Episode#6: “How to close a deal in 5 minutes”- Clementine Piazza founder and CEO of InMemori.

I am Clementine Piazza, the CEO and solo founder of InMemori. I created InMemori 3 years ago to support one of the hardest moments in life: the loss of a loved one. So, we've all lost someone we love. It's the hardest time for families because they have to share the sad news with many people near and far and that takes so much effort. 

And friends want to pay their respect but they are afraid to disturb, even to ask where to send flowers. That's why I created InMemori, an online space for family and friends to gather, celebrate and remember.

Today I would like to share my pitch experience because the pitch is the first step to create interest around your project. You have to convince, you have to convince all the time customers, investors, team members. And entrepreneurs spend their time pitching in meetings, in conference, on vacation and in the elevator of course. So it's very important to know how you can heat and swim in it because then magical things can come on your way. 

So how do I do? To convince I have three golden rules. 

The first one, of course, always, is to be sincere, to speak with your heart and to love your project. Because the first things that humans will feel are the emotions you will give them.

The second thing: it's very, very important to know the person in front of you. Before a meeting, I always study who my audience is. So when I meet people, I like to know what their professional and personal stakes are, what their drivers are, and how can my project response to them. Before I pitch, before I have to convince, I spend one hour studying the background of my interlocutors, also listening to them talk in videos, and like that I am not surprised and I can adapt my message to the context. 

The third golden rule is to be attentive. When you convince, the questions that you are asked, the doubt also that is opposed to you, are so many clues to convincing. I always say to my team: when after a pitch a person shows you their doubt, this is very good news. Because that means that first: they are involved and second: they give you the material sought to find the right answers to convince them in the end. 

Do you know how I got my second business contract in the US? I accepted to participate in a pitch competition in New York. So I took the plane and I pitched an agent of investors and businesswomen and businessmen. And at the end of the pitch, I met a person who is part of a big insurance company and I dealt my second business contract. It was amazing, because in 5 minutes only, in 5 minutes of convincing and pitching, I got a deal and it would have taken me like eight months to get it otherwise. So I have two advice for women. First, don't hesitate to participate in pitch competitions, you never know what happens and of course master your pitch.

Why do I believe in 50inTech to make the women ecosystem grow?  Because thanks to the platform, we can share, we can be together. And I am sure that sisterhood, in the end, will make the difference and will help us break the glass ceiling. So I am more than happy to be part of the platform because I can learn from amazing women, I can get valuable advice and of course I am here to help you as well. So join me on the 50inTech platform to get advice about how to pitch of course, but also how to build a team, how to raise funds, how to build your company when you are a solo founder.