Pitching your startup to investors is the ultimate challenge. There is no maybe. There is no second chance. You either get the funding or not.
Now, imagine you could measure how good your pitch is and know what investors are actually thinking in real-time...
In true startup spirit Scott Brown, CEO of Immersion, did just that. At Denver Startup Week he used the Immersion neuroscience platform to measure how investors‘ brains responded to the pitch of two extraordinary startup founders. In real-time, just like the many Immersion customers do every day. This impressive science and product can unlock new opportunities when it comes to your pitch or your content and is so game changing, it required a bit of caution...
Two fundamentally different approaches
Sebastian Jimenez took the stage first, presenting how Rilla is taking speech analytics to the physical world to improve sales conversion. He was full of energy, confident and left no doubt that he knows how to sell.
He was followed by Vanessa Clark, CEO of Atomos, who took a calm, educational approach in her pitch about how she is revolutionizing space travel logistics.
Two fundamentally different approaches: First, the confident sales pitch and on the other side, the educational engineer. Which would resonate best with the panel of investors?
Investor Panel
The panel alone was a reason to join Denver Startup Week. Amy Kruse, Ariel Jaduszliwer and Matt Harris and their respective firms have been investing in startup icons like Paperless Post, OpenTable, Zappos, Skype, Thumbtack, and more. Now they allowed us to experience what happens in their brains when they see a founder pitch a startup.
By connecting their smartwatch to the Immersion platform, their brain's responses were measured in real time during the two founder presentations. Immersion automatically analyzed what parts of the pitch resonated and overlaid segments with neurological insights on the recording of the live pitch allowing us all to replay the most interesting moments.
The Brutal Truth in Real-Time
The reality of the Immersion platform is that you can‘t fake it. We‘ve seen hundreds of ads from renowned marketers fail to capture their target audience. The brain doesn‘t lie and Immersion makes that brutally transparent. That can hurt and we‘ve seen our fair share of tears 😭 but in the end, it leads to better content and better pitches. In this competitive game, we all know that ignorance is not bliss. That might be the reason Immersion resonates so well with marketers as it allows you to test your ad investment before you waste your marketing budget.
True Startup Rockstars
With 400 participants in the Zoom, you could almost feel the anticipation. Which of the two fundamental pitch approaches would literally blow the investors minds? And, would the results from the investors be different than the parallel tracking of the audience?
It is one thing to be rejected by investors in an intimate setting like a board room or a small Zoom. It is a totally different game to expose your business plan and carefully crafted pitch in front hundreds of investors and peers.
And they delivered. Scott analyzed both pitches in great detail, pointing out highlights and the weak points. Which was not an easy tasks as both had blown the investors minds. With overall Immersion scores of 86 and 88 on scale from 0-100 they achieved incredible results.
But What Type of Brains Engage?
What was interesting, was the comparison of the insights by the investors to the results by the audience. While the investors truly loved the pitches, the audience was indifferent. Some highs and some lows, but neither win a popularity contest. Which illustrates the need to aim your marketing to the right audience. It is not enough to be popular, you need to be loved by those that matter: investors, customers or users.
Want to check out Immersion for yourself?
With the SIX app, it's east to measure any live experience or piece of content FOR FREE! Test a pitch you're working on, or share out a pitch you've recorded and find out if it's going to land the investment you're looking for!! Simply navigate to the INVITE tab, set up the measurement, and share the clickable link or scannable QR with your audience. You'll get a Value Score quantifying the neurologic value you had on an audience, a Safety Score showing how comfortable and open to absorbing the info they were, and a Summary unpacking these scores at no cost. Plus, you have the option to purchase detailed data reflecting the emotional journey of the audience over time, and all for only $10/per brain!