4 Questions to Ask Startups Before Pitching
It’s exciting to work with startups. Usually, their business is just on the verge of launching, often without the hangups, hierarchies, or bureaucracy that tend to exist within larger, more established companies.
But pitching to startups presents challenges as well. Since these companies are new, their direction, scale, and status changes frequently. While these changes are both necessary and expected, they prove to be challenging for freelancers who work closely with them.
To deal with this challenge, you need to understand deeply where they are coming from and where they intend to go. This is especially true when pitching your services. So, before you pitch, you need to ask them a handful of smart questions.
Question #1: “Tell me your startup’s story. How did you go from the business idea to what your business is right now?”
All startups have a story, and that story is a great way to start the conversation. Hearing a startup founder tell their story is like getting a step-by-step roadmap on how to pitch to them. This is why you have to actively listen throughout the entire story. If there’s a silence, do not fill it yourself. This isn’t the time to talk about your expertise or to tell them how much you charge. Encourage them to keep talking. All you have to do is listen.
How to use it in your pitch:
While a history of the company is both interesting and useful to know, it’s mostly a way to get the founders talking about their startups. To a freelancer, this helps you determine if you’re a good fit for the startup. Does their creative process mirror your own? What values drive their business? Why did they create a startup in the first place? Their story helps you answer these questions and determine your compatibility – which is essential for any good working relationship.
Question #2: “If you were to accomplish anything related to [your services], no matter how seemingly impossible it is, what would it be? Please be specific.”
Find out what they want to accomplish in your field of expertise. Here are some specific ways to frame that question depending on the services you offer:
- Webdesigners: “If you were to magically accomplish anything with this website within the next six months, what would it be?”
- Freelance writers: “If you were to accomplish anything related to your blog, no matter how impossible it is, what would it be?”
- Community managers: “If you were to wave a magic wand and accomplish anything regarding your brand’s fan base, what would it be?”
By giving them the time to dream or fantasize about the things they want to achieve, you get them to open up about what they really want. Still, you have to ground this fantasy into reality by asking for specific numbers after they answer.
Do they want an increase of 5,000 unique visitors per month? Do they want a 20% increase in revenue? These numbers can help you know the exact way they measure success, as well as the kind of work you have to do to help them reach it.
How to use it in your pitch:
Use the answers to tailor your pitch to address their wants. Almost every task item you mention should be about how they can achieve these wants. This is true even if you believe that your client should be wanting something else.
For example, if a client obsesses about “vanity metrics” like website traffic, your proposal will focus on increasing website traffic. Even if you feel that other goals – such as conversions or users – are more important, it’s a mistake to ignore how the startup measures success. Sure, you can mention these more important metrics, but don’t leave out the #1 thing they want.
Question #3: “What are the main barriers that are preventing you from accomplishing it?”
These barriers are usually about money, resources, or time, but don’t forget to look beyond that. These could be personal barriers as well. Are they scared of not getting the results they want? Do they lack faith in their ability to reach these goals? Find out everything that is blocking them from accomplishing their goals (the answer to question #2), and find out which one of these hinders their progress the most.
How to use it in your pitch:
Ask them to elaborate on their barriers so that you can position yourself as the person who can break them. Here are some examples:
- Not enough money. Tell them that your proposal only includes the tasks that will give them the maximum results for the budget they have. You can also include some additional services that will help them increase revenue.
- Not enough time. Tally the estimated amount of hours each task takes, and give them the total number of hours they’ll save by using your services.
- Their staff doesn’t have the right expertise. Point out how you’ll give their staff the necessary training at the end of the project, or how you can be available as a consultant on retainer.
- They’re afraid your services won’t work. Propose to submit regular updates on the results of your work, or give them access to tools that let them track your progress themselves. Alternatively, you can change your pricing model to performance-based, so that they pay you a reasonable fee, and additional fees depend on the results you accomplish.
By finding out their obstacles and limitations, you’ll know how to create a proposal that works within the startup’s comfort zone, and hiring you won’t make them feel uneasy.
Question #4: “How does the decision for [your services] happen? Is anyone else involved in this process?”
Decision-making can be tricky for startups, especially when it comes to hiring. Startups may have more than one founder, and they may require consensus on all hiring decisions. Other startups may ask for the advice of their angel investors, or the founders may delegate hiring decisions depending on the position available. In other words, whoever you’re talking to may not have the sole responsibility of hiring you.
Also, note that the question is “how” the decision happens and not “who” makes the decisions. While you really want to know who the key decision-makers are, you don’t want to insult the person you’re talking to by inadvertently diminishing their role.
How to use it in your pitch:
Once you find out how they’ll make the decision about your services, customize your proposal process to accommodate that. If other people are included in the decision, ask to have a meeting that includes them. This can help you address their concerns and questions directly, increasing the chances that your proposal will be approved by the team as a whole.
The Key to Pitching to Startups
Pitching to startups – just like pitching to other businesses – requires going deep into the minds of your potential clients. You need to know how they think, what drives them, and what gets in their way. By paying attention to these things, you’re letting your potential clients know that you can deal with the constant changes that are an integral part of working with them.
Have you ever pitched to startups? What questions did you ask them before coming up with a proposal?
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Lawren.
Don’t forget to ask what their budget is! Startups are notorious for trying to get something for next to nothing, as well as for non payment. Im not talking about all startups, but in general, you need to scrutinize them a little more than established companies.
These are some very helpful suggestions. I’ll definitely keep in mind some of these questions for my next project.
I do agree with Wes about asking for budget details, I think it’s a given that we need to get an idea of what they’re looking to spend. Don’t want to spend a lot of time creating a detailed estimate for a client who wanted a website for $250.
Startups tend to be very apprehensive about putting up a number, usually they’ll say “I don’t know” or “we still haven’t allocated an amount”. I’ve found the best way to deal with this is to throw out a range to see how they react to it; broad enough to give you wiggle room, but not too broad where they’re scared off.
There’s a great article on Marketing Mentor that speaks to this http://www.marketingmixblog.com/2011/10/guess-what-their-budget-was.html
To deal with star-ups, it is very important to let them understand what you can deliver too.
Do not over promise.
Fully agree with Wes, while it’s a great thing to be able to work with start-ups, most of them try to get things done for peanuts. And that’s when I usually hit full stop.
I am currently still in a huge project for a start up which has stalled on many occasions, hard to judge a bad start up some times. bad news bears for me.
An interesting post, I guess there is just a couple of things I would add (one already mentioned):
Budget – How much do you have – this will determine how much is realistically possible.
Inspiration – What do you like the look of and would like designs based around?
Great post this is very valuable and I think pitching to start up companies is risky because 80% of start ups fail and they tend to attack the marketers/web designers but they can be fun to work with to see how to create your own business.
I’m working on systematizing my sales and marketing systems and came across this article. While I don’t work with start-ups that often (for the reasons indicated by other commenters) I found this useful in creating a script of sorts to use when I first talk with a new lead. In case anyone else is reading this for the same reason, other questions that are crucial to ask include:
1.) How did you hear about us? You need to know where your leads are coming from so you can, over time, discover your best sources and focus your resources in those places.
2.) Why did you decide to contact us? Chances are they’ve already browsed your website briefly and for whatever reason liked what they saw. It’s important to find out what inspired them to make the effort to contact you (and thank them for doing so!). Maybe they like your style or the fact that you’re in the same region. If the lead turns out to be an ideal client you can hone your marketing efforts to appeal to others like him or her in your materials.
3.) What’s your budget? Even if they say they don’t have a budget, they do. They at least have a number in mind of the most they’ll spend. If they say they don’t have a budget be prepared to throw out a range and ask them if they feel comfortable with that. Being prepared to provide a range, however, requires preparation. To this end I’ve started to create a Master Fee spreadsheet as suggested in a must-read book entitled “The Wealthy Freelancer.”
4.) What’s your timeline? Same with the budget concept, every lead has an end date in mind, whether they say it or not. Along with a Master Fee spreadsheet be prepared to provide a range (e.g. typically 3-4 months) and ask if they feel comfortable with that.
5.) Would you be willing to answer a more detailed questionnaire about your needs? Creative projects are collaborative, period. If the lead thinks that you’re going to be able to complete the project without their involvement then you will find yourself frustrated and broke. This question tests their attitude about their role in the project. Additionally, it provides a “next step” before you get to the proposal phase. If they say yes, have a questionnaire prepared to send to them immediately. And don’t forget to give them a due date (e.g. two weeks).
With the combination of the suggestions in the article, comment suggestions and these you should have enough information to decide whether it’s worth your time to prepare a proposal. You can even creating a rating system, although I’m not quite there yet so cannot comment on that process thoughtfully quite yet.