This article is written by Nardine B. M’barek, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
Mrs. Andrea Barrica is a well-known businesswoman who is currently a venture partner, and works with ‘500 Startup’. She is the perfect example of successful businesswomen who have made it to the top and shared their beliefs and thoughts through their work. For instance, she established O.School, which is an organization that sheds light on the importance of teaching and education by providing enough and sufficient resources to children all over the world in order to make their education better than the one the previous generations had.
Mrs. Barrica was present with us during many editions of Startup Istanbul, including Startup Istanbul 2015 where she gave a speech that deals with ‘pitching’ since she is a recognized-internationally pitch coach. According to Mrs. Barrica, she has helped people and companies all over the world, including where ‘500 Startups’ is based, which is in San Francisco, express their thoughts and tell their stories.
As she stated, entrepreneurs and companies’ representatives make mistakes and have got problems in their pitches, which is something normal. She mentioned few of these problems which are mainly the fact that entrepreneurs, when pitching, think that everyone is exclusively interested in them, but as Mrs. Barrica said; no one is actually as interested in you as you think they are! That is something crucial that everyone needs to understand before even starting pitching.
The fact that the judges or the mentors are meant to see and hear more than 50 or 100 pitches would make them lose interest quickly enough if you are or seem boring to them, and you will be the one who deals with the consequences of being a boring pitcher, not them.
The second thing that entrepreneurs or companies are also doing in the wrong way is that they do not really understand what is the most important thing about their business. You need to sort things out, and figure that out before pitching in front of people and judges because if you do not figure that out by yourself before coming to the stage, then the people listening to you will not be able to do it either, and in order for you to better explain your business, and make it seem as revolutionary and creative as it seems to you, this is a very crucial aspect of your pitch that you should definitely not neglect or leave it undone to the last minute.
It is really important to know what you are pitching about exactly, and what is the most vital part of your business, especially if you are looking for investors and funds. We all know that investors are always looking for something as innovative and creative as ever, something that did not cross their path before, which is probably your main business idea or the results you will get after launching your business. In any case, you need to figure out the part that would be the most interesting to your investors, and then build your pitch on it.
