The Essential Pitch

David Arnoux explains: 'We invest no more than 2 hours per month on learning, less than 1% of our working time.' David is the unstoppable co-founder of one of my favourite companies in the world, The Growth Tribe, and he and his team are out to grow that number dramatically. 

David is an awesome speaker: in this episode he shares his experiences on how to create and practice a pitch, and why over practicing doesn't exist. He also explains why he has only one line in his 'About' section on LinkedIn, and how difficult it is to get people to pay attention. 

Imagine being in the top 20 speakers ever on TED.com! Well, Dan Pink is no.16 on the all time list. He's sold millions of books about selling and persuasion, and has recently launched his own course at Masterclass.com. Dan is a true sales and pitching guru, with multi million selling books such as To Sell is Human, and Drive giving his unique research-based insights into moving people to the next level. 

One is terrified of pitching - and does it brilliantly, Another is a master of marketing and effortlessly appears on TV - yet works like crazy to achieve that calm. Can you guess which is which? 

All is revealed as Janneke van den Heuvel and Steven Kroon of TryLikes share their public speaking journey, as well as the way they have pivoted after Covid lockdowns took hold of their market. 

They tell about how to manage nerves, prepare for TV interviews, and how constantly talking through the story helps to make it concrete and certain. 

Steven and Janneke were the only team I ever agreed to making a duo pitch at Startupbootcamp Demo Day, and that;'s because they can almost read each others' mind. Listen to the story of these excellent entrepreneurs!

David Allen is the author and creator of Getting Things Done™. He's delivered three TED talks, and spoken on stages with some of the greatest entrepreneurs, including Guy Kawasaki and Tim Ferriss, and has numerous trained Fortune 500 CEOs and companies. In this episode, we talk about how you prepare for a TED talk, about how a self-confessed introvert became a great speaker - and most of all, you'll hear how David is always learning, even with his massive experience. 

Find out more about David Allen at gettingthingsdone.com

With a Twitter biog of "Teen Mom-turned-International Human Rights Lawyer-turned-Founder & CEO", it's clear that Christina Moreno has a story to tell! And what a story it is. 

She shares her own journey of overcoming poverty, becoming a lawyer after being told the only available job was as a supermarket cashier, and then leaving the security of that job to follow her true passion: empowering others, who might face some of what she has faced. 

Christina talks about how to pitch Diversity - as a moral, or business decision? She also shares how it was to pitch in one minute, to speak on the TEDx stage, and how she approaches sharing her story in front of audiences large and small. 

Willemijn Schneyder is a full energy founder, who has taken Swipeguide to a fast level of growth, and who once pitched 2 weeks before giving birth! She brings clarity and honestly to the job, with an admission that Public Speaking is not her comfort zone. 

In this episode, Willemijn talks through how she and her team see communicating the story as critically important isn the development of the company, and faces head-on some of the challenges faced by female founders. 

Having won top-3 prizes in global pitch competitions, raised millions in funding, she has great advice for any founder looking to bring their story to a wider audience. 

Why is it allowed that companies who mess up the world are allowed to make as much money as they like - and companies who do good in the world should only operate as charities? David Batstone challenges this point of view head on, every single day. 

David is an amazing entrepreneur who has created $100Million+ companies, because he is able to use his experience as a silicon valley investor to gather funding and talented people around great products. But his companies have a difference - they all have a social or environmental purpose at their heart and soul, and the amazing products they create are fulfilling a purpose side by side with best quality. 

He's taken this story to world, at times presenting in 200 cities a year. David is a master of communicating the story in a fresh and inspiring way, and has great insights for any impact entrepreneur. He's also the kind of guy who gets emails in his inbox from Bono...

What an amazing track record Jacqueline van den Ende has! She's gone through each stage of building and scaling companies in her own career - and now invests in companies that scale, at one of Europe's leading investors in early stage and Series A startups and scaleups. Here Jacqueline talks about how she and her company assess startups, what matters in the pitch, and how a scaleup pitch is different to an early stage startup pitch. 

Patrick de Zeeuw is one of the most dynamic forces in the vibrant Amsterdam Startup ecosystem. After a successful career in media, and moved on to innovation by co-founding the international startup accelerator Startupbootcamp. He has shaped the modern pitch - and my own coaching approach - through sheer force of will and energy. Patrick is one of the most passionate people you'll find in business.