Different pitches for different stages of entrepreneurial development: the practice of pitching to business angels

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we draw upon social practice theory as a lens through which to challenge commonly held assumptions about the practice of pitching. This study presents evidence suggesting that the commonly studied investment pitch, may in fact be part of a larger relational practice that plays out across time as entrepreneurs and their new businesses develop. We present findings from twenty-seven months of participant observation in an active angel investment organization located in the United States. Based on our observations, we discuss four types of pitch: developmental, pre-investment, investment, and update.

KEYWORDS:

• Practice
• practice theory
• social practice theory
• angel investing
• pitching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Anyone who paid a membership fee and was deemed as belonging to the organization was defined as a ‘member’, regardless of intent to make investments.

2. A detailed timeline is available in appendix 2. In the appendix, all organizations and individuals have been anonymized in accordance with the applicable Internal Review Board exemption clause.

3. The president of the observed organization happens to be male, so we chose to use the accurate gendered pronoun when referencing this role in the study.

4. Note: practice in this case refers to the verb, not to social practice theory which provides the theoretical lens for this study. Thus, the angel organization intended to allow students to practice pitching in the manner that one might practice to learn any other skill such as piano, swimming, etc.

5. Two of the pre-investment companies returned at a later time to present an investment pitch.