The 3 Superheroes Theory of Pitching

Founders might not be leaping tall buildings in a single bound to save the day, but they are moving industries forward and shaping the future. Founders use powers of persuasion to energize early employees and customers and are often nearly invincible to accepting no as an answer as they build their company.

Founders are superheroes.

Kryptonite isn’t the poison sapping the strength of a startup, but undercapitalization can create weakness and cause a startup’s downfall. The great enemy of a superhero founder during fundraising is a lack of interest from investors.

So, how can a founder grab the interest of a potential investor and avert disaster? By showcasing what makes their superhero powers shine. Let’s call this the “3 Superheroes Theory” of pitching.

The 3 Superheroes Theory: Founders who choose the single most fitting superhero story from three distinct options (outlined below), will craft a pitch that cuts to the heart of the value being created by the company, piquing interest, and giving stakeholders and potential investors clarity.

At its core, the theory outlines three potential ways a founder can position their company in the mind of an investor. The secret is that only ONE can be chosen for the strategy to be most effective.

 The 3 Superheroes

1.    The Iron Man Suit – Occasionally a startup has such strong uniqueness and novel intellectual property(IP) that an investor must take notice. When thinking about superheroes in general, the ability to fly is impressive with notable examples from the likes of Superman, the Green Lantern and Storm…but it isn’t unique enough to pitch alone. Iron Man’s suit enables flight as a feature, but the suit itself encompasses SO much more than just flight that it can stand by itself as an incredible creator of value.

The “Iron Man Suit” pitch is the most rare type of the three because the execution of a novel idea is usually what drives the real value of a startup. Occasionally a specific patent or highly unique insight or approach to a market is strong enough to demand an investor’s attention in the way an Iron Man suit would…but for the majority of founders, read on to determine which bucket your company falls into.

2.    The Avengers - Is your team the secret to your company’s success? If so, you have an “Avengers” story to tell. Your team is a collection of superheroes, each with their own unique powers that collectively can do far more than any can individually.

It’s clear a startup should choose this story when the secret sauce of the company lies within the team itself. The combination of the team members is what will jolt the investor into realizing the weight of the opportunity. Sometimes, this has to do with past exits various team members have had. If they’ve successfully built well-known companies from day 1 through large exit, the startup’s pitch will most likely be an Avengers-style story. Or if the founding team is stacked with a rare breed of scientist or technologist who could easily hold high value positions outside of the startup, then it’s likely that the Avengers angle is the one to showcase.

3.    Superman’s Feat – Traction demands attention and shuts down debate. Founders can make lofty claims about the impact of their solution and investors often take the “devil’s advocate” view trying to figure out why the founder’s thesis is wrong. But once a founder can prove their claims with real data (like SALES) from customers, the debate is over. Traction trumps all, as long as the traction is in the form of undeniable proof from customers that a startup’s solution is imperative in the market. This proof usually comes in the form of quickly growing revenue.

Let’s think about Superman. If Superman was pitching his superpowers as a startup, what would bring laser focused attention on him from investors? The fact that he can fly or has superhuman strength or laser-like eyeballs? Those things are cool, but not likely to demand attention since they are simply examples of what he can do. In and of themselves those things aren’t fully impactful. But Superman could “wow” by showing that his superpowers combined to save a train full of people (complete with their testimonials), or by showing how he harnessed his abilities to fly against the gravitational pull of the earth and caused time to reverse. This is the type of feat, or demonstration of success, that can’t be ignored.

Founders need to be honest with themselves when choosing one of the 3 Superheroes to build their pitch around. Warning signs will go off in the mind of an investor if there is no clear signal of a startup’s super-strength. Choosing to highlight the strongest part of the company whether it’s IP, an incredible team or undeniable traction, will draw focus to the area driving the most value within the startup and hold the interest of investors.

Founder Question: But don’t I need to share my team, traction and IP to investors when I pitch?

Answer: Yes, when pitching an investor you need to share a 360 degree picture of your company as a whole. But your goal should be to really show off in an area that makes you uniquely positioned to be successful…one of the 3 Superheroes mentioned above. Work to craft your pitch around one of those superhero themes to implant the best of your company into the mind of the investor you’re pitching. When you’re done pitching, the investor should have no doubt what your superpower is. From a tactical standpoint, this will often look like starting your pitch strong with your superhero choice, and then weaving it into the entirety of the pitch.

For example, if you believe your company has an Avengers-style story, you will want to bring your Team slide up to the front of your pitch and wow the investor with “who” before showing what you’re building and how. The strength of your team should be woven through your narrative about the technology you’ve built and the traction you’ve seen. Similarly, if you have a Superman Feat story, you’ll want to grab attention from the outsetof your pitch by sharing the traction metrics, then keep the traction thread moving through the entirety of the pitch.