Pitching

Goal of a pitch: start a conversation or a collaboration

Types of pitches:

• Question pitch: “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?” or “How much are you willing to spend to keep your family safe?” Best only used when the facts are on your side.

• Rhyming pitch: “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”

• Pixar pitch: Tell the pitch as a story, using the template:

  • once upon a time, (there were 10s of millions of ppl w/o access to a bank)
  • every day, (they would have to go to check cashing services)
  • one day, (we created an app)
  • because of that, (more people were able to use financial services and get credit)
  • because of that, …
  • until finally, (financial service available to everyone)

Email subject lines should either show one of but not BOTH of:

• “utility” it would be valuable/useful to you to open (use for high volume)
• “curiosity” a bit of doubt/uncertainty to see what is in it (use for low volume)

3 questions to have in mind when constructing a pitch:

• What do you want the other side to think?
• What do you want the other side to feel?
• What do you want the other side to do?

(Pink n.d., lesson 10)