The Pitch That Got Obama’s Attention

Two weeks ago, Tacit Intelligence was selected as one of the 12 teams that are competing for a spot to represent Aotearoa at the Start Up World Cup (I’m still unsure how gimmicky this is).

We have 2 minutes to pitch our business to then represent New Zealand at the finals in San Fran.

This week we had Brianne West of Ethique, who sold 75% of her company for ~ $100 M in 2020 teach us pitching.

Here were the 5 most useful highlights for me from her yarn:

1. Make the problem matter immediately. Start with the problem, not your name, company history, or technology. Use one strong fact, example, or story that shows the consequence of the problem and makes the audience care.

2. Explain the company in one simple sentence. The judges must quickly understand what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters. Remove technical language, acronyms, and unnecessary detail. Save most of the “how” for Q&A.

3. Lead with your strongest evidence. Do not wait until the end to show the best part of the business. If you have exceptional revenue, customer results, contracts, growth, pilots, technology performance, or another major proof point, show it early. Evidence is more persuasive than claims.

4. Show why this can become a large company. Clearly explain who buys, why they buy, how you make money, how large the opportunity is, how you will grow, and why you can win against existing alternatives. Never say you have no competition; the status quo is also competition.

5. Treat the pitch as a story, not a compressed business plan. A two-minute pitch cannot explain everything. Its job is to make the judges want to know more. Use roughly 6–8 simple, visual slides to support the story.

You’ve likely heard this all before, but nice to hear it from someone who’s actually done it.

Making AI Great Again

That’s not just software, it’s the fintech infrastructure platform that’s going to save the world…

It’s not X, it’s Y. Endless Em-dashes. The rule of three. The Rhetorical question.

AI writing rhetoric drives me bananas.

And it feels like they’re getting worse. So when I discovered how to end them this week, I literally fist pumped.

Just tell your model to always use ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English.

And make sure it saves that instruction to memory.

Boom, no more idiot speak that reads worse than LinkedIn.