“Her palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, she’s nervous, but on the surface, she looks calm and ready… she opens her mouth, but the words won’t come out… The clock’s run out, time’s up, over.” 🎵
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Alarm goes off.
Failed. Passed over. Rejected. All that work for nothing. This is the nightmare of every founder leading up to pitch day.
Meet Becky. Meet Sophie. Two founders with similar products at the same pitch day.
Becky’s checking everything twice. Her time, her outfit, her notes. She’s been working so hard on all these details in such a short amount of time. She’s an expert, she knows her product inside and out. She’s worked on the budget and the marketing plan but didn’t have any more time to work on the deck or the branding. “It’s good enough” she tells herself “the product speaks for itself”.
Becky used a Canva template. She quickly put in her own text and photos. She left the default colours and fonts. She shoe horned in her content to fit the template.
Becky’s watching the founder just before her- Sophie. She sees Sophie’s polished slides that are cohesive from start to finish. The colours make total sense. The fonts perfectly fit their product. Sophie’s logo makes it look like they’ve been around for years. Becky starts to get nervous. She doesn’t have time for regrets— because her name is called next.
Becky flips through her slides and answers questions. The panel is polite, concealing their disappointment. This is the third presentation using the same Canva template they’ve seen today. There’s something off that they just can’t put their finger on. They like the product but wonder if this founder has what is takes. They score Becky in the middle which will ultimately prevent her from moving to the next stage. Sophie is celebrating her win while Becky’s left discouraged.
What’s Sophie’s secret? She’s part of the Make It Club.
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