Once Upon a Pitch newsletter
#23 BTS (Without the Dance Moves)
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
September 6, 2023: A back to school refresher on the purpose of a pitch deck.
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
June 13, 2023: Even a complex, ambitious, and technical engineering story can be told simply.
#21 Desert the Valley of Death
#22 A Short and Sweet Elevator Ride
#20 Your Performance Also Tells a Story
June 6, 2023: The customer problem defines your odds of success, not your solution.
#20 Your Performance Also Tells a Story
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
#20 Your Performance Also Tells a Story
May 30, 2023: Practice, plan, and no excuses.
#19 Three is a Magic Number
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
May 23, 2023: Three lessons from what didn't and did work.
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
#18 The Folly of Great Advice Misapplied
May 16, 2023: Use strategic advice tactically.
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
May 9, 2023: "Getting rich" is not a company why.
#16 Get the Starting Line Behind You
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
April 25, 2023: Talking about your idea is not the same as making it.
#15 Know Your Audience
#17 A Million Easier Ways to Make a Buck
#14 Jimmy Iovine and Einstein's Theory of Relativity
April 18, 2023: Customers and investors need brave founders.
#14 Jimmy Iovine and Einstein's Theory of Relativity
#14 Jimmy Iovine and Einstein's Theory of Relativity
#14 Jimmy Iovine and Einstein's Theory of Relativity
March 7, 2023: Time slows the faster you move towards solving your customer's problem.
#13 Are You Awarding Participation Trophies?
#14 Jimmy Iovine and Einstein's Theory of Relativity
#13 Are You Awarding Participation Trophies?
February 28, 2023: Expertise wins.
Once Upon a Pitch newsletter
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
February 23, 2023: The Milestone Slide is for your audience's needs, not yours.
#11 Think Klein, not Pollock
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
February 15, 2023: Less is more when painting the picture of the market for your Competition Slide.
#10 That Magic Quadrant Can Make You Disappear
#12 You Show Milestones, Your Investors See Millstones
#10 That Magic Quadrant Can Make You Disappear
February 8, 2023: The Competition Slide is trickier than it looks.
#9 The No Competitor Nonsense
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
#10 That Magic Quadrant Can Make You Disappear
January 31, 2023: Competitors are always out there, lying in wait, and lethal.
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
January 24, 2023: The Title Slide is your first and maybe your last impression.
#7 What Part of Team Did You Miss?
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
#8 You Better Be Selling That Pig-Slapped Lipstick
January 17, 2023: Team Slide into home base a hero, not a zero.
#6 Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
January 10, 2023: Product-market match is real magic. Funding is just math.
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
December 10, 2022: The problem defines the product, not vice versa.
#4 It's An Ask, Not a Rube Goldberg Machine
#5 I Need My Cheetos Lip Balm and Crystal Pepsi Said No One
#4 It's An Ask, Not a Rube Goldberg Machine
December 13, 2022: Just make them an offer they can't refuse.
#3 Spoiler Alert: Your Hook Can Impale You
#3 Spoiler Alert: Your Hook Can Impale You
#4 It's An Ask, Not a Rube Goldberg Machine
December 6, 2022: Start with the end in mind, not the actual end.
#2 Can I Get a Word In?
#3 Spoiler Alert: Your Hook Can Impale You
#1 Honk Shoo (and Mi Mi Mi)
November 29, 2022: Silence is purgatory. Questions are Heaven.
#1 Honk Shoo (and Mi Mi Mi)
#3 Spoiler Alert: Your Hook Can Impale You
#1 Honk Shoo (and Mi Mi Mi)
November 22, 2022: "What" stories are forgettable. "Why" stories are retold.