From Pitches to Stories: Transforming Complex Ideas into Engaging Narratives

Lab to Startup

Zack Shildhorn is an investing Partner at venture firm Lux Capital. He played multiple key roles that helped the firm scale from less than $100M to more than $4B in assets under management. After witnessing thousands of pitches, he saw that even the most disruptive startups often struggled to develop effective narratives.

Having worked closely with leading technology companies as an investor and Board member, he brings a unique ability to connect with key stakeholders and distill complex ideas into engaging and relatable presentations.

In order to help founders beyond Lux, He launched a firm called Series Z, to help a select group of tech companies and funds bring their vision to life. Zack also recently partnered with Khosla ventures to help founders there as well.

Zack kindly agreed to share some of the lessons from his experience teaching the art of storytelling to founders and VCs. I think you will benefit tremendously from this episode.

Show Notes:

Series Z: https://www.series-z.co/

Zack Schildhorn: https://x.com/zacktrak

• Most founders are in a challenged position

• Repetition, iteration, feedback

• Founders have the disadvantage of not knowing an investor’s mindset

• Selling vision: Why should investors care?

• Framing your pitch: Ways to capture investor’s attention

• How to appeal to the emotions of an investor? Fear and greed

• Starting a presentation with words and not slides

• Presenting technical idea: How not to inundate listeners with too much data

• Reframing problems: Addressing known apprehensions

• How to not get offended by a question or being defensive?

Media links:

Power of Narrative for Entrepreneurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-llii7frwco

Framing your pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4V89rywlR0

Pitching investors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYkOoRJGuvk