First Pitch: failed, sorta

Today I gave my first pitch to a panel of local business people, who screen pitches for a local angel investor network.  I prepared my 12 slide 10 minute presentation up to the day before.  It wasn’t glitzy, but I thought it presented my business case at the conceptual level.  I had no expectation of succeeding out of the gate, but I had a hope that I would get some solid advice on what to do next.  I ended up getting most of my advice from myself, in hindsight.  I definitely got a good dose of external advice, as well. Even if it came with some laughter at my expense.  Lucky for me being laughed at is something I’m good at receiving and it actually fuels me more than stops me.

I had sent in a business opportunity document, that they used to brief themselves.  I wasn’t thinking clearly when I filled that out, and had sent in some answers that could easily be considered a joke.  This was correctly interpreted as ego, and at least one of the panel had been looking forward to meeting it.  I showed up with my ego in check, already expecting to be a bit of a face plant.  The advice I got about “showing ego to investors is: they will slam the door in your face”.  They laughed about it, and so did I.  I’m very aware of my ego and have plans to put it to good use, but I need to be more strategic.  I have some taming left to do.  Part of my strategy for working on this is publicizing my failures, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

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