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« NYC continuing upward trend in PWC Moneytree report while most other regions are down | Main | The Glue that Makes a Community Stick »

The Hook: The most important part of a pitch.

Pitching to a VC can be like trying to have a conversation with a three year old.  We're constantly distracted, off on tangents, difficult to keep focused.  

We also get bored really easily.

That's why you need to start off every pitch--be it in an elevator or in a meeting--with a hook.  A hook captures the audience's attention and gets them leaning in.

But what makes for a good hook?

I'll tell you what doesn't make for one--grandiose generalizations and huge top down numbers.


Someone stab my eyes out with a dull knife.  Ugh.

Tell me *specifically* how you're doing something unbelievable--something unique to your team.  The more it directly relates to what you do, versus something that anyone else at the Travel Startups Conference could use, the better.

"We have 50 paying customers--and that's after only 60 customer meetings, and they're each paying us 1000 bucks a month!"

"The last company that tried to do this was making $20mm in their second year, and they only have 1% of the market--with old technology!"

"Pet owners spend $1000 on their pets every year... and 75% report buying non-food items for their pet every month."

See the difference?

When you say, "Well, let's start with our bios" it's as if you're trying to convince me that you're qualified.  Telling me who you are briefly if it's a cold pitch is fine, but if you're in my office, I already vetted you, otherwise I wouldn't be taking the meeting.   

If anyone wants to practice their hooks in the comments, I'll try to respond.

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