This morning I attended the last of HumberLaunch's summer workshop series. [More are being planned for the fall season too.] The subject matter was Pitching To Investors, and the presenter was Kevin Smith, Chief Story Architect at The Story Architect.

Kevin walked us through the process of raising money for start-ups using his PACES system: Problem/Answer/Credibility/Evidence/Steps To Take Next. He estimated that in his career, he's been involved in around 10,000 pitches, so had gleaned the "good and the bad" way of raising money from investors.

You don't need a ton of money to get started. Kevin cited the example of Russ Montague, the Co-Founder of ShirtPunch who borrowed $2,000 from his dad to get the business started ... and now makes millions.

He referred to the early days of pitching, or "PowerPoint karaoke" as he called it. Nice phrase!

"You don't need money," he advised. "You need execution. Who's on the team is the most important question. The investor is not buying the idea -- they are buying you."

After an hour of great advice, the attendees divided up into groups of four and then had five minutes to make a pitch to the rest of the group. There were some innovative ideas.

I connected with someone too that has (what I think) is a brilliant idea, so -- true to the theme of the day -- have already pitched him on my services if he needs help launching it ...

John.