Jemina Laitinen, Luiza de Oliveira Vago, Esme Luhtala

Elsa Ervasti is a performer, speaker, and performer coach, who has trained hundreds of start-up companies and enterprises in performing and pitching. She has also written a book, PITCH!, with Joonas Turunen about the same topic. This essay includes outcomes about pitching from the book of Ervasti and Turunen, and from the pitching education, which Ervasti kept on 10.11.2021 in Turku.

What is pitching?

Pitch and pitching are familiar words from corporate life or business-related reality shows in TV. Pitch means sale speech, but it also means throwing or passing. In Finnish, there is no even word for pitching. Basically, pitch means a short and sharp selling speech in which an entrepreneur introduces their product, service or business idea. The length of this short and sharp sales speech can be from couple of minutes to 10 minutes. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020.)

Even though pitching is easily only entrepreneur or company related skill, it is a good working life skill for anyone. Applying a job, presenting a project idea or any situation where is needed to present own idea is a pitch. As Ervasti said in her education, presenting own work experience or professionality can be also kind of pitching situation (Ervasti, 2021.) Whatever the situation and case is, the main point about pitching is to be convincing. In that sense, it is important to know basics of pitching and know how to build a good pitch.

Ervasti and Turunen (2020) use Evelyne Ruby’s pitch from The Slush 2016 as an example of a good pitch. The pitch is available to watch in YouTube and it make easier to understand what pitching is, if it is not a familiar topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_SSM-xeMs

The structure of the PITCH

According to Ervasti (2021), there is a good way to build the structure of pitch. The structure of the 10-minute-long pitch can be for example:

1. On-liner 10 sec.
2. Problem 3 min.
3. Solution 1 min.
4. Value 1 min.
5. Business potential 30 sec.
6. Scalability 30 sec.
7. Presenting the team 1 min.
8. Vision 2 min.
9. Call to action 1 min.

On-liner

On-liner means a sentence which crystallizes the meaning or purpose of the product or service. It needs to be short and sharp which gives to audience the picture what the service or product is. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020.) On-liner presents who you are and what do you do. It is a short and clear introduction about the company and how it solves the problem in question (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020). On-liner needs to be that efficient that is catch the focus of audience. It is also the start of the pitch and makes the base of rest of it. As Ervasti & Turunen (2020) says, on-liner is basically the thing you will remember from the presentation. It is important that it is pithy.

Ervasti & Turunen (2020) emphasize that thinking a good on-liner is the start of a pitch, because it is the way the audience will focus to your performance and remember it afterwards. You can start to think about on-liner with questions: What you promise to the customer? How you promise to solve customer’s problem? How is your customer going to get value or profit from you? It is relevant to realise that there are many other companies in the world who has a brilliant idea, so it is important to think how your company and idea can be different and special? Ervasti and Turunen highlight how important is to crystalize and clarify the business idea. When it is crystalized, performer needs to be sure that can deliver it to the audience. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020.)

Problem

In a problem -section, audiences are introduced about the problem to where company has been looking for a solution (Ervasti, 2021). It is important to describe and demonstrate to what problem the product or service brings solution. In that way it is easier to audience to understand the value of the product later in the pitch. It might be easy to fall in an idea, that the problem is so obvious that it is not necessary to describe it too detail way but that can be a mistake.

Problem should be introduced in simple but detailed way to make audience to understand the problem. Even though they might not have the same problem. Especially if the meaning of the pitch is to get funding, it is important to make problem look that substantial that it need to be solved. According to Ervasti and Turunen (2020) it does not matter is the problem big or small, but it needs to be identifiable. If a company can’t describe the problem, it is challenging to get attention of investors or customers. The main point is to find own way to tell people, how your company is going to change the world. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020.)

Solution

After describing the problem, present the solution how your company has solved that problem (Ervasti, 2021). Solution is shorter than problem section, but it needs to be efficient way to tell how your product or service has solved the problem.

Value, business potential and scalability

Probably the purpose of the pitch is to get money or partner to your business idea, so it is important to present the most important things about the business: numbers. Those are after all things what interests to investors and possible business partners. Value can be introduced as a profit of a business, but it is also valuable to talk about important business partners or big companies as a customer. It is also valuable to talk about scalability of the business because it is to way make more money. Scalability means how easily the business model can be expanded.

Presenting the team

In the pitch it is important to introduce the team which is working in the company and a business. That makes the business more approachable and humane. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020). Main idea is to introduce who are the team members and what are their skills to let for example investors know to who they are going to support with their money. Ervasti and Turunen (2020) say also, that introducing the team builds the trust so that is also why it is important to remember to talk about the people behind the business.

Vision and call to action

The pitch has a purpose and a vision (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020.) What your company wants from audiences and what is the vision to do with for example the investment. So, introduce what is the purpose in the future and what do you need to achieve that. After the vision, it is important to end the pitch clearly and thank the audience for attention. Then everyone knows that it is time for applauses and possible question.

Performing is important part of pitching

Ervasti (2021) highlights that pitching is comprehensive performance where the structure of the pitch and performance are entailed together. Structure of the pitch is important to think very carefully, but it is not enough. The script would be brilliant but is not enough. Performance makes it alive.

The structure and script include the beginning, middle part and the ending of the pitch and how time is used in certain part of it. When stepping to the performance part, we start to think about storytelling, flow, non-verbal communication, voice, energy, emotional expression, communication, chemistry, emotional intelligence, assertiveness and building trust with the audience. (Ervasti & Turunen, 2020). It is visible that there are many different things to take to concern about performance in pitching. The main thing about performing is to make the script interesting. Performance makes the pitch easy and pleasant to watch. Ervasti and Turunen (2020) highlight that well performed pitch is entertaining.

Storytelling through emotions

Pitching is storytelling and making audience to believe that the story it true and it is important. If the story can be told in interesting way, it will catch attention and audience will remember it. In storytelling it is relevant to take also to concern emotions. How to make audience to feel different emotions. According to Ervasti and Turunen (2020), an emotive performance makes a pitch interesting and comprehensive. It is good to think about what kind of emotions suits to your performance or what kind of emotions you want to audience feel.

Humour is one emotion which makes performance more interesting and entertaining, but it is good to be aware of how much it is used. Probably the main point of the pitch is to be convincing, but without any humour it can be too serious and boring. What way there could be a little bit humour to make the performance livelier. Ervasti encouraged in her education (2021) to use humour as an effect in the performance. According to her, humour can also help the performer to relax, when planned laugh and cheer up catch the audience.

Verbal communication and voice usage

One big part of performing is voice usage. Ervasti (2021) highlights that preparation is important especially when performing on a big stage. It is good to practice clear articulation and be aware about own tone of a voice. It is also important to plan and think, what kind of voice tone and speaking style suits to the performance. For example, can the voice tone be used to make certain emotion even stronger.

Ervasti (2021) reminds how important is to remember that voice generation and speaking are actions which needs muscles. If they are warm, they will work better. That is why Ervasti emphasized to do some practices to warm up voice muscles and make speaking easier and more relax. Her tips (2021) to more efficient voice usage were to take relaxed and strong standing position, where is easier to use thoracic diaphragm more efficiently for breathing. Another tip was to warm voice up with different practices for face muscles and for a tung and do practices for articulation and voice range. (Ervasti, 2021.) One highlighted tip from Ervasti (2021) was to try and practice voice range to know own limits of using own voice.

Non-verbal communication

It is important what and how to speak in the pitch, but it is as important to know how to be on the stage. Ervasti and Turunen (2020) point out, that visual performing has many times stronger impact to the audience than words.

Non-verbal communication means how to use body language in the performance. Face expressions, moving on the stage, how to stand and posture are examples about body language. According to Ervasti (2021), it is normal for many people to let their stress to show in a performance. Being nervous and exited is normal and good, but it is not good to let them rule the performance. One common example is to walk around the stage reckless and speak too fast. (Ervasti, 2021)

Like scripting the speech, it is good way to script the non-verbal performance too. When there is also the structure for body language and a plan how to act, it is easier to find calmness and peace to the performance. Ervasti (2021) tips to find open, relaxed performing position, where you feel confident and strong. Then it is good to think about following questions: Are you going to move on stage? If so, how and where? Are you going to take pauses? Where do you look at? What kind of face expressions do you do? Where do you keep your hand, or do you have something to carry?

These things are good to be planned well and scripted to make sure that performance looks professional and calm. It can feel that if everything is too well planned it makes it boring and stiff. But the thing is, that when everything is well planned and practiced, there are more room to relax and connect with audience. (Ervasti, 2021.)

Connection with audience

Interaction and connection with the audience is an important part of pitching, but it is not simple to create a connection if there are for example hundreds of audiences. Ervasti (2021) says that connection can be built by scripting the choreography for interaction and connection. For example, it can be questions that are pointed out for audiences between statements and information. Asking questions is a natural way to catch the attention of the audience too. Another way to build the connection is to use eye contact with audiences. It can be in that way that you take an actual person to look at and focus your talking to them or taking the eye contact to the horizon in the way that it looks that you are looking to someone. (Ervasti, 2021.)

Sometimes audience members facial emotions or exchanged whispers might be something unpleasant or surprising. Many performers don’t want to pay too close attention during the shows. Instead, they might direct their gaze, depending on the distance of course, on people’s eyebrows, foreheads, or even that earlier mentioned horizon. An audience member will not notice this small difference, but it might be a huge help for the performer to stay focused.

Practice, practice, practice

Ervasti (2021) highlighted in her education the power of practicing. Without practice, there is not going to be a good pitch. She also emphasized that practicing alone is not a good way to develop as a good performer and pitcher. When there is a chance to keep a pitch and practice in front of audiences her advice is to take a chance and try. Practicing makes pitch and its script familiar and natural. (Ervasti, 2021) When it is natural, there is a bigger chance that performance is more relaxed and confident. Those things are what everyone is looking for in any performance.

Appearance matters

As it may sound outdated information to ‘dress the part’ is still an important part of any performance. A ballet composed of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker isn’t able to reach its full glory before the dancers put on their costumes. It rarely benefits a pitch keepers’ agenda to wear as a threatening Mouse King, but the appearance including hair, clothes, and possible makeup makes a difference.

Research shows that only a picture of a shoe can tell about a person’s characteristics. Ratings of shoes correlated with age, income, and attachment anxiety. (Gillath, J.Bahns, Ge and S.Crandall, 2012.) At the stage, the pitcher is a straight presentative of the matter in hand. This means, that everything the pitcher represents will also represent the matter.

A great performer could put on a Mouse King costume, feel comfortable in the look and present an award-winning pitch. Despite this, usually, the best appearances are built around the performer’s personality, the matter or company behind the pitch, and the crowd to whom it is being presented. Mouse King costume would most likely need a very special kind of audience for the performance to bring good results. When Barack Obama was still a president and addressed a crowd of working-class Americans, he didn’t wear a suit jacket and his sleeves were rolled up. These details show professionalism and understanding of psychology. Shirt with rolled sleeves (and no jacket) communicated to the audience that he too was a hard worker.

Pro Tips

Summarizing all the steps, some highlights are important to remember, such as the importance of the first seconds of the pitch. They are considered the most important one since it is the point where the speaker gets the attention of the audience and make it remarkable or not. That is the reason all the phases mentioned above are necessary in a pitch and must be well studied and developed.

The usage of appropriate vocabulary to the situation makes it easier to achieve the ability of expressing words in a clear and understanding, what is needed to explain the problem and the solution. Some vocabulary can be used to demonstrate expertise, but it is important that the pitch is still easy to follow for everyone. The audience should be listening, not thinking about what was just said. With the right vocabulary, the audience has a better vision and feels attached to something. That feeling is also important when it comes to the call-to-action session since it will show the level of interest the audience has in what is being pitched.

Always pull rather than push. Instead of forcing anything to anyone, try to present genuine accomplishments in a modest, matter-of-fact way, allowing the listeners to discover the value propositions that are most applicable for themselves.

Slush 100 Pitching Competition

Slush is a non-profit event that brings together students, investors, entrepreneurs, and people from all over the world to develop their businesses in diverse ways. It exists since 2008 and takes place in Helsinki, Finland, where the best speakers in the business world contribute with demonstrating vast knowledge in their areas.

A real spotlight shines on the flourishing start-ups, especially in the Slush 100, the events pitching competition. The 2016 Slush 100 champion was CybelAngel, and its work is to protect other companies, avoiding risks when it comes to data leaks on the Internet. Evelyne Raby, the pitcher who represented CybelAngel, shows great resourcefulness while pitching and answering the judge’s questions.

In her performance it is clear how she was able to build a pitch based on almost all the steps discussed by Elsa Ervasti. Even though it is not a 10-minute-long pitch, it has a nice structure, and she is able to catch the attention of the audience in the beginning by showing a paper with confidential information of major firms. From that, she presents the problem her clients face and how her company was able to find a solution to that, adding value to the company by showing its expertise and mentioning important clients.

The usage of proper verbal and non-verbal communication can also be noticed, for example, in eye contact not only with the judges, but the whole audience. A zip of humor to create connection, nice voice level, appropriate for the occasion and the kind of pitch. Presenting the team and the choice of sharing the most important and impressive numbers are also important parts to create trust and interest, in addition to showing the vision for CybelAngels future. Evelyne’s performance showed that pitching can be done efficiently once you have it planned and the necessary information is gathered properly, in a logical and entertaining way.

References

Ervasti, E. 2021. Education of pitching in Turku. 10.11.2021.

Ervasti, E & Turunen, J. 2020. Pitch! E-book. Kustantamo S&S. Published in BookBeat 22.9.2020. Red 3.1.2022.

Gillath, O., J.Bahns, A.,Ge, F. and S.Crandall, C. 2012. Journal or Research in Personality. Shoes as source of first impressions. Volume 46. Issue 4. Pages 423-430. August 2012. Red 5.1.2021.

Slush 100 Pitching Competition Finals, Slush 2016. Available on Slush 100 Pitching Competition Finals | Slush 2016, Accessed on 8.1.2022.

Slush, The World’s Leading Start-Up Event, Available on https://www.slush.org/events/helsinki/, Accessed on 8.1.2022.