the story of our first pitch (but called the final pitch 3 of 3) The one where we actually pitched

Sick. Feverish. Insecure.

It was my turn to enter the room and pitch.

Fake bravado.

I said a little prayer, and walked through the door.

There were a lot of lights. There were 2 cameras I think. 5 judges/investors sitting in front. There was a screen where I would present. Behind the camera stood Carl, watching.

I faked a hop in my step to show that I was confident, coupled it with a smile. I didn’t know if I was fooling anyone, but at some level it worked to “fool” myself that I was indeed confident.

“Good morning investors!”

I exclaimed as I stood in a spot marked X beside the screen. Then John, the host of the show just walked to the center in front of me. He spoke in a shushed voice.

“Are you nervous? This is it man. Could you repeat saying good morning in a louder voice?”

Ok, that took me off my spontaneity, but what the hell. I think my voiced cracked a little, so yah, maybe I should repeat. Also, come to think of it, I have not really said more than a few words for the past 2 hours. All the conversations and speaking I did was just in my head. Ok, let me repeat.

“Good morning investors!”

The five judges politely nodded. Some where smiling, some had crumpled foreheads, one was just stoic.

“So we are Hustle PH and we are a market research tech start-up.”

So i went through the deck. I did not forget a word I practiced. Though, as I went through my presentations, the changing facial reactions of the investors were really distracting.

Am I doing well? Why did he suddenly frown?

I just shown how we are profitable, why did he smirk?

I gave them a view on how we are more than 10X better than competition, why did the two investors started whispering to each other?

F*ck that. I just needed to get through this.

I executed every word with the tone, pause and exclamation as I practiced. I forgot I was sick. I forgot I was afraid. It was kind of “robotic” maybe, was that good? Did I sound prepared then? Or am I losing authenticity points?

I don’t know.

Then I ended and the questions started.

The first question I dreaded, it made me re-think if I indeed presented well.

“So, what exactly do you do again?”

F*ckng A. Was it only her, or was I really a bad presenter that the most basic thing, “what we are doing”, did not come across/

“We are a marketing research start-up.” I said, trying to push off any annoyance from my voice.

“We answer business questions like what is your market share? Do people like your product? What do they like about it? Is it a good idea to release a certain product? Who are my customers? These are the questions we answer, and we give the data 3 to 5 times faster, less than half the price alongside having more accurate and targeted findings.”

I don’t know if my message came across, but she did not push further.

Then another question, but this one I get a lot, so no worries really.

“How then could you ensure your data is accurate if it is crowdsourced through your platform?”

Basic. I love this question. Answered it and I think he was convinced.

Then another, and another, but all questions just helped me prove my case as the disruptor of the current duopoly in this business segment. So, well and good.

Then there is this one:

“What is your secret sauce?”

My answer here was cut in the filming, they tried to make it more exciting I guess? I don’t know, but really did not matter.

I answered:

“None really.” But I said a lot more after.

“We do not do anything that mind blowing, at least the way I see it. We gather data and give it to clients through our tech. That is what we do. Yes, we have other tech startup competitors who follow the same model, but we are better.”

Then one of them cut me off, not in an annoying way, just in a normal conversational way where you just want to know why.

“So why are you better than competitors?”

“Because companies love us,” I said, then another cut me off, again not in a disrespectful way, just as if we were in a bar drinking and he just wants to ask something.

“Everybody says that their customers love them, but what is your metric? How do you know?” The investor asked.

I really did not know if at that moment, I was smart enough to drive the conversation at this point, but in hindsight of course that is my story, but this was the kicker, at least in my perspective. Also, it was not included in the last cut, but I think it was my baller moment.

“They love us because they pay for our services and continue to. Our competitors, at least the one with models same us ours, do not have that. We have Unilever, JTI, Globe Telecom, Singaporean tech companies, banks and a lot more who pay us. I think that is the best measure if your client likes your service, if they pay for it, not only once, but repeatedly.”

BOOM.

I don’t know if it was just me, but I felt the room lit up. That was my dagger.

Three of the investors started chatting.

We were ushered out of the room for a while, to add drama to the effect I think.

I went back. Three of them had an offer.

The feeling was light, confusing, exciting all at the same time.

I took it. Shook hands. Hugged Carl.

We may lose a lot on a daily basis, but that day, that moment, was clearly a win.