I’m what you might call a cheap adrelaline junkee. I love a good adrenaline rush, but it doesn’t take much to give me one. I love snowboarding, but I usually get overtaken by little shredding kids. I love skateboarding, but I get a bit of an adrenaline rush from learning to foot brake on almost flat ground. I love surfing, but I am happiest in a small swell.
Yesterday I had one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I’ve had in a long time. And I was inside an office building with no type of board under my feet, and no plans to jump from a great height. Yesterday I presented my passion (and a business model) to people who have the power to decide if I can continue to develop it.
I have been doing quite a few pitches lately. But this one was different. It’s hard to explain. My mind was calm, but my body was absolutely PUMPING with adrenaline! I knew what we had to present, at that we knew our stuff and our pitch deck looked good. I knew that we had done our best to get to where we were. But I couldn’t stop jumping up and down like I was about to fight someone.
I got some good advice about pitching a few weeks ago. I was told by a drummer who is very good at pitching to think of it like a performance. It’s natural to get nervous, but you can use that energy. I now have a ‘pre-pitch’ playlist I listen to and psych myself up with.
The pitch itself went well. I tend to go into auto pilot mode and do my thing. Occasionally I got asked a tricky question and my passion took over, but yesterday that served me well and we were successful.
There is a life lesson in this I think.
I would never have guessed before that I could use the same tactics for a ‘big meeting’ as I do for an extreme sport (or in my case a mildly extreme sport). The adrenaline rush is the same. You learn the risks, prepare for them and understand the dynamics as best you can. Then you just step forward with as much confidence as you can muster and go for it!
Photo by Samson Duborg-Rankin on Unsplash
#startup #life #innovation #inspiration #investing #adventure #pitching #philosophy