Ever heard of Hermann Ebbinghaus? You may have in Pysch 101, but forgot about him. 

Which is apt, because he was a german psychologist and creator of the Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve, which is a semi-scientific chart showing you how quickly people forget information they’re presented. 

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It looks like this. 

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This chart says that in 1 day you forget about half of the things you learned the day before. A week later you remember only 10% of the information you learned the week before.  

For anyone pitching their company to investors, this chart should be disturbing!

You have so many important things to say. We can’t have investors forgetting it all!

Our goal, then, as your collaborators in crafting your pitch, is to counter this curve, and make sure potential investors remember what’s most important about your company so that they can make an investment decision. 

But how do we get people to remember something?

In a pitch, there are two main ways (with various supporting approaches):

1 - Tell the facts directly

2 - Tell the facts in a story

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Let’s say I wanted to get you to learn (i.e., remember) the fact that Mongolia is the least densely populated country on earth. 

Here’s what each approach might look like:

One, I tell you directly.

3.3 million people live in Mongolia which is 603,900 square miles, making it the least densely populated country on earth.

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Or two, I tell you a story: 

I was driving with my friends through Mongolia across the empty steppe, an environment of vast, endless grasslands, when a river cut in the middle of the road. We had no choice but to cross it. As we drove into the glacial stream, we heard a hiss from below and our car stopped moving. Our tire had popped and dug itself into the river bed.  As the car started taking on water, I jumped out, and ran down the road we had just come from for nearly an hour to find another human. It was at that moment I cursed myself for deciding to ever drive through Mongolia, the least densely populated country on earth.

Which on do you think you have a better chance of remembering a week from now?

As a busy, rational business founder you probably wish it was the 1 sentence, factual statement, but as you probably already know, it’s not. 

You’re way more likely to remember this story and the fact that Mongolia is the least densely populated country on earth. In fact, the numbers actually get in the way of remembering the fact.

This point is illustrated in a story from the book Made To Stick. Stanford Professor, Dan Heath, conducted an an experiment with his undergrad students by providing them a bunch of facts about crime and asking them to present the facts to the class in a 1 minute speech. 

After the students presented, he distracted them with a 10 minute Monty Python clip, and then asked them to write down what they remembered. 

The results? 

Students remembered 5% of the statistics but they remembered 63% of the stories. Interestingly, it didn’t matter if those students were fluent English speakers or foreign students who weren’t as strong in English. 

The goal in your investment pitch, then, is to be intentional about exactly what we want potential investors to remember, and then crafting a powerful story to make that point(s) unforgettable. 

And that’s exactly what we do. If you need help telling your story, get in touch and we’ll create that unforgettable story together. 

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