pitching Archives - Startup Economist

Founders, Stop Trying to Be Perfect

Monday, 23 February 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Perfection is the fastest way to look inexperienced. Not because ambition is bad and not because polish doesn’t matter but because the very definition of a startup makes perfection impossible. A startup is not a smaller version of a big company, it is a temporary organization searching for a scalable, repeatable business model. That language

Published in Startups

9 Comments

The Better Startup Pitch Test: Why Most Decks Fail Before Investors Ever Say No

Monday, 09 February 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Most pitch decks don’t fail because the startup is doomed (though I’ve explained how we know that’s the case just from how you pitch, here). They fail because the founder is thinking in PowerPoint instead of economics, incentives, and narrative logic. Every founder asks for the template to follow, as though there is some magic

fundraising pitch decks pitching slides storytelling

Published in Raising Capital, Startups

8 Comments

Why We Teach Startups to Pitch to Investors Even If They Don’t Want Venture Capital

Friday, 06 February 2026 by Paul O'Brien

I realized this week, that this is a discussion point I have with almost every founder, and yet I’ve never bothered to write it up. Every founder. Particularly in our work in Founder Institute, when teaching or mentoring dozens of founders in the same room, the question is always posed, “why are we working on

funding fundraising pitch decks pitching venture capital

Published in Startups

14 Comments

The Startup Pitch Mistakes That Tell Us You’ll Fail Before You Start

Thursday, 22 January 2026 by Paul O'Brien

A startup pitch is not a sales pitch; no one in the room is buying, we are not your customer and we’re not even deciding whether your idea “will work.” What we’re doing is much simpler and harsher: we’re deciding whether what you’re doing creates enough perceived value to justify our time, reputation, and risk

communication pitch pitches pitching startups

Published in Startups

22 Comments

Why Incubators Make You Practice the Pitch: Founder First Impressions Send the Loudest Message

Tuesday, 16 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

With the fall season of cohorts starting, I’m reminded that most founders will be asking of advisors why there is so much emphasis on practicing the elevator pitch. In every cohort I’ve mentored, a founder invariably raises their hand and asks why so much time is spent on the 60 seconds, with a look in

elevator pitch first impressions fundraising pitch deck pitching startup pitch

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

4 Comments

The GTM Slide is Broken: Here’s How to Fix It

Wednesday, 23 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

The Go To Market Slide (GTM), is the most misunderstood, misused, and mangled slide in the entire startup pitch deck. It’s like the appendix of a pitch; everyone includes it, nobody knows exactly why, and when it bursts, the whole body of your presentation goes septic. Every founder knows they need one. Almost no one

go to market marketing pitch deck pitching slides

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

47 Comments

Stop Pitching Your Startup Like It’s a Science Fair Project

Monday, 07 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Nobody cares about your startup. And it’s not because they’re stupid, or you’re too early. It’s because you’re saying the wrong damn thing. I’ve learned through my own startup, as well as working with hundreds of founders through incubators, that the answer to your frustration with this is always the same. The problem founders always

communication entrepreneurship messaging pitching startups

Published in Startups

46 Comments