Claes Mikko Nilsen: Simplicity is the key to successful pitch

On February 8-9 of 2018 Latvia’s capital Riga hosted TechChill tech event, which gathered around 2000 representatives from around the world.

Claes Mikko Nilsen is the Managing Director at Nordic Business Angel Network and Co-founder of Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN). He is well-known for his pitch moderator skills.

Within the frames of TechChill Claes Mikko gave an interview to Itel.am and shared important pitching advice for Armenian startups.

Pitch is a show

A pitch is a show to introduce people to your interesting product. Over the past 7 years I’m actively listening to pitches, and I’m confident that it’s not the best way to find startups. A pitch gives only a glimpse of something, and only one-to-one meetings actually allow you to discuss serious issues.

I appreciate entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid of pitching in a foreign language, standing in front of the audience and sharing what they do loudly.

Claes Mikko Nilsen
photo © From personal archive

It’s necessary to let entrepreneurs to always do a rehearsal, as it will eliminate stress moments. On the other hand, when something goes wrong during the pitch, it’s very interesting to see how the person handles that unexpected situation. This also reflects on how the person will deals with activities in the real business world.

I think that 5 minutes is a really long time for a pitch, if you don’t understand what it is all about. Finland’s standard is 3 minutes.
 
It’s essential to make sure the audience can retell your story

You need to be able to pitch in a way that everyone in the audience understands you, even if just small percentage of them could be possible investors.  Your goal should be introducing the product so well that people who heard your story can later share it back at home.

It’s important to show entrepreneurial commitment

The level of energy that shows your commitment is crucial; the public loves it. Tell about what you often do, because if you don’t, you will lose the audience.

You also have to know all the numbers relating to your startup.

Narine Daneghyan