For students and phD-students

Pitch Training – Practise your own elevator pitch and learn to act as if you love the stage (even if you don’t). Get what you ask for – money, sympathy, support. Pitch anything!

Part 2

We will meet again on 10 th of July 2025, 10-12 am. For this session I ask you to prepare slides to use in your 5-Minutes-presentation. I also would like to see you speak freely. There will be no table to hide behind.

You may use the pitch deck structure with the 12/13 classical slides (see below) or you may use a simpler core structure with less slides – whatever you use, I would love to listen to your pitch.

Checklist

You can download a checklist for the slides and the performance here. Please make sure to prepare your presentation according to this guideline.

Winner pitches

Last time, Ines and Mehli won the Jury price. The allowed me to share their presentation with you.

Part 1

Welcome everyone!

Firstly, I ask you to listen to my introduction-audio file. I am happy to get to know you soon!

Secondy, I ask you to to read the following instructions, to watch the videos and to do the exercises before the start of the workshop. This will take approximately 1 to 1,5 hours. But since it consists also of watching videos, I guess you can manage this while having a good time.

Note: I understand that some of you already have a business idea to present, while others do not. Your group is heterogenous. Some of you may already have a pitch deck, while others have not. No matter where you stand right now, if you read the following instructions and complete the exercises, everyone will be able to present in the workshop and learn a great deal.

According to your own preparation you may create a new pitch or you go with the one you already have. Everything is fine- just choose one option.

When the workshop starts, everyone should have a pitch that they can present.

Core framework

Pitching to an investor – in general

If you want to win the deal (no matter where and when), there are a few simple rules. If you follow them, you will convince others. It’s like a recipe. However, the problem for most scientists is that they are used to presenting in a scientific context: giving a talk at conferences or presenting a poster.

The way you present may be very different when you’re presenting to an investor, someone who knows nothing about your topic. Additionally, decision-makers are usually overloaded with work. Their email inbox is full, their phone is constantly pinging, and someone is always asking something of them. So, when pitching your idea to an investor, you need to make it exciting, as simple as possible, and as short as possible in order to grab their attention. You need to break through to their brain. This is why the following rules are absolutely essential.

It‘s important to appeal to emotions in your presentation. The problem should hurt, and the solution should bring relief – the pain and the aspirin. Explain how hard you worked to find the solution. Use the power of storytelling.

You can also read and apply Aristotle’s principle of the “Rhetoric Triangle,” which you can find here.

Exercise: Your opening

One of the most important parts of your pitch is your opening. We will work on that. Create three variations, each with increasing conviction or exaggeration, matching your pitch.

For example:

• My name is Andrea, and I study medicine (Neutral/understated/kind of boring)
• My name is Andrea, and I would like to present my outstanding idea (Bold/confident)
• My name is Andrea, and I am going to cure cancer (Very bold/exaggerated)

If you haven’t designed a pitch yet:
Your story in a simple but powerful model. AIDA formula for your 1-3 minute pitch

You can present your business idea by using in a simple but very powerful structure: AIDA.

You may use slides to emphasize your presentation, but you don’t have to. If yes, the slides should be sent to Cheng-Wen Jaw as a ppt or pdf file prior to the workshop.

AIDA: Storytelling Structure. Please Download the two files, read and fill in the AIDA form with your own business idea.

If you have designed your pitch with a pitch deck and want to know more about it (we will not discuss this in the workshop in detail)

For those who want to know more about a classic pitch deck: It contains more information and more slides than the simple AIDA model. For preparing your pitch deck you may use the standard format, which is the following, but you don’t have to, not all slides may be feasible for you (in addition: a very short version, similar to the AIDA, is hook-problem-solution-call-to-action).

1. first slide/hook (you may start with a question or statement etc)

2. problem (the pain- use the power of story telling)

3. solution (the aspirin – use the power of story telling)

4. your technology/USP/secret source

5. proof-of-concept

6. market

7. competition

8. go-to-market/distribution channel

9. KPI/metrics

10. finance (Turnover, profit, scalability, required investment volume, What do you use your prize money for?)

11. traction (what have you already achieved and in what time?)

12. team (What is your expertise, introduce your co-founders. Which expertise do you have to buy in?)

13. Closing slide with call-to-action (Distribute your product, actively invite people to talk to you, show your social media profile to network, etc. Be creative!

Advice for your pitch deck

More is less! Reduce the text to simple and short bullet points or only headings.

Work on your timing. Try to speak as slowly as possible while still keeping within the 3-minute limit. That’s why you have to reduce the text in your pitch.

Try to design the slides so that each slide contains only one message that comes to your mind quickly and can be clearly formulated. This automatically reduces speaking time. If you have adjusted the length of your text so that you only have clear, simple messages to convey per slide, it will be much easier for you to present. You won’t forget what you want to say anymore. This allows you to speak freely or rely only on notes you hold in your hand (index cards, mobile device).

Pictures: Include graphics, diagrams and pictures as much as you can to reduce text. People want to see simple images while they’re listening to you. You also have to include a picture of you. It’s fine to take a selfie for a start.

Contact slide: Please provide us with contact data.

Copyright: If you submit a pitch deck in writing, then each image must have a source citation. You must also provide sources if you are talking about the expected revenue, the market etc. This creates trust in your presentation and people understand that you have taken your research seriously. You can cite Statista or destatis, for example, and if you use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity etc. for your research, then try to get to the original source and cite it. For the slides you use for your presentation, you can also omit the source of your research. But you should have an answer ready as to how you collected the information. Just using ChatGPT is not enough.

Presentation – our focus

• prepare your pitch and practice it at least once. Run through your pitch once and time yourself. Stick to the given time frame 1-3 minutes
• Keep it as short and simple as possible
• Who is your target audience? In other words, who are you pitching to? Always adapt your pitch to them. The more specific you are, the better
• If you can show something about your business idea, a physical object, then bring it along and use it in your pitch – use it as a prop
• A successful pitch always tells a personal story = emotional storytelling
• Be as confident as you can. If you are not naturally confident, act as if you are („act as if“-method. I will explain this in the workshop)
• Use short, simple sentences as well as active language—avoid complex vocabulary or words not everyone will understand
• Avoid filler words like „uh“, „äh“ and unnecessary expressions
• try to interact with your audience. Ask a question, keep eye contact
• use pauses as a powerfull tool to increase the tension

The power of storytelling

What is emotional storytelling? I recommend to watch a successfull pitch on Youtube, e.g. Rener Gracie’s pitch at Shark Tank and you get the idea of it.
Rener Gracie received an offer from investor Lori Greiner which was never finalized but the appearance on Shark Tank drastically increased the sales. I know, science isn’t like selling hoodies, but strong storytelling is key in academia too!

If you want to see bad examples of pitches, scroll through YouTube and search for “worst pitch Shark Tank ever.” There are countless examples of pitches that didn’t get a deal for various reasons: the product wasn’t ready, the founders didn’t know their numbers, or the founders simply weren’t convincing. If you have time, watch one of these examples and take note of what you would do differently.

Power Posing

Power Posing means that you assume an upright and strong posture for 2 minutes (legs slightly apart, feet flat and stable, chest and head upright). This changes your hormone status and your inner posture and makes you more self-confident.

Amy Cuddy explained her research findings in a Ted Talk. Watch the video and try to use power posing while pitching. It makes a huge difference!

Helpful tools for your slides

• your slides should contain pictures: use AI, Unsplash or simple google images if you don’t have own material (include copyright). Include graphics, diagrams and pictures as much as you can to reduce text. People want to see simple images while they’re listening to you.
• You may use Pitch.com, gamma or other AI-tools to create your slides or just to get interesting ideas.

• You can also prepare a mockup of your App or product if you have only one picture. You may use Placeit to create one. You have one free trial. They have a ton of App-pictures.
• You may also use a QR-Code for your contact slide, if you like. You can prepare QR-Codes with Canva for free.

I am looking forward meeting you and your ideas!

Contact

If you have any questions, please let me know:

Dr. Ingrid Rupp | phone: +49 (0) 176 34650343 | e-mail: hallo@ingrid-rupp.de |
c/o B_Fabrik | Bergheimer Straße 104 | 69115 Heidelberg

Web: ingrid-rupp.de | freitrauern.de | freiheiraten.de
Instagram: @dr.ingrid.rupp

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