Why is the garden still here?
- When was it developed and why?
I am fortunate to have a garden filled with stories – 150 year old trees, Victorian origins, a tree gifted by India that was struck by lightning, and even a role in the 1980 Iranian embassy siege. But make sure to keep the end in mind to avoid meandering too far from the central message.
Practice Makes Perfect
The other week I showed the garden to Iain Hunter, a mentor I had previously only met online. As we walked, I defaulted to my usual narrative. By the end, his eyes were wide with awe.
He suggested that the story should be featured on the BBC. He said the pitch was compelling because of how it was delivered: full of passion, energy, and confidence. This made it easy for him to visualise the garden exactly as I imagined it.
This meant a lot coming from a marketing and communications expert at Imperial College. I told him half the magic came from the garden itself – the other half came from delivering the same tour over a hundred times.
The first time you share your story, you will discover many flaws. These will reveal themselves through unexpected questions and puzzled faces – these are learning opportunities. Each of these moments is a chance to refine your pitch.
Tell your story to as many people as possible. At first, the narrative may change dramatically based on feedback. But as your pitch becomes more polished, those changes will become smaller. Eventually, you will arrive at a version that answers the key questions and resonates deeply with your audience.
Practicing with friends can allow you to fail safely and gather valuable feedback. I have shown the garden to so many friends that I have earned the nickname “The Garden Lobbyist”.
When you deliver your pitch, observe the audience. If someone looks away or becomes distracted, that’s a sign the message isn’t landing. Consider pivoting to what is drawing their attention, that may be the story they really want to hear.
Why a Good Pitch Matters
Sharing your ideas is the only way to make things happen. At first, you may feel uncomfortable and unqualified. But with practice, you will come to enjoy the process and realise that your audience is really listening.
Now that we have explored how to craft and deliver a compelling vision, the next step is facing the financial and operational realities of starting a project.
Talking about money is never easy. In the next article, we will learn how to approach these uncomfortable but essential financial conversations that every startup must face.
Emilio Garcia Padron is an MSc Applied Mathematics student at Imperial College London, specializing in Computational Dynamical Systems. He is a full-stack software developer and founder of NEA Studios. He is also a founder of RE:GEN @ Imperial, a project aiming to protect and expand Green Spaces on Imperial grounds that raised over £39,000 in funding.
Image: DALL-E
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