Have you ever completely nailed a pitch, presentation or sales meeting? How did it feel? How did you celebrate?
That feeling of accomplishment and elation doesn't just happen. A lot has to occur before the champagne pops, including research, preparation, and practice. Perhaps no greater example of "How to Pitch" exists than that of Jack Conte, Patreon's CEO, in his recent ask of Casey Neistat, YouTube's OG Golden Boy.
Here's what I love most about Jacks' pitch:
1) Timing
Jack's timing could not have been better. Casey announced his new project, 368, a week prior to the Patreon pitch. Jack didn't hesitate. He heard the announcement, sparked his idea, fleshed it out, then started thinking about how to pitch it to Casey. His pitch video was professionally done with tons of thought put into every detail.
2) Research
Patreon has thousands of clients, many of them creators on YouTube. No doubt, Jack had not just heard of Casey, but knew his story, style, and what would appeal to him. This is evident in the way he started his pitch. He was informal, outrageous, and incorporated elements of Casey's unique quick-cut, sound-intensive style. This all happened right at the beginning, starting strong to catch and keep Casey's (and a million other viewers') attention.
Here's an example of what Casey's all about:
3) Speak the Audience's Language
Casey doesn't want to hear about how much money he could make. He doesn't want to spend any of his precious creator time with anyone at all, so how does Jack wiggle his way onto Casey's overbooked, empty-by-design calendar? He spoke la language de Neistat. He created something engaging for 95% for of his pitch, incorporating beautiful imagery, fantastic sounds and direct communication. Then, he left a little sliver of 5% for his big, bold ask.
4) Close the Deal
Bold is an understatement how Jack closed. He planted a seed early in the video with a "This is It" message written in sloppy handwriting on an envelope (so Neistat). In the middle, he slowly opened the envelope while explaining something unrelated. Right at the end, once the whole video was almost done and the anticipation had been built, he asked for 50 minutes of Casey's time. He didn't give any details of the pitch. he didn't say what was in it for Casey. He just said he wanted to hang, and he hoped Casey did too, because if he didn't, it'd be a lonely Thursday in New York City. Then he whipped out his already-purchased plane ticket. Absolute fire.
We can learn a lot from Jack, the perfect pitcher and mastermind behind Patreon. Last Thursday, he met with Casey, and the pitch went swimmingly. A partnership between his company and the biggest, best YouTuber he could possible team up with looks probable. Here's the video from Casey's channel about the whole exchange.
I'll sign off with a video from Jack himself explaining the art of the pitch, though it may not be the kind of pitch you'd expect...
What would you pitch Casey Neistat? More importantly, HOW would you pitch?