

Our experience with The Starbucks Pitch - sgrove
http://blog.chuwe.com/the-starbucks-pitch-our-experience

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yan
I am really digging this post not only for its goal of training to pitch, but
that it stresses approaching random people in a friendly, non-intrusive
manner. I know I don't do this enough and I'm sure others have issues with it.

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davidw
My Inner Cynic says: "great idea!" might be a way of trying to get rid of
people in the easiest way possible, since it doesn't cost anything? Maybe not,
but if you have nothing to lose because you're just some random guy who wants
to disengage as quickly as possible, it might be easier than arguing about why
it's a bad idea, especially since you don't really care.

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sgrove
Yeah, that's exactly my point. While I don't necessarily think they were
trying to get rid of me, I don't think they really understood the pitch. So
that's one of the signs to look for - if they just say, "That's great, good
job!", you're probably not engaging them. If they grill you a little bit
further, then they're at least slightly interested in the idea, and they've
understood the majority of it.

One point of the starbucks pitch is quantity over quality. You may get a lot
of people who will kindly blow you off, but you're not paying for any of it,
so you can continually practice until you can engage any of them with an
interesting pitch.

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midnightmonster
I love this idea, but I'm not clear on the goal. Are you looking for feedback
on the idea or are you only trying to improve the way you talk about the idea?
If someone quickly understands what you're doing but thinks it sucks, did you
succeed or fail?

Once (if) I've succeeded in making myself clear, I think I might trying asking
explicitly what the 'pitchee' thinks is wrong or could go wrong with the idea.
Oftentimes people need to be prompted to give negative feedback. To friends I
just say, "What sucks about this idea?"

Finally, people are surprisingly game for things that are out of the ordinary.
I don't think you need to lie about what you're doing so long as you're
friendly and clear. "Hi, I'm Joshua Paine. I'm working on an idea for a
business, and I'd like to practice pitching it to you to get an outside
opinion. I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'd just like your thoughts." Or
something like that.

~~~
sgrove
Good feedback. We'll be going back out for the second round soon, so I'll try
it without any subterfuge, and update the post with the results. My previous
experience tells me people usually take pretty kindly to an student, but I'm
all for mixing it up.

As for the results, I'm not too worried that the pitchee likes/dislikes the
idea. It's all warm fuzzies if they do, and of course the more people you can
interest with a pitch the btter, but they're not likely your target market.
It's more important to simply watch their face for emotional changes
(especially boredom) and gauge your ability from that.

Also, bringing your cofounders and critical friends along is where the real
negative feedback comes from. People generally aren't going to be familiar
with your domain to give much meaningful commentary, but your cofounders are
imagining you pitching to investors or (in our case) potential users at a
entrepreneur's meetup. With that context in mind, their feedback is golden.

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10ren
Reminds me of "information interviewing" from "What Color is your Parachute"
(job-hunting guide). Part of the aim there is to just get comfortable with
talking to strangers.

I love those two old guys. It's also like you've given them something, like a
freebie sample of a new product.

> People are a bit kinder if they think you're a student rather than an nosy
> salesperson

Isn't that lying?

~~~
ConradHex
I'd argue it's for a good cause, and doesn't have much potential for harm.

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sgrove
I don't think it harms anyone, but perhaps it's a bit dishonest. I'll go back
to trying it the other way and see if I can't get the same level of kind
interest.

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swombat
Seems like an excellent idea, although some people might consider it a bit
weird when you tell them about it.

It's funny how many things seem "weird" to "normal people" (try explaining to
your non-entrepreneur friends that you went and practiced your pitch in
Starbucks...), but are highly effective at actually getting results...

~~~
sgrove
Well, even my co-founder thought it was a bit strange. But after the first
day, he was hooked. It's like crowd-sourced business coaching - it might not
be _top notch_ but it's perfect for a bootstrapped startup's budget.

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skmurphy
Unless patronizing a Starbucks is a good indicator that someone is a prospect,
I would try a method that brought me into contact with prospects. If
"everyone" is your prospect you may want to narrow your focus. If you need
help overcoming painful shyness I would recommend Toastmasters or Dale
Carnegie.

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3pt14159
Love the starbucks idea. What my friends from U of Waterloo do is pitch the
idea to a very open economics prof (L. Smith) that gives highly critical
feedback (tone, speed, size of market place, range of execution).

~~~
sgrove
Having a private network of experienced people to give feedback in a sandbox
environment is wonderful. High quality, specifically targeted feedback - it's
a dream for a startup.

Unfortunately, not everyone will have that network to tap. Starbucks serves as
a lower-quality, but still effective practice ground. The only catch is,
critical feedback on tone, speed, etc. is going to come from your cofounders
more than your audience.

