Success Advice

The 3 Step Process to Building a Profitable Pitch

Published

4 years ago

Oct 17, 2021

Monique Maley

Image Credit: Unsplash

As a communication coach, one of the top questions entrepreneurs ask me is how to deliver a winning pitch to potential investors. They want to know if there’s a magic formula to get an investor to say yes and buy into their dream and their business.

While there isn’t a “magic” formula, there is a three-step process to building a profitable pitch. Before I walk them through it, though—and before I walk you through it here—I always give a disclaimer: not every business is fundable. There are no guarantees. You can have a brilliant pitch and still not get funded, so there is a bit of luck and a bit of alchemy that goes into the final outcome.

That being said, though, there is a way to significantly increase your chances of landing your pitch and getting funding. It all boils down to identifying the story you want to tell, creating a script for that story, and then nailing your delivery.

#1: Tell the Right Story

The first step in creating a successful pitch is deciding what story you’re telling. This may seem like an obvious step, but a lot of founders get tripped up right off the bat because they want to focus on the story of their product or service.

Investors aren’t interested in focusing on products or services during the pitch, though: they want the story of your business. It’s vital you get out of the “tell-them-all-about-my-product” mindset and instead focus on your vision for the company, both in the short and the long term.

This might seem counterintuitive, but in fact, it makes sense. Investors are looking to put their money into your business. That’s the “product” they’re looking to buy, so that’s what they want to hear about. If you want them to become a subscriber to your SaaS platform or buy your widget, then by all means, spend your time talking about your product or service. But, if you want them to buy into your business, make that the focal point of your pitch.

As you think about the story you want to tell, keep in mind that to be effective, your pitch needs to convey your clear vision about your business. You need to take your audience on your journey, and at some point they must be able to see themselves on that journey with you. Your story must make them feel like insiders to your business, and help them envision your success as their own.

“The purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you’re with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.” – Seth Godin

#2: Write the Script

Once you have a clear idea of the story you want to tell, it’s time to write the script. This is where you really start to dig into how you tell the story. How do you word it so your vision is crystal clear? As you write the script, think about the words you’re using: what you choose to include or edit out is key to emphasizing certain ideas. In truth, it’s what makes your pitch so powerful.

The key here is to stay really concise. If you can say it in one sentence, then do that; don’t try to use ten sentences to convey the same idea. Your pitch should be precise and focused, and it should pack a punch.

Look, I get it, editing can be difficult. It’s tempting to try to tell the investor everything. But, they don’t need to know everything you know, especially the first time you meet them. If you don’t take the time to edit, edit, and edit some more, you’ll end up saying too much. You’ll open things up to interpretation, or even run the risk of sounding like you don’t know what you’re talking about.

On the other hand, being really specific and intentional about your words and what you say will show potential investors you have a real handle on your business. They will quickly see that you can communicate your vision effectively, and that you know exactly where you’re going. For an investor who is considering handing over large sums of money, that’s crucial.

#3: Perfect Your Delivery

Telling the right story and perfecting your script are key components of the process, but there’s one more important step you need to take when you’re preparing to deliver a winning pitch: perfecting your delivery. You need to deliver your pitch with enough conviction and confidence that people will want to write you a big fat check with a lot of zeros.

Don’t take this step for granted. You may have a great business story, but unless you know how to tell it really well, you won’t get the desired effect from that meeting. That’s why practice is so important.

If you start going off the cuff, trying to be funny or too personal, it won’t feel authentic. It undermines what would otherwise be an incredibly powerful pitch. So, keep it authentic, and make sure you practice enough that you can nail your delivery every time.

Keep in mind, as you practice your delivery, that you need to pay close attention to how long your pitch takes. If you have a 30-minute meeting with an investor, you shouldn’t pitch them for the entire 30 minutes. You should spend 10 minutes pitching, and then take the next 20 minutes for Q&A, because that’s where the money is.

The Perfect Pitch Gets You More Time

Remember, the purpose of your pitch is strictly to get more time. Most pitches aren’t like what you see on Shark Tank—in the real world, investors aren’t going to give you money after a 30-minute meeting.

So, keep that in mind, you just want them to give you more time. So, your job is to tell them whatever they need to know to help them get to a place where they’re willing to do that.

For investors, time is money, and they aren’t going to waste their time or their money if you don’t wow them with a great pitch. But, by following this three-step process—figuring out your story, writing your script, and practicing your delivery so it’s dynamic and natural—chances are high you’ll impress your investors enough that they take a closer look at you and your business. And, if they like what they see, they’ll invest…and the time you spent preparing your profitable pitch will have been well worth it.

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Monique Maley

Monique Maley is a CEO, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. In 2011 she founded Articulate Persuasion, her third entrepreneurial success and a company that cultivates authentic and influential leaders. As a classically-trained actor with more than a decade spent in the theater and film industries, Monique offers her clients unique insight into influential communication. She leverages her actor’s toolkit and entrepreneurial experience to mentor leaders with a distinctive approach that emphasizes adaptability, impactful communication, and connection with others. Monique’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, complex government-funded organizations, and scrappy startups from around the world.

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Scale Your Business

Tired of Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketers? Here’s How Smart Entrepreneurs Are Finally Hiring Right

Published

18 hours ago

May 24, 2025

Addicted2Success Editor

If you’ve ever Googled how to hire a Facebook marketer or best TikTok marketing agency only to spend thousands on someone who couldn’t deliver…congrats, you’ve joined a very expensive club! For many entrepreneurs, hiring a digital marketer feels like more like visiting a casino and gambling with your runway, than it feels like securing a partner who’ll help build your business. Often, it feels like you’re betting on a stranger to grow the dream you’ve poured your savings into.

And way too often, you lose that bet.

You don’t need another list of the “Top 10 Agencies” with five-star testimonials and polished logos. You need to know which marketer can actually drive results for your business. Not in theory. In practice.

This is where entrepreneurs are learning to pivot. And it’s why a new platform called TruthMetric.com is turning heads across the startup world.

Why Most Startups Burn Through 3–6 Marketers Before Finding the Right One

Here’s the hard truth: most startups don’t fail because of their product, they fail because they can’t get sales or sell it fast enough. And in trying to fix that, founders usually go through five or six marketers, burning tens of thousands before finding someone who truly knows how to convert.

You build your product, get your website live, maybe even launch an ad campaign. But when you search for help and look up how to “hire a YouTube ads agency” or “top Facebook ad expert for Shopify”, you get hit with a sea of shiny portfolios, “ninja” titles, and endless promises.

Three months later, you’re still waiting on your first profitable campaign, and you’re most likely out tens of thousands, feeling utterly defeated…and maybe grinning with an affinity for that upcoming boxing class with a picture of that marketer’s fac……nevermind.

If this sounds like you, it’s time for what one entrepreneur called a strategic shift to scale smarter, not harder.

Introducing TruthMetric.com: The Transparent Marketplace for Hiring Marketers Who Deliver

TruthMetric.com isn’t just another freelancer platform or agency directory. It’s the first hiring solution where you can see three years of real, verified marketing performance before spending a dime.

That includes:

Verified ad campaign performance
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Industry-specific experience
Platform specialties (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, and more)

Whether you’re looking for a Facebook ads expert, a TikTok marketer, or a YouTube growth strategist, TruthMetric.com lets you filter and compare based on what actually matters, results.

This level of clarity is something you won’t find on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. And it solves what many founders know too well as the New York Pizza Problem: where every marketer claims they’re “the best,” just like every pizzeria in Manhattan says they’re #1. Often without showing you results, you get sucked into this dream of collaboration, until the nightmare commences the moment you fork that first invoice payment. Hence the deception that leads to many business owners losing their hard earned savings and budget to launch their grand idea.

With TruthMetric, you finally get the data to decide for yourself, BEFORE you hire. Now if only New York Pizza shops had the same transparency then maybe you’d finally find the best pizza in New York, perhaps the perfect post work out after a boxing sesh? I think so!

Why Founders Are Shifting to Results-First Hiring

Most entrepreneurs think they need to do it all themselves, until they burn out or burn through their budget. That’s exactly why this founder had to drop the Superman complex and hire a marketing genius.

What makes TruthMetric so powerful is that it turns hiring into a confident move, not a hopeful one. You’re no longer guessing. You’re choosing from proven performers. You know what vertical they dominate. You know their past client performance. You see the monthly results from the campaigns they ran, and the outcomes they achieved.

It’s not just efficient. It’s empowering.

Scaling Quickly Requires Automation and Eliminating the Noise

Founders who scale quickly understand one thing: growth isn’t just about hustle, it’s about systems. TruthMetric is the system for finding great marketers at speed. No more DM’ing ten freelancers or interviewing agencies feeling like you are asking the world of them to just see some prior results. Instead you get to see the information you need to make an informed decision and plug into verified talent, all ready to perform.

This difference allows for you to match perfectly with the right talent quickly. If you’re building your business to run lean and fast, this convenience plugged in with automation can help you scale your small business right alongside your new marketing hires.

Why TruthMetric Is Also a Boon for Marketers, Not Just Founders

This isn’t just a win for founders, it is a gift for great marketers, too.

If you’re a freelance marketer who’s been quietly pulling 10x ROAS for clients while being passed over for flashy agencies, you now have a stage where your results speak louder than your brand.

TruthMetric is a true meritocracy. No fluff. No sales tricks. Just data.

If you’re tired of being overlooked and ready to stand out based on what you actually deliver, this is your home.

The Secret Weapon for Investors and M&A Operators

There’s another angle here that some of our readers might miss.

Investors, private equity firms, and M&A advisors should be drooling at the thought of having a proven talent pool they can plug and play and the ability to use TruthMetric to revive underperforming companies. Imagine acquiring a business or becoming an active investor, then dropping in a verified operator with a history of explosive growth in that niche.

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Let’s Really Drive This Home…

If you’ve wasted money on agencies or freelancers who couldn’t deliver, it’s not because you’re bad at hiring, it’s because the game was stacked against you. Trusting dreamy charismatic sales pitches over data was a doomed approach from the start.

TruthMetric levels the playing field by showing you what no other talent marketplace does and that’s proof.

Real marketers. Real results. Real growth.

It’s time to stop guessing and start hiring based on data.
Visit TruthMetric.com and make your next marketing hire the one that actually works.

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