Beth Susanne - Silicon Valley pitch coach @ HappyFarm
- Who is Beth?
- Ukrainian origin - moved to amsterdam - speaking french, spanish and learning dutch
- Owner of pitch coach company "Vision in focus"
- Presentation coach for 20 years
- how things work in Silicon walley - understanding USA cultural traits
- US is about direct, effective communicaiton
- what it cost?
- how they would get their profit with you?
- task orientation or relationship orientation
- US is task oriented - you are supposed to talk about work not your life
- Not relationship oriented - where you go to school, who is your friends
- Why are americans so direct?
- raised to be as children:
- say what you mean
- speak up in class
- look in the eyes to show honesty
- present your views clearly
- raised to be as children:
- egocentric vs "we-group" orientation
- individualism
- self reliance
- status is achieved by own efforts
- equal economic social and political opportunity and is birth right of an individual
- achievement is good and requires competiveness
- individualism
- Activism
- being active in face of uncertanty is virtue
- track record counts
- achievement and goal-oriented activities
- pragmatic
- what good is what works
- progress
- change in itself is good
- improvement, especially presonal - is duty of an idividual
- nature
- in US humans have responcibility to control nature
- build dams
- on opposite - dutch learned how to use the nature.
- in US humans have responcibility to control nature
- efficiency
- expected from machines
- you supposed to be punctual
- if you late - you have to call in advance, and then come in exact time you proposed.
- time
- is a resource you can't waiste.
- aggressiveness
- ambition, competition, self-assesitiveness
- high status not equal to superiority
- in US superstars are nobility - NOT royalty and NOT politicialns
- they treat you with who is working with you - who is buying from you.
- they discount what you say by 25% - so you CAN and should exaggerate
- excelling is good
- discipline and freedom
- preschool : discipline from parents
- school age : increased freedom and responcibility
- adulthood: time of greatest freedom
- old age:
- mobility
- great physical and social mobility is good
- create your own business
- 40% CEO from Silicon walley are outside of US
- work
- valued as an end in itself
- people don't have long silences - people are interacting
- working is good - lazyness is bad
- people sleep at work
- people spend whole life at work
- in reality - after 45hours a week productivity is going down
- money
- an economic tool, plus yardstick for social status,
- you are supposed to talk about money
- europeans are "not hungry" because of social safety nets
- in Ukraine people are hungry because of their (nets) absence
- youth
- highly valued
- old people wish they were young
- elders feel outmoded by rapid change
- huge market for anything that promises to recapture youth
- education
- influence is declining, used especially to attain skills, cost a lot of money
- affects family prestige - but only if you go to well known institution
- authority
- rules/laws generally obeyed but don't liked
- authorities must not infringe individual rights
- mild suspicion of authority
- moral superiority
- moral smugness stemming on conviction that US people are special.
- after 2008 it changed - influence of a world crysis
- silicon valley don't care where you come from
- you have to come to them, plug into network, establish a company there.
- they don't fund you if you are outside.
- social conformity
- outward conformity
- you have to understand unspoken agreements of how you should present yourself
- other US traits.
- business before pleasure
- two weeks in a year vacation. if you get a vacation they look at you with question?
- not looks well in common eyes to relax
- track record is more important than who you know.
- need to make contacts counts
- you have to do what it takes to achieve goal
- no small talk. business is everywhere.
- business before pleasure
- cross - cultural success factors
- cultural self-awareness
- open-mindeness
- open personalities - warm reception
- outgoing personality
- tolerance of ambiguity
- you must have discomfort endurance - going out of your comfort zone.
- the more you practice - the better you get
- steps to getting buy-in on your great ideas and efforts
- need an office locally to support you.
- great customer service: as good to US as any competitior
- you have even to be better in keeping contact
- communicate frequently
- level of communication should be good
- always respond
- respond fast - learn from Singapore - they don't understand what you are talking about, but respond.
- communicate clearly, concisely and briefly
- email, skype, phone, web conf
- US is about direct, effective communicaiton
- what you need to pitch you ideas in silicon valley (and maybe everywhere else)
- An example from life - you are on a conference of 70 pitches a number 63
- 20% twitting
- 30% emailing
- if you start with "social network for..." - additional 20% would stop paying attention
- you have 30sec for them to decide whether they would pay attention. attention spans are shortening.
- nobody is oblidged to listen and pay attention now
- who you will remember from 70 presenters you had just heard?
- the goal is to grab their attention
- you have to emotionally connect with them. if they look down - you have to get them up again. and when they get up they had already lost 60% of what you're saying
- three ways to do it
- make a joke and be funny - only if you are funny
- do something that is surprise
- talk about a problem they can relate to
- a friend who designed a way to diagnose autism faster
- her product could save 12billion a year (autism cost 35billion a year)
- she started with something emotionally binding
- she explained why she started the company everyday
- she explained a problem that everybody could relate to
- (A story about her brother who has an autism)
- Fundamental problem of pitching
- what the fundamental problem?
- you have to pull from people the things that they achieved
- its not boasting - it's aknowledging your achievents
- stick the head out of the field and NOT getting it chopped - opposite to what europeans say
- articulate your message
- you have to know your audience
- prepare in advance
- how people accept you message
- 38% your tone
- intonation
- in english you use your voice up in the end to get attention
- in english there are pause between ideas and your voice
- anunciate
- atriculate or pronounce clearly and distictively
- beginnings & endings of words
- breathing out
- giving space
- in russian people are speaking with the back of their mouth but in english people are speaking with front of their mouth
- if you have a presentation - ask someone native speaker to speak it in english - record it. listen to it. speak it. record your speaking and record you back and analyse.
- intonation
- 55% body language
- gesture
- body language has to support your message
- eye contact
- looking in your eyers for 1-2 sec as talking one-on-one
- make it look honest (no side looking, shaking)
- posture
- if you are tall that gets you 25% more earnings in lifespan
- nodding
- gesture
- 7% words
- 38% your tone
- what the fundamental problem?
- Preparing a pitch
- Your business canvas - you should have ones
- a template how to think about your business and how to talk about one
- help you pivot, change your assumptions
- have a business plan prepared
- 10 important key points for your pitch
- short memorable - three simple ideas - holywood
- what's the problem?
- why is you technology unique? (patents / barriers to entry) INCLUDE VIDEO / SCREENSHOTS
- how big is your market?
- bigger is better
- top down - how big are the sources you got your info from = someone else is reporting
- business model
- how much does it cost?
- how much you can make?
- competition
- if you have some megastars who are in your space and why you are better.
- marketing plan
- online
- bloggers
- SEO
- social, e.t.c
- offline
- online
- your team / hires
- talk what your team had done that applies to this business
- maybe a partners
- give you credibility
- financing
- show next 6 month. market growth. no believability in numbers.
- ASK: Money / Milestones / Customers / Partners
- what you ask for.
- if money - what you do with money. how you want the money. what is the schedule.
- practice makes things perfect
- rehearse rehearse rehearse
- make sure your delivery is engaging
- memorizing takes time - try changing your slides order every time when rehearsing
- you have to focus on one main thing your company solve
- if my company is about several products should I talk about all of them?
- no - you should select one of them and concentrate on it.
- if my company is about several products should I talk about all of them?
- Your business canvas - you should have ones
- Just-Before pitch
- use trigger mechanism
- think about something in your life that made you proud, standing out
- re-live it. feel it. taste it. - that would bring you to the mood
- remember the rush you had - that rush is a trigger.
- you have the ability to change your reception of the reality any moment you want
- you can rejuvenate yourself - bring your
- you have to model for everybody your enthusiasm you have for you business
- use breathing technique - soham.
- when you are scared you stop breathe
- this tech allows you to breathe
- you breather in with your nose thinking "SO"
- breather out with "HAM"
- repeat SOHAM three times relaxes you then you do you trigger
- use trigger mechanism
- During pitch
- adjust your voice for the audience
- if you talk to the microphone speak evenly
- think about a fact that communication is a transfer of emotion
- emotions. you want people to fund you.
- and an attempt to get others to adopt
- thoughts & ideas
- Present yourself - 67% of ideas pivots when they get to the end. VCs are buying you.
- how good is your team?
- know who you are talking to
- what's your story - who you are?
- 5 different types of stories
- personal
- david & goliath
- a hero
- a vision for a new world
- you are a focus of your pitch
- you need them to listen to you - not read your slides
- 5 different types of stories
- three ways to do catch attention of an audience
- make a joke and be funny - but only if you are funny in everyday life
- do something that is surprise
- talk about a problem they can relate to
- a friend who designed a way to diagnose autism faster
- her product could save 12billion a year (autism cost 35billion a year)
- she started with something emotionally binding
- she explained why she started the company everyday
- she explained a problem that everybody could relate to
- (A story about her brother who has an autism)
- adjust your voice for the audience
- Source for trainers/trainings udemy.com
- An example from life - you are on a conference of 70 pitches a number 63
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