Derek Lidow: Ditch the Start-up Pitch

Excerpt from the Harvard Business Review article, "Ditch the Start-up Pitch," by Derek Lidow

"How do you get somebody interested in investing in your startup? You pitch them the idea. Pitching skills are widely considered fundamental to basic entrepreneurship, and this skill is taught, evaluated, and rewarded as part of almost any entrepreneurial education. The problem is that pitching is a waste of time and teaching this as a primary skill of entrepreneurship is misleading and sets the wrong priorities for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Pitching ideas is accepted as an important entrepreneurial skill for two fundamental reasons. First, it requires aspiring entrepreneurs to create a short, precise description of their idea and why it is likely to result in a successful enterprise. With this first reason comes an implied assumption that entrepreneurs who can organize and present their ideas in a compelling and concise fashion have a better understanding of the potential business opportunity and will also be able to better recruit skilled talent to their teams. A second reason that pitches are well accepted is that they allow investors, professors, or judges evaluate a large number of ideas in a short period of time. An implied assumption associated with this second reason is that pitches are the best way to evaluate many ideas in a short period of time." Keep reading >>