How Pitch Training Helped Us at ELVIDA Sharpen Our Message

Insights into Our Pitch Training

As part of the *zünder accelerator, we had the opportunity to participate in an intensive pitch training. The day was not just another appointment on the calendar, but a valuable experience that changed our perspective on communication and clarity.

Why Presentation Training is Important for Software Startups

One might think that a team working on a personal administration platform should focus more on programming than on rhetoric. However, that’s not entirely true. If you can’t explain in a few sentences what your product stands for, it’s not a lack of communication skills, but a lack of clarity.

The pitch is often the moment when this lack of clarity becomes evident. At ELVIDA, we realized that our topic, even though it sounds rather unexciting – document management, deadlines, filing – is very important. What we really offer is freedom from paperwork and stress.

The Challenge: Two Alternative Openings

Sarah Dippel, our media trainer, presented us with an exciting challenge: Develop two different openings for your pitch within ten minutes.

The idea behind this is simple but effective. When you are forced to formulate an alternative to your original pitch, you become aware of how strong your first attempt really is. For us, this led to exchanging sentences that had never been discussed before.

The Benefits of Filming

Filming with a smartphone opens up entirely new perspectives.

• Filler Words: Every "actually" or "um" becomes visible.
• Pace: Where do you speed up because you are unsure?
• Eye Contact: Where does the audience lose interest?

These insights are invaluable and help us improve our communication.

Feedback from Other Startups

As part of the program, we are in contact with 28 other startups, each facing their own challenges. Here, the value of feedback is enormous. When someone comes from a different field, they see the gaps that we might not notice internally.

The Challenge of the Elevator Pitch

The elevator pitch was another highlight of the day. Ten seconds to convey the essence. In this time, you need to get to the heart of your product. For us, this means that administration should not become faster, but should stop being the task of the person.

What We Took Away

Here are five important lessons we took from the training:

• Write the opening twice: Only in comparison do you realize what the first opening really does.
• Film Yourself: Two minutes of video are often more helpful than an hour of self-assessment.
• Get Feedback from Outsiders: They will show you the gaps you might overlook.
• Leave Pauses: Nervousness often leads you to skip important parts.
• Start with a Person: The market is important, but the human element is key.

Outlook

On September 9th, the qualification pitch is coming up, followed by the *zünder startup day on September 25th. Until then, we’ll continue working on our two sentences.

A big thank you to Sarah Dippel for her honest and constructive criticism, as well as to the *zünder team and ITZ for the opportunity to sharpen our ideas.

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