u/Efficient_Bet_5358

Hey everyone,

I'm a founder working on my own startup, and I really want to get better at pitching and public speaking because every time I present, I mess it up.

For example, at a recent pitch competition, our product was honestly one of the strongest in the room. But when it came time to actually present, I completely failed to communicate the idea clearly, and we lost out to teams with weaker products but better delivery. It was frustrating and honestly pretty demoralizing, knowing the substance was there but the execution wasn't.

I know how much presentation matters, especially when you're trying to convince investors or judges in just a few minutes, but I struggle with confidence and clarity when speaking in front of others. My mind goes blank, I lose my structure, and I can tell I'm not landing the points that actually matter.

Does anyone have advice, frameworks, or resources for improving pitch skills or public speaking in general? Would really appreciate hearing what worked for other founders or anyone who's had to pitch under pressure.

Hey everyone,

I'm a founder working on my own startup, and I really want to get better at pitching and public speaking because every time I present, I mess it up.

For example, at a recent pitch competition, our product was honestly one of the strongest in the room. But when it came time to actually present, I completely failed to communicate the idea clearly, and we lost out to teams with weaker products but better delivery. It was frustrating and honestly pretty demoralizing, knowing the substance was there but the execution wasn't.

I know how much presentation matters, especially when you're trying to convince investors or judges in just a few minutes, but I struggle with confidence and clarity when speaking in front of others. My mind goes blank, I lose my structure, and I can tell I'm not landing the points that actually matter.

Does anyone have advice, frameworks, or resources for improving pitch skills or public speaking in general? Would really appreciate hearing what worked for other founders or anyone who's had to pitch under pressure.

Just had to skip an investor pitch meeting due to a public speaking anxiety attack. I feel like shit.

I was scheduled to be one of a few startups to pitch to an angel investor today. I'm very confident in my business. The financials are solid, and we have more interest from customers than I am able to handle. Also, I ran my pitch deck through pitch simulator (chαtvisor) and revised it a few times based on the feedback, got some pretty good marks on it, so I felt really confident about it.

However, I have some of the most debilitating levels of anxiety of anyone I've ever met. The night before the pitch I couldn't sleep, and today about an hour or two before the event I started having a full blown anxiety attack which made me skip out on the event. Even medication wouldn't alleviate the symptoms.

I feel like total shit for bailing on the event. It makes me doubt my ability to execute and I worry I'll have serious issues securing funding if I can't get over the public speaking part.

I don't really have an end goal to this post. I guess I'm just curious if anyone has gone through similar issues and how they were able to deal with it.

Hi everyone! I'm working on a startup for a US staffing firm covering IT, non-IT, pharma, engineering, automotive, and healthcare staffing needs. I've got connections who can bring clients in from day one, but I don't have a pitch deck yet. I know roughly 80% of my costs and need to put together a deck to pitch investors.

I've never done this before and I'm not familiar with a lot of the investment terminology either. Anyone know how to build a pitch deck from the ground up, or is it worth paying a third party to put one together for me? Also curious what a solid pitch deck typically looks like.

I will not promote

Been thinking a lot about what actually matters most when putting together a pitch or presentation for customers or investors.

I tend to overprepare, which isn't necessarily bad, but I end up trying to cover everything and then never have enough time to get through it all. Add the nerves on top of that, plus trying to nail a good story, clear delivery, and a polished deck at the same time, and it gets overwhelming fast.

So how do you all decide what to prioritize when getting ready for a pitch? And is the deck itself actually that important? I always go back and forth between making it visually strong versus keeping it simple.

Curious to hear how others approach this.

I will not promote

Been thinking a lot about what actually matters most when putting together a pitch or presentation for customers or investors.

I tend to overprepare, which isn't necessarily bad, but I end up trying to cover everything and then never have enough time to get through it all. Add the nerves on top of that, plus trying to nail a good story, clear delivery, and a polished deck at the same time, and it gets overwhelming fast.

So how do you all decide what to prioritize when getting ready for a pitch? And is the deck itself actually that important? I always go back and forth between making it visually strong versus keeping it simple.

Curious to hear how others approach this.

Had something happen recently that felt almost like the start of a panic attack, came on totally out of nowhere right at the beginning of a big work presentation.

As a PM I present to all kinds of groups pretty regularly and usually get nervous at the start, but it fades after a few minutes once I settle in. I've built up a bunch of practical habits over time, prepping key talking points, taking a minute to collect myself before joining the call, picturing it like I'm just chatting with a friend, stuff like that. This time was nothing like that.

Going into this one I actually felt confident and even a little excited, none of the usual nerves at all. But the second I started talking I got hit with this wall of pressure, everyone's eyes on me through the Zoom screen, and almost instantly a wave of panic kicked in. Next thing I know I'm physically shaking and just barely holding it together enough to keep talking without it showing. It completely blindsided me and threw off everything I had planned to say. Took everything I had not to just stop and reset in the middle of it. All I managed to do was pause and ask if anyone had questions, just to buy myself a few seconds to breathe.

Thankfully once my part was done I had time to calm down while someone else presented, and pulled it together enough to handle questions smoothly at the end.

Has this ever happened to you? What do you actually do when something like this hits mid presentation with zero warning? I've got plenty of tactics for prepping beforehand, but this caught me completely off guard and I'm worried if it happens again I won't be able to pull it back together.

Had something happen recently that felt almost like the start of a panic attack, came on totally out of nowhere right at the beginning of a big work presentation.

As a PM I present to all kinds of groups pretty regularly and usually get nervous at the start, but it fades after a few minutes once I settle in. I've built up a bunch of practical habits over time, prepping key talking points, taking a minute to collect myself before joining the call, picturing it like I'm just chatting with a friend, stuff like that. This time was nothing like that.

Going into this one I actually felt confident and even a little excited, none of the usual nerves at all. But the second I started talking I got hit with this wall of pressure, everyone's eyes on me through the Zoom screen, and almost instantly a wave of panic kicked in. Next thing I know I'm physically shaking and just barely holding it together enough to keep talking without it showing. It completely blindsided me and threw off everything I had planned to say. Took everything I had not to just stop and reset in the middle of it. All I managed to do was pause and ask if anyone had questions, just to buy myself a few seconds to breathe.

Thankfully once my part was done I had time to calm down while someone else presented, and pulled it together enough to handle questions smoothly at the end.

Has this ever happened to you? What do you actually do when something like this hits mid presentation with zero warning? I've got plenty of tactics for prepping beforehand, but this caught me completely off guard and I'm worried if it happens again I won't be able to pull it back together.

Doing my first solo call with a client today, he has questions on a report we sent last week. I know the material well, just nervous about the format.

In person I do fine, body language, eye contact, small talk all help me come across confident and I can see the audience relax because of it. On the phone I'm noticeably worse. If a question requires me to actually think or dig for an answer, I panic at the silence and end up rushing my response. Two minutes of quiet to find something feels like it reads as me not knowing my stuff, even when I just need a moment to pull the right number.

Also my first time doing this solo, boss won't be there to jump in if I blank on something. To be fair, this call is really meant to be a scouting run so he can prep answers for the next one, so I'm not expected to have everything nailed down.

Still nervous though. Anyone have advice for phone specific presentation habits, basically the phone equivalent of the usual in person tricks?

Doing my first solo call with a client today, he has questions on a report we sent last week. I know the material well, just nervous about the format.

In person I do fine, body language, eye contact, small talk all help me come across confident and I can see the audience relax because of it. On the phone I'm noticeably worse. If a question requires me to actually think or dig for an answer, I panic at the silence and end up rushing my response. Two minutes of quiet to find something feels like it reads as me not knowing my stuff, even when I just need a moment to pull the right number.

Also my first time doing this solo, boss won't be there to jump in if I blank on something. To be fair, this call is really meant to be a scouting run so he can prep answers for the next one, so I'm not expected to have everything nailed down.

Still nervous though. Anyone have advice for phone specific presentation habits, basically the phone equivalent of the usual in person tricks?

I get pretty bad anxiety before client presentations, and pretty much every time afterwards I think it wasn't even that big of a deal. This cycle just keeps repeating itself. How do you actually get past that initial anxiety of having to present to a client? Any tips that have worked for you?

Moved from Japan to the US 3 months ago for an enterprise sales role. My numbers are mediocre and I think it's a communication thing. In Japan I lead with context and let the client read between the lines, you build consensus slowly and let them arrive at the decision themselves. In the US when I do that, prospects say I'm "vague" or ask "what are you actually proposing." My American colleagues just state the ask directly in the first 5 minutes, no buildup at all. Feels too blunt to me but apparently that's how it works here? Also have a Korean coworker who's struggling with the same thing. We both feel like we're missing some cultural code. Anyone dealt with cross-cultural sales challenges? How did you adapt without losing what makes you good at sales?

Moved from Japan to the US 3 months ago for an enterprise sales role. My numbers are mediocre and I think it's a communication thing. In Japan I lead with context and let the client read between the lines, you build consensus slowly and let them arrive at the decision themselves. In the US when I do that, prospects say I'm "vague" or ask "what are you actually proposing." My American colleagues just state the ask directly in the first 5 minutes, no buildup at all. Feels too blunt to me but apparently that's how it works here? Also have a Korean coworker who's struggling with the same thing. We both feel like we're missing some cultural code. Anyone dealt with cross-cultural sales challenges? How did you adapt without losing what makes you good at sales?

Two years into SaaS sales, mostly in the UK. Went to the US a few months back with my partner who's also in SaaS sales, and the difference floored me. He bought $200 worth of pizza for a maintenance team at one of his accounts just to build the relationship, same with every other customer, different reps even. We are way more reserved here, a lot of the advice on this sub would just fall flat in a British SaaS context.

Anyway the reason I'm actually posting this now, not just reminiscing. I just found out I'm taking over our US accounts starting next month and I'm honestly a bit anxious about it. Everything that's worked for me here feels like it might not translate at all.

So for anyone who's made this kind of switch, especially global sales leaders in SaaS, what actually changes when you sell into the US market. Are there any cross cultural sales skills or adjustments I should be working on before I'm thrown in.

P.S not a knock on my American friends, I've actually brought some of their approach back here.

Two years into SaaS sales, mostly in the UK. Went to the US a few months back with my partner who's also in SaaS sales, and the difference floored me. He bought $200 worth of pizza for a maintenance team at one of his accounts just to build the relationship, same with every other customer, different reps even. We are way more reserved here, a lot of the advice on this sub would just fall flat in a British SaaS context.

Anyway the reason I'm actually posting this now, not just reminiscing. I just found out I'm taking over our US accounts starting next month and I'm honestly a bit anxious about it. Everything that's worked for me here feels like it might not translate at all.

So for anyone who's made this kind of switch, especially global sales leaders in SaaS, what actually changes when you sell into the US market. Are there any cross cultural sales skills or adjustments I should be working on before I'm thrown in.

P.S not a knock on my American friends, I've actually brought some of their approach back here.

Two years into SaaS sales, mostly in the UK. Went to the US a few months back with my partner who's also in SaaS sales, and the difference floored me. He bought $200 worth of pizza for a maintenance team at one of his accounts just to build the relationship, same with every other customer, different reps even. We are way more reserved here, a lot of the advice on this sub would just fall flat in a British SaaS context.

Anyway the reason I'm actually posting this now, not just reminiscing. I just found out I'm taking over our US accounts starting next month and I'm honestly a bit anxious about it. Everything that's worked for me here feels like it might not translate at all.

So for anyone who's made this kind of switch, especially global sales leaders in SaaS, what actually changes when you sell into the US market. Are there any cross cultural sales skills or adjustments I should be working on before I'm thrown in.

P.S not a knock on my American friends, I've actually brought some of their approach back here.

I'm in solar sales and this objection comes up constantly. Probably 75% of my closes end with something like "let me do some research first" or "I need to talk to my spouse before we move forward."

I have no idea how to get around this respectfully. Can I get some advice? (in Florida)

I'm in solar sales and this objection comes up constantly. Probably 75% of my closes end with something like "let me do some research first" or "I need to talk to my spouse before we move forward."

I have no idea how to get around this respectfully. Can I get some advice? (in Florida)

I have good initial conversations with prospects but, then after a lot of the time they go dark.

Anybody got any techniques to stop this or to reconnect with them again?

I have good initial conversations with prospects but, then after a lot of the time they go dark.

Anybody got any techniques to stop this or to reconnect with them again?