Increase Your Chances to Succeed in Your Ignite Meetings

This is the second article in this series. Find some fantastic ways to increase your chances of getting a match here.

Ignite’s method can be compared to a curated speed-dating that makes it simple for corporates and public sector to discover relevant startups to help solve their challenges. Our 20 minute meeting format facilitates an initial opportunity for both parties to get to know each other, understand the startup’s offering and corporate’s challenge to then mutually explore if there is potential for a business relationship.

Below Ignite’s Branding & Content Marketing Coach, Carin Lagerstedt, offers some things to consider when you work on your material to support you during and after the meeting with a corporate.

1. Tell a story and use visual aids

After a quick introduction, the startup should ideally take some 3-4 minutes to introduce and contextualize their solution (i.e. explain why you do what you do and for whom it matters).

It is important to consider:

• The corporate attendees often have different levels of understanding of your technology/offering. Tailor your pitch to have “an outside-in perspective” and explain the main idea (and what it can achieve) rather than going into specific details.
  
• What is your best hook? It should be something that makes a person “lean in” and gain interest to want to know more. Create an “aha-moment,” give them a feeling of getting new insights or proof that this is something worthwhile for them.
  
• Use storytelling rather than just reciting information. Find a ‘red-thread’ throughout the key information you want to share and explain it in an order that makes it easier for someone new to the topic to follow and understand how it relates to their needs.
  
• Utilize visuals! People absorb visual information a lot faster than text/vocal information. It is ideal to have 1-3 slides to accompany the pitch. Experiment and invest time in exploring how best to explain things crisply as this will support all meetings and enhance your ability to grow the business.
  

2. Keep your presentation short and focus on having a conversation

The Ignite method suggests ending the pitch with what you want out of a collaboration (i.e. customers to test the product, studies, early adopters, etc). The end of your pitch should make the corporate consider how and where their goals and ambitions could fit in with yours.

The goal is to begin a relevant conversation for mutual future benefit of all participants. Ensure that you have prepared a few open questions to encourage the corporate/public sector organization to open up about what is important to them and where they see potential for your solution within their business.

3. Provide relevant support material for your match’s internal contacts

The information you send after your matchmaking meeting should ideally facilitate an internal discussion within the corporate or public organization.

It is common for up to seven people to be involved in all B2B purchase decisions – but you will likely meet less than half of them. Therefore, the material you send should be short and easily digestible (try to fit it into the equivalent of two A4 pages).

The people who weren’t in the initial meeting will not appreciate a 20+ page PDF presentation and your ambassador/key stakeholder will not have time to go through it with them. Instead, ensure the material both introduces you and provides facts and frameworks about how your solutions can be used. The content helps everyone involved to be on the same page so that they can discuss and try and apply your offering to their business needs.

About Carin Lagerstedt

Carin Lagerstedt is Ignite’s Branding & Content Marketing Coach. She is experienced in branding and B2B marketing within technical and industrial solutions in both larger corporations and startups. Carin has a track record in enabling efficient sales growth with digital content marketing, whilst building a strong brand with a thought leadership position in the process.