How to Nail Your Quick Pitch

Paul Voge is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aura Bora. The San Francisco beverage brand makes craft sparkling waters from herbs, fruits, and flowers for earthly tastes and heavenly feelings. Aura Bora pitched on ABC’s Shark Tank in January where they landed two offers and left with a deal.

If you have a short meeting and need to set the scene fast, the quick pitch is your best friend. Establish context, pique interest, and set your agenda in 60 seconds or less.

THE QUICK PITCH

Prospective investors, retailers, and suppliers all need fast context on your brand to see if you might be the right fit. This is not the time to expound on your proprietary process or the inspiration behind your packaging. Tailor these three steps to your audience to start the conversation right and increase your odds for success.

ESTABLISH CONTEXT

You no doubt have plenty of longer pitches for formal presentations with slide decks, samples, financial statements, etc. These all give plenty of time to explain nuance. In a elevator scenario, part one of the quick pitch should answer, “Why are we in this meeting?”
Tell the investor/retailer/vendor what your brand sells and how it is related to their goals in 1 sentence. The below example is for a retail buyer (ie. I’m the Co-Founder of Aura Bora, an herbal sparkling water brand in San Francisco. Our products are sold in more than X natural retailers). Make sure to tie your product to their line of work.

PIQUE INTEREST

Next, you need the statement that they will remember. Something that raises an eyebrow or forces them to ask questions later. If they are a retailer, say your single greatest point of differentiation (You won’t find a Cactus Rose flavor anywhere else.) If they’re an investor, say the number you are most proud of (Our velocity at Whole Foods is X% better than these category leaders). And if they’re a potential partner, tell them why you’re here to stay so they can profit from your account. (We expect to produce X pallets per month next year). This middle statement should convince the other party that you are worth listening closely to, and maybe worth a longer meeting with some sales materials.

SET THE AGENDA

Finally, tell the other party what you want from them. In Shark Tank, this is the end of the 90 second pitch where the entrepreneurs say what they are hoping to raise (and the dreaded valuation). In your meeting, this could be a request for a second meeting. Or an address to send samples. Or a request to work together in the future. Regardless, you want to end with a firm agenda so you can make space for the other party to talk. A conversation is always better than a pitch, so get the pitch portion done fast but set the tone and subject matter for the ensuing conversation. Below is a real quick pitch from a phone call last month with a prospective investor. Good luck!

An example of how it all comes together:

My name is Paul Voge, I’m the co-founder of Aura Bora, a beverage brand in San Francisco. We make craft sparkling water from herbs, fruits, and flowers in five one-of-a-kind varieties. We have more than X% month-over-month growth in the natural channel and more than Y dollars in lifetime value online. Our products are selling fast and we need to invest in growth to support those sales. If you have 45 minutes next week, I’d love to tell you more about the business and share some investor materials.