Intelligent pitching for techies

Use “Intelligent Pitching” to Explain a Technical Problem to a non-Technical Audience

A Better Approach to PresentationsDan Gordon

[email protected]@dangordontech

What Do I Know About Pitching?

• I go through lots of presentations– 10,000 for me since

becoming a VC?• Never had a

presenter ask what’s on my mind

• Most presenters– Talk “at” me– Don’t talk “to” me

Intelligent Pitching• One of the three

great lessons I learned about writing and communication in general– Know the mind of

your audience• Not just for

entrepreneurs and investors– Everyone pitches– You either sell or you

work for someone who sells

The Virtuous Circle of Intelligent Pitching

What do you want them to

think next?

Persuade them

What are They

Thinking?

Know Your audience

Cast Your Spell

Assess Your Impact

A Quick Case Study

“We need more engineering resource to lower technical debt by re-

factoring the code”

Know Your Audience 1: They Don’t Know

• They don’t know what technical debt is

• They don’t know what re-factoring is

• They don’t really know what code is

• They believe that techies do what we do by magic.– To be fair, we believe

the same of them

• They don’t like being dependent on us

What Refactoring means to

You

What Refactoring means to

Them

Know Your Audience 2: They Don’t Care (Much)

• It’s easier for them picture making money than to picture saving money

• And it’s hard for them to picture how re-factoring will even save money

• They know full well that just because you re-factor the code doesn’t mean you’re going to cut staff

Know Your Audience 3: Refactoring is Low on Their Tower of Wishes and Woe

• Everyone has a “tower of wishes and woe”

• Most intense, most pressing concerns at the top

• Least intense, least pressing concerns at the bottom

• If a solution isn’t tied to something on the Tower, it won’t matter

My Daughter’s Braces

Pleasing my Boss

Not Looking Like an Idiot

Am I a good person?

Increasing Revenues

Saving CostsWorld PeaceFree Tibet

Cast Your Spell 1: Show That You Know What They’re Thinking

What You Want Them to Think What You Say/Show

“I’m not a 3-card Monte card sharp” “Software Development is not magic, but there are best practices that reliably give better results”

“Re-factoring will give you benefits that matter to you”

“Re-factoring will allow us to incorporate new features that wouldn’t fit in the schedule otherwise”

“No cost cuts, but very likely productivity gains”

“Re-factoring will improve morale and therefore productivity on the tech team”

Cast Your Spell 2: Attach to the Highest Wish(es) You Can

• Convincing them that you can “save costs” (Wish #6) is no good if you may make them “look like an idiot” (Woe #3)

• Attachment cannot be superficial– “This will make you look

good to your boss” is a turnoff remark, not a turn-on

My Daughter’s Braces

Pleasing my Boss

Not Looking Like an Idiot

Am I a good person?

Increasing Revenues

Saving CostsWorld PeaceFree Tibet

Cast Your Spell 3: Go Beyond Logic

• Persuasion is (at least) equal parts emotion and reason

• Emotion is not lying• Techniques:

– Use Story– Use Detail– Use more than words– Understand what images

and metaphors will reach them

• Tower of Wishes and Woes

What the “Refactoring” Slide Might Say

We need to schedule time for Preventive Maintenance

• Just because software is invisible doesn’t mean it’s magic

• Re-factoring the software regularly will make new features easier to implement

• Re-factoring improves team morale and productivity

Assess Your Impact 1: What’s Wrong with Interruptions?

• Nothing!• The opposite of interest is boredom, not

questions• Always answer questions• Never stick to the pitch

Assess Your Impact 2: How to Tell When You’re Losing Your Audience

• Absence of questions

• Playing with tech toys

• Body language– Crossed arms, etc.– Lack of eye

contact

• Fidgeting

…And What To Do About It

• Let someone else from your team take over– Good advice generally, btw

• Ask them what questions are on their mind as they hear what you’ve said so far– A little better than “any questions” at the end of each slide

• Have some props that are not PowerPoint– Gadgets– Mobile app where they have to download the app– Financials that are not on a slide (so they can see them)

• Ask for a bio break!– Looks odd, but better than putting them to sleep

Assess Your Impact 3: Always do a post-mortem

• Have someone from your team watch the audience and take notes– What did they like?– What did they hate?– What went over their heads?

• Iterate the pitch and make it better next time

THANK YOU – QUESTIONS?

Dan [email protected]@dangordontech