It’s great to see a new start up take the first tentative steps to promoting their business to a potential investor through the dance that is the pitch. Their moves are at first awkward, ungainly – something reminiscent of an academic stepping out on the dance floor after five days locked up in the confines of a conference which has involved them sat stock still glued to powerpoint slides, whilst handing out dog eared abstracts of their work to earnestly interested postgrads who are still learning their own moves on the academic dance floor.
But as the urgency of the pitch increases, and they get through the first twenty seconds of introduction which, like all the best pop songs includes the hook, the heart of the song and the punch line in its opening bars, their movement becomes more fluid, more confident and more assured. They stop looking at the feet and wondering where to go next.
After two minutes they’re in full flow. The business’s moral compass has been elucidated, the social need for the business contextualised, the personal drive elaborated and they’re into the features and benefits of the business proposition. Their movements now steer into the realms of contact improvisation and the most elaborate of improvisational techniques, playing fast and loose with the cash projections, the legal niceties and the future growth aspirations.
By the time their three minutes is over, they are exhilarated, we are exhausted and with any luck they have £250k of cash or its equivalent in terms of contacts, advice or expert time in the bank. It may not be Strictly Come Dancing but the choreographic expertise of the business start up has moved mountains in that three minutes and is worthy of a 10, 10, 10 and 10 from the panel of Tonioli, Revel Horwood, Bussell and Goodman. Or as Brucie would no doubt add, Didn’t They Do Well?
More Tips for Business Start Ups here.
drnickombe 