Something you rarely say as a founder: “No need to rush – we’ve got plenty of time!” Whether it’s an application for an accelerator, research before an important meeting or your pitch at an event, ruthless prioritization may well dictate that you complete it the day (or hour!) before it’s due.

So what would the outcome of this high-stakes situation look like if you actually had more time to prepare? If you *gave* yourself more time to prepare?

That’s exactly why Message Worth Millions host and communications expert Kirin Kalia is helping you reframe the value of preparation time so that you’ll actually do it (and not shrug it off as something you…wait for it…don’t have time for).

Kirin’s inspiration for this episode came from preparing founders to pitch at a recent DemoDayLA event – many of them the day before 😅

[HEADS UP: If you want to attend or pitch at the November 20 edition of DemoDayLA at BLANKSPACES in Venice, head over here.]

As to WHY you want to prepare, it all comes down to 1) delivering something of higher quality that gets you results and 2) showing up more confident and present for the meeting or event.

When you believe it’s worth preparing in advance, here’s how you do it (with more details in the episode):

1) Get clear on your outcomes for this opportunity.
2) Set yourself a deadline before the deadline.
3) Block time on your calendar for prep.
4) Actually USE that time to prep.
5) Celebrate your progress - not just the completion.
6) Take some space for review

Don’t miss the next episode of Message Worth Millions - make sure you subscribe on Apple or Spotify!

Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)

Especially in an AI world, human connection beats perfection every time.

→ Follow your host Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, on LinkedIn.

-=-=-=-ABOUT YOUR HOST-=-=-=-

​Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and marketing. As a communications partner for growth-stage startups, she helps founders master their messaging and public-speaking skills so they raise money and grow their revenue faster.

​Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch investors and innovation leaders at companies including Visa, P&G Ventures, the Estée Lauder Companies and more.

Kirin is a 2023 All-Star Mentor for Techstars Los Angeles and also mentors founders in programs including the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, FoundersBoost and the MassChallenge FinTech Program.

When you hear about something for the first time, do you want it to be boring or hard to understand? Of course not! If you were having a conversation like that at a party, you’d find a way to exit as quickly as possible. But with pitching it’s super easy to fall into both traps – boring and hard – if you’re focused on telling someone the facts of your business.

The truth is that the facts alone usually aren’t interesting, and they rarely persuade someone to take action. Treating a pitch like a performance, however, sets you up to speak and show your business in ways that lead to a much higher chance of YES. And you don’t have to be a Shakespearean actor to do any of it :)

Host and communications expert Kirin Kalia shares her top five ways to prepare for any pitch in this episode of Message Worth Millions:

• Start from the end. What will they remember and retell?
• Develop a killer hook and a strong closing with a call to action.
• Ensure your middle part covers all the criteria that are expected of you.
• Plan to finish 5-10 seconds before your time is up.
• Use slides that are designed for presentation to an audience - big images, limited text.

What does performing actually mean? Kirin’s process starts with remembering to BREATHE and to focus on the audience. She also recommends varying your voice (no monotone, please) and moving deliberately (no pacing!), as well as a few other tips.

To understand what a great pitch-as-performance looks like, Kirin breaks down this 2024 Techstars Healthcare pitch from Saisri Akondi of D.Sole, a smart insole that helps diabetics avoid foot complications that lead to amputation. You’ll understand exactly how Saisri makes it easy to understand her product and her business, and you’ll know why this mission is so important to her.

ALSO: Kirin mentioned she’s prepping founders for DemoDayLA on September 18, so grab one of the remaining spots or a ticket to watch the performances.

Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)

Especially in an AI world, human connection beats perfection every time.

→ Follow your host Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, on LinkedIn.

-=-=-=-ABOUT YOUR HOST-=-=-=-

​Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and marketing. As a communications partner for growth-stage startups, she helps founders master their messaging and public-speaking skills so they raise money and grow their revenue faster.

​Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch investors and innovation leaders at companies including Visa, P&G Ventures, the Estée Lauder Companies and more.

Kirin is a 2023 All-Star Mentor for Techstars Los Angeles and also mentors founders in programs including the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, FoundersBoost and the MassChallenge FinTech Program.

The real make-or-break moment for any founder who’s pitching investors or customers isn’t the actual pitch. Yeah, you heard that right. The less-discussed but extremely important skill you really need: answering questions so the people on the other side feel certain in your abilities to deliver results. When you have a conversation that excites your audience – rather than a one-direction stream of information that bores them – you’re far more likely to get the yes.

Every situation has a clock ticking, and everybody has a limited attention span. With those facts in mind, your host and communications expert Kirin Kalia shares her top three criteria for any answer in episode 3 of Message Worth Millions:

• QUICK - 30 seconds or less, no matter the topic.
• CLEAR & DIRECT - no jargon or buzzwords, no long sentences.
• CONFIDENT - word choice, tone of voice and body language.

So just how do you prepare? Kirin’s process starts with researching what matters to the people you’re meeting with (or who’s judging you, if it’s a competition), then writing down all the questions you’ve gotten before or can expect. Next, record and time your answers, ideally with a team member to keep you honest. Although it’s not fun, review your answers and determine how you can make them quicker, clearer and more confident. Practice again :)

Kirin also takes you through five key questions from investor Nicole DeTomasso and answers two of them as if she were a founder of Dex, a language-learning toy company that recently raised $4.8M. Nicole's questions:

1. What’s the unique pain point?
2. How are you solving it?
3. What is your earned secret in solving this problem? Why you?
4. What’s your go-to-market strategy? Near-term and at scale?
5. Why is now the time to build this solution?

And for you female founders, watch this TED talk from founder turned business school professor Dana Kanze so you know the difference between a prevention (defense) and a promotion (offense) question and how to handle the prevention ones that (unfortunately) you’re more likely to get from investors.

Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)

When someone says to you, “Give me an example” about your product, what do you say? It’s a pivotal moment in any conversation, and you as a founder must be ready for it. Why? Scrambling on the fly is no fun, but you also don’t want to miss your chance to get that beautiful “a-ha!” moment where their eyes light up and they nod their heads.

The painful truth is that general or abstract concepts don't help you connect with investors or customers.

In episode 2 of Message Worth Millions, your host and communications expert Kirin Kalia explains why you always want to include examples – whether it’s a conversation or formal pitch – and what makes examples strong and memorable. The question to ask yourself before you start: “What will they remember and retell?”

Kirin’s four rules for memorable examples:
1. Just enough details to be memorable but not overwhelming or distracting.
2. Relatable or understandable for your audience. They can visualize it and see themselves in it.
3. Have something valuable at stake (such as money, time, health, etc.)
4. Showcase the most valuable or compelling aspect of your product/solution.

To bring these points to life, Kirin looks back at the 2014 story about consumer products startup Walker & Co – which started with shaving products for Black men and was acquired by P&G in 2018.

[FYI: Founder/CEO Tristan Walker talks in this 2023 interview about the relatability problem and who ultimately invested.]

She then walks through recent coverage of a new productivity app called Ocean and the memorable example it includes (with a bonus tip on talking to reporters).

Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)

Especially in an AI world, human connection beats perfection every time.

→ Follow your host Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, on LinkedIn.

-=-=-=-ABOUT YOUR HOST-=-=-=-

​Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and marketing. As a communications partner for growth-stage startups, she helps founders master their messaging and public-speaking skills so they raise money and grow their revenue faster.

​Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch investors and innovation leaders at companies including Visa, P&G Ventures, the Estée Lauder Companies and more.

Kirin is a 2023 All-Star Mentor for Techstars Los Angeles and also mentors founders in programs including the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, FoundersBoost and the MassChallenge FinTech Program.

No startup founder wants to pitch their heart out only to realize their audience didn’t understand a single word. If it’s happened to you, you probably know what the worst question is because you’ve heard it: “So what is it you actually do?”

In this inaugural episode of Message Worth Millions, startup veteran and communications expert Kirin Kalia explains why the disconnect happens and why it matters. Kirin outlines three ways you can change what you say about your business so that your audience, whether it’s investors or customers, will always understand it.

Those three things:
1. Know your audience - what do they want, what’s their pain?
2. Use Plain English to describe what you do, not jargon.
3. Give an example that’s relatable.

To bring these points home, Kirin looks at news coverage and the website of Lava, a payments infrastructure startup for AI developers that recently raised $5.8M. 

Message Worth Millions is a weekly podcast for startup founders like you who want to raise money and grow their revenue faster. You need a message that moves your audience – usually investors and customers – to say YES…and all those yeses add up :)

Especially in an AI world, human connection beats perfection every time.

→ Follow your host Kirin Kalia, founder of Grow Through Story, on LinkedIn.

-=-=-=-ABOUT YOUR HOST-=-=-=-

​Kirin Kalia is a startup veteran and communications expert with 25+ years of experience across journalism and marketing. As a communications partner for growth-stage startups, she helps founders master their messaging and public-speaking skills so they raise money and grow their revenue faster.

​Kirin has coached 1000+ founders to pitch investors and innovation leaders at companies including Visa, P&G Ventures, the Estée Lauder Companies and more.

Kirin is a 2023 All-Star Mentor for Techstars Los Angeles and also mentors founders in programs including the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, FoundersBoost and the MassChallenge FinTech Program.