Strategy 2014

The Pitch Canvas

Everything a three-minute pitch needs, brainstormed on one page before anyone opens the slide tool.

What it is

Beckett's structure for building a pitch out loud: problem, solution, product demo, traction, business model, investment ask, and the human elements (why you, what you want the audience to feel) laid out as one brainstorm surface. Slides come later, if at all.

Reach for it when

• A founder rehearses by rewriting slides instead of the argument
• A demo day prep session with six teams and one afternoon
• An internal pitch needs to survive a three-minute slot with an executive

Running it

1. Sticky-note every block before wordsmithing any. Quantity first, 20 minutes.
2. Say the pitch out loud from the canvas, badly, early. The gaps announce themselves.
3. Cut until the whole canvas fits three minutes spoken. Cutting is the craft.
4. Only then open the slide tool, and only for what words can't do.