Startups are born with grand plans in mind. Founders, though, can quickly find the path to success is less than straightforward. “Someone once said it’s like a marathon where you sprint all the time, but I think it’s more like Jumanji and you just land on a map and find some treasure at the end of it but try not to get eaten on the way,” says Phil Ore, 25eight Co-CEO and Chief Mentor.
With 25eight, Ore translates his own extensive experience — including time in global technology, marketing and customer experience roles at Nokia — into helping startups on their journey. For early stage startups in particular, this means pitching — a brief but vital chance to explain the essence of the business and, ideally, attract funding, attention or support. With pitching able to make or break a startup’s future success, having access to mentors like Ore or through Dell For Startups – a program from Dell Technologies to support early-stage startups as they scale – can be vital.
Through 25eight, Ore coaches and mentors founders, teaching them the rights and wrongs of pitching. Pitching can be formal — like with the SXSW Sydney Pitch competition — but founders, says Ore, should be prepared to pitch anywhere, anytime. “As a startup, we’re pitching every minute of every day,” he says. “We pitch for funding or grants or investment, to somebody who might build you some hardware or software. You pitch to agencies to help you build a website or brand, you’re pitching to partners who might be a channel to open up markets, and then, obviously, customers.”
Ore’s pitching strategy is based on the 25eight Six Pillars Framework. “It’s talking about your purpose — so why you exist — what’s the problem that’s out there, how you solve it, your expertise, do customers want it, and whatever the call-to-action is,” he says. At the core, though, Ore says that successful pitches all include one key message.
“The most important thing that you see in a compelling pitch is around having a human-centred story,” says Ore. To see the importance in real life, take the example of Lisa Milani and her startup, NanoCube Health, which is working towards treating pancreatic cancer with nanorobots. Guided by Ore – an opportunity afforded to all 20 finalists — Milani took out the 2023 SXSW Sydney Pitch, telling the story of former AFL footballer Paul Dear who died from pancreatic cancer in 2022. “Sadly, Paul has passed away, but the impact of what Lisa and NanoCube Health can do is massive.”
Alongside Ore, Milani has been able to access the startup guidance of Dell For Startups, which has supported her from Sydney to pitching at SXSW Austin and beyond, showing the importance of joining a global startup community. “Being able to partner with Lisa and NanoCube Health following the event has been great,” says William Hasko, Dell Technologies’ Small Business Marketing Director. “We’ve helped to document the journey and will continue to support NanoCube and ensure that technology is a catalyst for their ongoing success.”
As with everything in business, pitching hinges on more than just one technique. Beyond the all-important human story, Ore says successful pitches need to rely on evidence to support the overarching concept. “The more data and qualitative and quantitative research you can build into a pitch to reduce your assumptions, the better,” he says. “What’s the problem, and how big is that problem, how are you solving it and what’s the impact of your solution?”
On the flipside, Ore has seen his share of pitches that don’t land and has a warning for startup founders: don’t rely on one pitch. “One pitch does not fit all,” he says. “Think about who’s in front of you and what their pain point is because you might find somebody who isn’t a potential customer but they might know an investor who goes, ‘Wow, this is so cool, let me talk to them.’
Ore also says that founders can make the mistake of thinking they need to know everything, or glossing over areas they’re not familiar with. Instead, there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging knowledge gaps. “Even in pitch competitions, you’re not expected to know everything,” he says. “When a judge asks a question, if you don’t know the answer, say ‘that’s a really good question…I will look into that.’”
In the end, whether a startup chooses to work with 25eight, Dell For Startups or another partner, Ore says that good pitching — and startup success — comes from getting out there and joining the startup community. “Good outcomes for entrepreneurs come by ensuring that you’ve got an action plan, and then when you reach out, the luck will happen,” he says. “And Dell, they can help with that because they’ve got that scale and those connections that most startups don’t have.”
Dell Technologies startup program is tailored to help startups overcome the challenges of building, rolling out and scaling technology. A free membership program, Dell for Startups offers technology-focused advice, assistance with applying for grants, discounts on products, access to the Dell Technology mentoring program and community networking events. The program offers entrepreneurs and startups access to specialty startup advisors, who can provide insights on a wide range of topics, ranging from, servers to storage, out-the-box technology versus custom-built, end-user-compute and security.
Comments