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Regarding this one: "Pretending your faults don't exist." Having seen quite a few pitches myself, one good thing you can do is point out your major flaws/obsta
by jkincaid 16y ago
Regarding this one: "Pretending your faults don't exist."
Having seen quite a few pitches myself, one good thing you can do is point out your major flaws/obstacles before you're asked about them (assuming they don't clearly spell out your impending demise).
This may seem a little counterintuitive, but it lets you present the issue in a better light and explain how you're going to fix it, instead of having the investor feel like they've discovered a glaring weakness that you were trying to brush under the table. I believe lawyers use a similar technique.
One caveat to this: I'm a blogger/reporter, so investors may have a different perspective. But I'm guessing it holds true for them too.
- adamesque 16y agoThis ties in to an amazingly important (and rare) personal characteristic: self-awareness. Being able to honestly identify your own strengths and weaknesses is the only way to systematically build the former and eliminate the latter. In my experience, few people are able to assess themselves effectively; it's too easy to slide in one of two directions: avoidance or neurosis. But as the saying goes: the unexamined life is not worth living.
- edanm 16y agoI understand avoidance, but what do you mean by "neurosis"?
- adamesque 16y agoSelf-analysis can sometimes precipitate a cycle of anxiety and doubt. Some people can leverage this constructively and use it as motivation, but for others it's destructive. I tend to think those people who seem crippled by self-doubt see just as distorted a picture of themselves as people who are incapable of self-examination, just skewed the other direction. Minimization vs maximization of faults.