Pitching with Purpose: Shaping Your Delivery for the Moment

Hello friends,

We’ve spent the last few weeks covering every section of the Core 10 Pitch Framework. A great pitch deck is only half the story; the other half is how you deliver it. The rest of the book will focus on presenting your pitch and using it in real-world situations.

The same deck can feel rushed, inspiring, forgettable, or magnetic depending on the room, the audience, and how you show up in that moment. Sometimes you need a quick, high-energy presentation, and other times you want to go deep and build conviction with potential investors. There’s no one “right” way to pitch - there are different ways, and the goal is to know which mode to use when.

This week, we’re digging into Chapter 16, which covers the three most common pitch styles, how to match them to your setting, and what it means for The Rest of Us who have to navigate bias and perception while staying true to our voice.

There’s still time to apply to be a beta reader to read the full chapter now! These emails contain snippets; there’s much more in the book. 🙂 

Presenting Your Pitch

Your pitch deck is more than a static document. It’s a living, breathing tool that can adapt to different settings and audiences. It’s designed to introduce your company to investors, but it becomes more powerful when you deliver it. Whether you’re pitching on a demo day stage, applying for an accelerator, sitting one-on-one with a potential investor, or recording a video to share, the way you present your deck matters as much as what’s in it.

Before every pitch, ask yourself this question: What is my goal for this conversation?

Once you know what you’re trying to accomplish, you can tailor everything from your tone, pacing, and level of detail to guide your audience to that outcome. Let’s break it down into three main delivery styles, each with a different purpose and energy level:

• Perform: Capture attention.

• Inform: Build understanding.

• Dive Deep: Address nuance and conviction.

These are less like rigid categories and more like modes you can shift between depending on the setting.

Pitch Meeting Pacing: The 1/3 Rule

A general rule of thumb is that your presenting time should be about 1/3 of the total meeting time. That leaves 2/3 of the meeting for dialogue and Q&A, which is where the relationship-building happens.

If you book a 20-minute meeting with a potential investor and present your deck for 15 of those minutes, you’ve barely left any time for conversation, and the chances of booking a second meeting decrease.

Let’s talk about the three modes you’ll want to prepare for:

Performance Mode (1 – 3 Minutes Presenting)

This is your stage-ready, spotlight-on, make-them-remember-you pitch. Think demo day, competitions, or any highly selective application process where you’re one of many vying for attention. If you’ve ever attended a demo day, pitch competition, or even watched Shark Tank, this pitch style will be familiar to you. 

Performance-style pitch delivery is typically high-energy and designed to be memorable. Founders are trying to capture the attention of an audience and stand out among other presenters in a live or recorded setting. This style of pitching is also relevant to application processes for accelerators, fellowships, or grants, where a founder is looking to be selected from a pool of other candidates. 

Your goal in this mode is to inspire people to find you during networking time, learn more, and exchange contact information.

Information Mode (5 – 10 Minutes Presenting in a 30-Min Meeting)

This is the most common pitch you’ll give and is usually over Zoom, in someone’s office, or over coffee. It’s the one where your audience isn’t a room full of judges or a prize committee, but one or two investors who want to get a real sense of what you’re building. In information mode, your job is to educate. Think of yourself as a teacher and storyteller rolled into one. You’re guiding the listener through the key components of your business and leaving them with a strong foundation for deeper questions.

Your goal for this mode is to compel the person to schedule another meeting to continue the discussion.

They should walk away knowing what you’re building and why it matters, how it works, who it’s for, and where it’s going. This is where your Core 10 Framework shines. Each section connects to the next like a narrative string. If you do this well, your listener leaves not just informed but intrigued.

Deep-Dive Mode (10+ Minutes Presenting in a 45+ Min Meeting)

Now we’re getting into the real conversations. By the time you’re scheduling follow-on meetings, you’re beyond the surface. You’re no longer trying to earn the meeting; you’re trying to earn the investment.

These meetings often happen in the due diligence phase and can sometimes feel like an interrogation. Think of it this way: you’re building a bridge. The person wants to say yes, but they need your help getting there.

Expect to:

• Move fluidly between slides and appendix material.

• Spend time on technical details, potentially with experts the investor pulls into the conversation who can ask deeper questions.

• Adjust your flow in real time based on what the investor asks.

• Zoom in on specific points like market size, Go-To-Market strategy, revenue logic, etc.

Early in the meeting ask, “What would be most helpful for us to spend time on today?” You can also do this beforehand via email or set an agenda with goals to keep people focused during the conversation. These should all feel like two-way conversations rather than a defensive monologue on your part.

How it’s Different for The Rest of Us

How you show up in the room (or Zoom) is judged before you even open your mouth. If you’re an underestimated founder, whether that’s based on your race, gender, age, location, accent, education, or simply not being a carbon copy of every other founder they’ve funded, your deliver isn’t just about pitching. It’s about managing perception, and that’s a tall order.

While some founders can show up in a hoodie and “wing it,” many of us can’t afford that luxury. Our polish is mistaken for a lack of grit. Our passion gets labeled “emotional.” Our confidence is read as arrogance, or worse, as inauthentic. So yeah, how you pitch matters. A lot.

That’s why adjusting your delivery doesn’t mean becoming someone else but rather learning to dial parts of yourself up or down strategically, depending on the room, while staying true to your voice. This is precisely where many underestimated founders shine! We’ve been navigating this kind of audience awareness our whole lives. We’ve had to be excellent storytellers, compelling communicators, and sharp observers just to be taken seriously. As with many things I point out in this book, that isn’t a weakness; it’s a skill set. You’re already more practiced than you think.

That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll talk about how to run the meeting itself - the pacing, flow, and interaction that turns a pitch into a real conversation.

We’re down to the final few chapters, but I’m still welcoming beta readers! If you want the full chapter and the rest of the book early, you can apply to be a beta reader here.

Til next week.

Allison