Great leaders aren’t just visionaries—they’re persuasive communicators. In this episode of Leaders and Legacies, Scott Nichols, CEO of Velocity Pitch Decks, shares how leadership and storytelling intersect in the high-stakes world of venture capital pitches.

Scott emphasizes the importance of clarity and confidence when presenting ideas, whether to investors, customers, or internal stakeholders. He draws parallels between pitching and live performance, showing that just like musicians on stage, leaders must be prepared, adaptable, and able to recover when things don’t go as planned.

Craig and Scott explore why founders often focus on the wrong details, getting lost in technical jargon instead of addressing what truly matters to their audience. Scott explains how leaders can craft compelling messages that drive action, making the case for why persuasion is an essential leadership skill.

Whether you’re raising capital, selling a vision, or leading a team, this episode is packed with insights on how to command attention and inspire confidence.

Want to learn more about Scott Nichols' work? Check out his website at https://velocitypitchdecks.com/.

Connect with Scott Nichols on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbnichols/.

Key Points & Time Stamps

• 00:51 – 01:16 | Introducing Scott Nichols

  • Founder of Velocity Pitch Decks, helping startups craft compelling investor presentations.

• 01:50 – 02:07 | The Power of Persuasion

  • Pitching is about getting the right message across, not overwhelming with details.

• 09:52 – 10:28 | Handling Unexpected Pushback

  • Craig recalls a meeting where a major client dismissed the agenda, reinforcing the need for adaptability in leadership.

• 11:00 – 12:24 | Preparation vs. Performance

  • Scott compares pitching to music performance—practice builds confidence, but real-time adjustments matter.

• 16:06 – 16:46 | Confidence Comes from Clarity

  • Founders who refine their message gain confidence, making them more persuasive.

• 18:38 – 19:20 | Persuasion is a Leadership Skill

  • The same principles of pitching apply to sales, board meetings, and customer interactions.

• 20:55 – 22:22 | The Curse of Expertise

  • Leaders often struggle to simplify their message—what’s obvious to them isn’t obvious to their audience.

• 24:29 – 25:00 | How to Connect with Scott Nichols

  • Where to find Scott online and how to engage with his work.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;01;00;16
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Scott Nichols. He is the CEO and founder of Velocity Pitch Decks, Scott's tech startup. Founders

00;01;00;16 - 00;01;16;23
Craig Andrews
funded faster through the creation of compelling investor pitch decks. Now, you may be saying, hey, I'm not a startup. I'm not a tech company. I promise you, you don't want to miss this. Because what Scott does applies to you.

00;01;16;24 - 00;01;19;25
Craig Andrews
Hang in there and you will see the dots connect.

00;01;19;25 - 00;01;20;27
Craig Andrews
Scott's written

00;01;20;27 - 00;01;23;02
Craig Andrews
for hundreds of executive clients,

00;01;23;02 - 00;01;38;08
Craig Andrews
among some of the most recognized brands, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, meta, Amazon, Tesla, Coca-Cola, JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse, PayPal, visa, affirm, etc., etc. it goes on.

00;01;38;08 - 00;01;44;02
Craig Andrews
But the thing that really intrigued me when when I saw when,

00;01;44;02 - 00;01;50;03
Craig Andrews
when I met Scott was pitching to venture capitalists.

00;01;50;06 - 00;02;07;22
Craig Andrews
It's one of those things you a lot of times you only get one chance, you only get one chance, and you got to get it right. You have to be persuasive. You have to be sharing the right level of information. Not too much, not too low. And that has to be speaking to specific things. And I don't care what you're doing.

00;02;07;25 - 00;02;11;21
Craig Andrews
Those skills are important. So Scott welcome.

00;02;11;23 - 00;02;14;05
Scott Nichols
Thank you very much Greg. Thanks for having me on.

00;02;14;08 - 00;02;22;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So before we go down that route, I noticed there's a couple guitars in your background.

00;02;22;15 - 00;02;24;06
Scott Nichols
That is correct. Yeah. Those are,

00;02;24;06 - 00;02;25;06
Scott Nichols
those are actually,

00;02;25;06 - 00;02;26;14
Scott Nichols
Covid projects.

00;02;26;14 - 00;02;32;17
Scott Nichols
I've been playing music for as long as I can remember and, play a variety of instruments.

00;02;32;17 - 00;02;41;21
Scott Nichols
And when Covid came around, you know, everything was kind of put on hold. Couldn't really play music like we used to, you know, no venues were having live performances.

00;02;41;21 - 00;02;43;12
Scott Nichols
And so I found,

00;02;43;12 - 00;02;52;18
Scott Nichols
an outlet for, for my creativity to get some guitar kits and do the fit and finish and paint them and, and kind of build my, my dream guitars. And so,

00;02;52;18 - 00;02;56;03
Scott Nichols
those, those two are hanging on the wall, and I've got a collection of other guitars,

00;02;56;03 - 00;02;57;04
Scott Nichols
in the closet.

00;02;57;06 - 00;02;58;00
Craig Andrews
Wow.

00;02;58;00 - 00;03;16;18
Craig Andrews
So, I mean, one of the challenges now, I've never made a guitar, but I, I do some woodworking and thinking about some of the guitar designs I've seen. And I'm guessing you need a steamer in there, or do the pieces already come shaped?

00;03;16;20 - 00;03;23;16
Scott Nichols
Yeah. These kids, they came shaped pretty much. Except for the necks. I mean, and so the,

00;03;23;16 - 00;03;26;18
Scott Nichols
the red guitar, you see there, that is,

00;03;26;18 - 00;03;38;17
Scott Nichols
I did cut out the headstock how I wanted that and then profile the neck so that it kind of fit my hand and playing style and all of that. But the bodies were pretty much shaped like they are just needed to finish work, you know?

00;03;38;17 - 00;03;52;21
Craig Andrews
And I hadn't thought about it until you just said that, you know, shaping the neck to fit your hand. That's one of the nice things about building your own guitar. You go buy a guitar and it's just kind of made for the average hand.

00;03;52;24 - 00;03;55;03
Scott Nichols
Yeah. It was that. Yeah. And a lot of trial and error

00;03;55;03 - 00;03;58;05
Scott Nichols
getting it, you know how I, how I wanted it and

00;03;58;05 - 00;04;06;27
Scott Nichols
you know. No not going too far because once you, once you take off too much wood there's, there's no going back. You can't glue it back end into place. So,

00;04;06;29 - 00;04;11;20
Craig Andrews
Well, you know, I, I think this will tie into what we're talking about, you know, the,

00;04;11;20 - 00;04;21;10
Craig Andrews
if you're doing woodworking, you've made a lot of mistakes, and the art is turning your mistakes into features. And I made a,

00;04;21;10 - 00;04;25;11
Craig Andrews
I made a, you know, a little entertainment stand for my,

00;04;25;11 - 00;04;26;15
Craig Andrews
brother and his wife,

00;04;26;15 - 00;04;28;13
Craig Andrews
Shaker style.

00;04;28;16 - 00;04;36;10
Craig Andrews
And every time I see it, my eyes immediately go to the mistakes. And it was a pretty big mistake. They have no idea where it is.

00;04;36;10 - 00;04;51;20
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Basically, I'll say the front ends crooked. I got halfway through the glue up and the glue was drying, and I realized the thing one square. I'm sitting in my garage in the middle of the night, banging on it with a mallet and tightening clamps to try to get this thing square.

00;04;51;20 - 00;04;55;08
Craig Andrews
I never did get square, so I had to kind of chamfer the,

00;04;55;08 - 00;04;56;27
Craig Andrews
the doors.

00;04;56;27 - 00;05;15;13
Craig Andrews
You know, the casual observer doesn't notice that the doors don't line up. But yeah, I was able to make it look so that the doors. They have no idea why I screwed up. I've never told them. Never. Well, but I think that's just a part of anytime you're doing a project, nothing goes perfectly.

00;05;15;13 - 00;05;20;19
Craig Andrews
No matter how skilled you are, no matter how much you practice, nothing goes perfectly.

00;05;20;21 - 00;05;28;16
Scott Nichols
Yeah, yeah, it's it's true. And that's that. I actually bought the second kit guitar because I was, I was expecting that I was going to make some mistakes.

00;05;28;16 - 00;05;40;22
Scott Nichols
And wanted to, wanted to make those mistakes on the cheaper guitar that I didn't have that much attached to attachment to before. I, you know, worked on was more or less my kind of dream guitar, what I really envisioned.

00;05;40;22 - 00;05;41;18
Scott Nichols
But,

00;05;41;18 - 00;05;49;01
Scott Nichols
yeah, you accept them, you you learn from those mistakes and and you carry those lessons into everything you do the next go around.

00;05;49;03 - 00;05;54;29
Craig Andrews
Yeah. One of my favorite stories from music is,

00;05;54;29 - 00;05;57;05
Craig Andrews
Do you know the song Mack the Knife?

00;05;57;08 - 00;05;58;21
Scott Nichols
Yeah. Great song.

00;05;58;24 - 00;06;02;08
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. You know what it's about?

00;06;02;10 - 00;06;05;28
Scott Nichols
No, I don't I don't think I really paid attention to the meaning of it.

00;06;06;01 - 00;06;10;20
Craig Andrews
Yeah, it's about the serial killer and, Jack the Ripper.

00;06;10;23 - 00;06;12;08
Scott Nichols
Okay.

00;06;12;10 - 00;06;12;23
Craig Andrews
And,

00;06;12;23 - 00;06;15;14
Craig Andrews
Ella Fitzgerald started singing it,

00;06;15;14 - 00;06;29;17
Craig Andrews
in Berlin one night, and partway through the song, she forgot the words, and she made up her own words for the rest of the song. And her words. She ended up singing a song about how she forgot the words to Mack the Knife.

00;06;29;19 - 00;06;31;03
Scott Nichols
Yeah.

00;06;31;06 - 00;06;41;01
Craig Andrews
And I just thought that was so amazing. My best guess is what happened is at some point, her brain short circuited when she thought about the words,

00;06;41;01 - 00;06;54;26
Craig Andrews
because they're pretty gruesome. It's it's really about a serial killer and about his killings. And I think her brain just probably short circuited, like, no, that can't be right. And but the music's playing, and so she just had to keep on playing.

00;06;54;28 - 00;06;58;04
Scott Nichols
Yeah, it's. Wow.

00;06;58;06 - 00;07;06;23
Craig Andrews
I mean, I think that happens. I mean, you had that happen once with, when you were playing the sax with somebody. Different thing. But they first.

00;07;06;23 - 00;07;07;00
Scott Nichols
Yeah.

00;07;07;00 - 00;07;12;22
Scott Nichols
Yeah, it's it's it's true. I mean, there's, you know, I think, as a musician,

00;07;12;22 - 00;07;16;12
Scott Nichols
because I play quite a bit and. Yeah, this, this even goes back to,

00;07;16;12 - 00;07;20;18
Scott Nichols
elementary school is that, you know, you go through so much preparation,

00;07;20;18 - 00;07;34;10
Scott Nichols
before you perform a piece in front of an audience that, that it becomes habitual and sometimes you don't even think about what you're doing, and you can you can kind of, you know, get, get in the flow in a way,

00;07;34;10 - 00;07;39;04
Scott Nichols
and, and forget about that and then check back in and realize, oh my gosh, like, where am I?

00;07;39;04 - 00;07;40;24
Scott Nichols
What am I doing? And,

00;07;40;24 - 00;07;42;21
Scott Nichols
but yeah, I know that that happened with,

00;07;42;21 - 00;07;44;10
Scott Nichols
with, with another,

00;07;44;10 - 00;07;54;19
Scott Nichols
student of mine that I was playing with, we had a saxophone duet and we stood up in front of this auditorium. It it felt like there's, you know, 5000 people in there. If it was just 100 parents.

00;07;54;19 - 00;07;57;07
Scott Nichols
There's there's this, you know, really put on the spot.

00;07;57;07 - 00;08;02;14
Scott Nichols
And this was fourth or fifth grade, I think. And we had gone through all this preparation. We stood up,

00;08;02;14 - 00;08;05;03
Scott Nichols
and my buddy totally froze, forgot how to play.

00;08;05;03 - 00;08;09;27
Scott Nichols
The Saints go marching in. And so he was terrified.

00;08;09;27 - 00;08;19;25
Scott Nichols
And I looked over at him, could tell that that he just totally blanked. And so I kind of, you know, look at him and kind of sing, sing the beginning of the song to get him in the right rhythm and the right notes and all that stuff.

00;08;19;25 - 00;08;23;21
Scott Nichols
And we fully recovered and, you know, when you're in that kind of position,

00;08;23;21 - 00;08;29;03
Scott Nichols
all you could do is kind of smile and laugh about it and, you know, realize that the world isn't coming to an end.

00;08;29;03 - 00;08;32;25
Scott Nichols
And you just have to have to make the most of it. And I think what that is,

00;08;32;25 - 00;08;37;07
Scott Nichols
having a sense of a sense of humor about the whole situation.

00;08;37;09 - 00;08;49;13
Craig Andrews
Well, I think one thing that ends up happening, it's kind of like that cabinet that I made for my brother. I see that for me, the mistakes are much bigger in my eyes than they are in their eyes.

00;08;49;15 - 00;08;50;19
Scott Nichols
Yeah.

00;08;50;21 - 00;09;01;11
Craig Andrews
And I would imagine it's kind of the same. When you started coaching them along on stage and people probably notice, okay, something's a little bit off. But it wasn't it wasn't near the catastrophe for them. That was for you.

00;09;01;13 - 00;09;10;19
Scott Nichols
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. People for people forget about that stuff pretty quickly. And and that's a good thing.

00;09;10;22 - 00;09;12;24
Craig Andrews
Well, I mean, it makes me think about, you know,

00;09;12;24 - 00;09;21;11
Craig Andrews
so you you help folks put together pitch decks to go raise, you know, venture capital and,

00;09;21;11 - 00;09;38;11
Craig Andrews
Yeah, I'm I'm thinking about that. I mean, there's, I well, we were talking about a lot of similarities to performing. I mean, there's a lot of practice that goes beforehand, and then you get in the situation and something changes.

00;09;38;14 - 00;09;40;16
Craig Andrews
Something doesn't go as planned.

00;09;41;20 - 00;09;52;19
Craig Andrews
I don't know, maybe maybe you've had a different experience than me, but for me, it's I yeah, I just can think of a bunch of times where I remember once,

00;09;52;19 - 00;09;54;15
Craig Andrews
not VC, but,

00;09;54;15 - 00;10;05;11
Craig Andrews
we were having I was in the semiconductor world back then. We were meeting with Motorola, who at the time was, you know, a big player in mobile phones, and we were getting ready to kick off the meeting.

00;10;05;11 - 00;10;07;15
Craig Andrews
The guy who was leading the meeting from,

00;10;07;15 - 00;10;13;08
Craig Andrews
from our side puts up the agenda, and there's this guy at the other end of the table,

00;10;13;08 - 00;10;23;18
Craig Andrews
from Motorola, just says, well, that's absolutely nothing that we wanted to talk about. Why are you wasting our time?

00;10;24;16 - 00;10;27;28
Craig Andrews
I mean, and these type things happen.

00;10;28;00 - 00;10;28;27
Scott Nichols
Yeah.

00;10;28;29 - 00;10;29;23
Craig Andrews
You know,

00;10;29;23 - 00;10;33;05
Craig Andrews
these type things happen.

00;10;33;05 - 00;10;57;10
Craig Andrews
Fortunately, in that case, the meeting went on. You know, we asked the right question, and got things going again. But what? I don't know, I'm trying to think break this down when when somebody is going before a VC and pitching, what are the essential things they have to have together before they're standing in front of that VC?

00;10;57;13 - 00;10;59;13
Scott Nichols
Yeah, that's that's a great question.

00;10;59;13 - 00;11;02;27
Scott Nichols
And I think there's a multitude of responses to that.

00;11;02;27 - 00;11;21;13
Scott Nichols
You know, and largely in regard to preparation and, you know, maybe if I could draw a parallel to, you know, to being a performing musician, you know, these days I play more drums than anything. And there is there's a huge difference between practice and a performance.

00;11;21;15 - 00;11;34;05
Scott Nichols
And, you know, when you when you practice, you're, you're relaxed, you're kind of in, you know, doing your own thing and in all of that. But as soon as you're playing in front of a crowd of people, the whole dynamics change. Your your nerves can get the better of you.

00;11;34;05 - 00;11;36;22
Scott Nichols
You can tense up, you know, you can forget what you're doing.

00;11;36;22 - 00;11;39;28
Scott Nichols
You can be distracted by a million things going on around you.

00;11;39;28 - 00;11;46;27
Scott Nichols
And, and, you know, being able to overcome some of that really just comes with time and comes with practice.

00;11;46;27 - 00;11;55;10
Scott Nichols
But if if you're relatively new to pitching an idea, the more preparation that you can do two different people,

00;11;55;10 - 00;11;58;27
Scott Nichols
can can be a game changer for sure.

00;11;59;00 - 00;12;24;06
Scott Nichols
So understanding, you know, the structure when it comes to the pitch, understanding the structure, what you want to get across. And, you know, for me, one of the things that that I've looked at when helping people with their pitch is the idea of, of starting high level and then drilling down after that, you know, and making sure that the core message you get across, almost like, you know, an elevator pitch with the biggest key points,

00;12;24;06 - 00;12;28;27
Scott Nichols
is, is able to come across in a confident and concise and enthusiastic manner.

00;12;28;27 - 00;12;35;18
Scott Nichols
I think that's a that's a really big element to that. Once you get that message across and you can build that intrigue,

00;12;35;18 - 00;12;44;02
Scott Nichols
you can you can take a breath and you can expect that there going to be questions after that. And the opportunity to drill down further and further and further,

00;12;44;02 - 00;12;54;02
Scott Nichols
and, and realize, I think going into going into things that you are going to make mistakes, you're going to trip over your words, you may forget something that you had intended to say and so on.

00;12;54;02 - 00;12;54;26
Scott Nichols
But,

00;12;54;26 - 00;12;57;17
Scott Nichols
but keeping your, your own confidence levels high,

00;12;57;17 - 00;13;06;24
Scott Nichols
if you're going in to pitch, you know, with, with your co-founder or other individuals making sure that everybody's fluid and that you can compliment each other. And so if somebody is

00;13;06;24 - 00;13;14;11
Scott Nichols
maybe struggling a little bit, that somebody else on your team can step in and help carry that part of the conversation as well.

00;13;14;11 - 00;13;15;09
Scott Nichols
So,

00;13;15;09 - 00;13;18;10
Scott Nichols
just a few ideas out there about about how to,

00;13;18;10 - 00;13;21;02
Scott Nichols
how to prepare for that, that kind of situation.

00;13;21;04 - 00;13;38;01
Craig Andrews
Well, that kind of is like a band, you know, because, yeah, I mean, you know, when somebody does a solo, I don't know, maybe it's more practice. It just seems very fluid. It just seems like they hand off from one instrument to another and just seems supernatural.

00;13;38;03 - 00;13;40;12
Scott Nichols
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's interesting.

00;13;40;12 - 00;13;48;11
Scott Nichols
And some of that is just, you know, rote memorization. There's, you know, famous solos that we can think of from, you know, stairway to Heaven, for example,

00;13;48;11 - 00;13;52;05
Scott Nichols
where you would expect to hear it. You played the same, like all the time.

00;13;52;05 - 00;13;57;03
Scott Nichols
And then there are other artists like Frank Zappa who is, you know, pretty famous for for being,

00;13;57;03 - 00;14;01;00
Scott Nichols
a tremendous in Improvization ist.

00;14;01;00 - 00;14;11;17
Scott Nichols
So no solo would ever be the same. He would just play whatever, whatever came through through his, his mind at that time when they're performing that song. But either either way, you cut it,

00;14;11;17 - 00;14;17;12
Scott Nichols
there's a huge amount of preparation in practice that that goes into being able to do that in any other form.

00;14;17;14 - 00;14;23;27
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, and so.

00;14;23;29 - 00;14;33;00
Craig Andrews
What's when when you're prepping a team because, you know, you're not talking about an individual. You're talking about a team, you know,

00;14;33;00 - 00;14;39;20
Craig Andrews
going how do you prep them. How do you prep them for to present to the VCs?

00;14;39;23 - 00;14;48;17
Scott Nichols
Yes. It's interesting. And I think, you know, a lot of the a lot of the preparation that we do actually comes from the process that,

00;14;48;17 - 00;14;52;03
Scott Nichols
that we facilitate when creating the pitch deck.

00;14;52;03 - 00;15;00;21
Scott Nichols
You know, founders have so many different pieces going on in the world with their, their business. And, you know, maybe they're trying to juggle family and all of that as well.

00;15;00;24 - 00;15;18;22
Scott Nichols
And so some some of the ideas are, you know, merely just ideas in their head that haven't quite been fully formed. And so when I'm working with, with a team of founders to create their pitch deck, you know, where essentially what I'm doing is helping create it,

00;15;18;22 - 00;15;29;18
Scott Nichols
facilitate a dialog where they now have this space to talk about these things that are incredibly important, not just for the deck, but for their pitch and and for their business as a whole.

00;15;29;20 - 00;15;42;07
Scott Nichols
And so, so going through that conversation, identifying areas where, you know, there may be a gap of information or they have been undecided on a certain thing and saying, okay, you guys need to pull this together,

00;15;42;07 - 00;15;51;28
Scott Nichols
so that we could finish this thing. And so there's that whole process of going through that and refining these ideas is, is a huge part of the preparation,

00;15;51;28 - 00;15;55;05
Scott Nichols
involved in that and getting them ready to, to pitch to VCs.

00;15;55;05 - 00;16;02;14
Scott Nichols
And so ultimately, what what comes out of that is that the founders I work with have a much greater degree of clarity around,

00;16;02;14 - 00;16;06;29
Scott Nichols
their own business, their own ideas, the message that they're trying to get across.

00;16;06;29 - 00;16;26;25
Scott Nichols
And through that clarity, they've, they've got much greater confidence. And that's, that shows. And when you have that clarity and you have that confidence and then those pieces are in place, and then you can build on top of that and look at, okay, what else about my presentation can I focus on if you've got the words down that's one part.

00;16;26;25 - 00;16;36;28
Scott Nichols
And then you know and then to add on to that is what's my tonality? How am I coming across when I'm saying these things? You know, am I coming across as boring,

00;16;36;28 - 00;16;46;16
Scott Nichols
or nervous, or am I enthusiastic about the idea that I'm that I'm trying to pitch and that's that's where we want to get to.

00;16;46;19 - 00;16;56;07
Craig Andrews
What are some examples where you find that founders are willing to talk about something that you think the VCs probably don't give a rip about this?

00;16;56;09 - 00;17;09;11
Scott Nichols
Yeah. It, it that tends to happen more with more technical founders and co-founders that there are brilliant, at what they do from a technological standpoint.

00;17;09;11 - 00;17;14;29
Scott Nichols
You know, they've engineered something that nobody else has or whatever. That is mind boggling.

00;17;14;29 - 00;17;17;23
Scott Nichols
But the reality is, is that, you know, VCs,

00;17;17;23 - 00;17;21;19
Scott Nichols
they're not that interested in the technology. They're interested in,

00;17;21;19 - 00;17;23;25
Scott Nichols
in, in the dollars and cents of things.

00;17;23;25 - 00;17;57;17
Scott Nichols
And so getting to wrapped up in that can, can actually sabotage you. And that is something that that founders who are technical like that really have to come to terms with. Because and in a large sense, that's, that's their baby. That's what they've spent so much time to, to create and that's, that's their innovation. But it's just not necessarily what relates to the investor audience because they're they're not as technical as is, you know, a technical co-founder is some of them maybe if they come from that background.

00;17;57;17 - 00;18;00;16
Scott Nichols
But, you know, investors are in it for the money.

00;18;00;16 - 00;18;10;04
Scott Nichols
They're looking at a million other pitch decks, and they want something that makes sense from a business perspective. So, you know, kind of having to put your, your ego in check a little bit,

00;18;10;04 - 00;18;26;12
Scott Nichols
and show up with a different mindset knowing that your technology is badass, but that the business itself is, is really what's going to drive the adoption of that technology is, you know, a shift in mindset that that I think it'd be beneficial for, for people that have that, you know, that more technical,

00;18;26;12 - 00;18;29;24
Scott Nichols
mentality.

00;18;29;26 - 00;18;38;12
Craig Andrews
Well, and I, you know, the thing that I think about is the, the skills in pitching to VCs,

00;18;38;12 - 00;18;51;15
Craig Andrews
I think those are the same skills if you have a business or if you have any type of role in the business where you have to persuade people, especially in terms of money and maybe the people you're persuading are our customers.

00;18;51;17 - 00;18;57;18
Craig Andrews
Maybe you're having to present to your board of directors, you know, if you have a board of directors or maybe,

00;18;57;18 - 00;18;58;09
Craig Andrews
maybe you have,

00;18;58;09 - 00;19;00;08
Craig Andrews
investors, you know,

00;19;00;08 - 00;19;02;10
Craig Andrews
who knows, maybe you're you're trying to get, you know,

00;19;02;10 - 00;19;16;06
Craig Andrews
you know, line of credit at the bank or something like that. At some point, you have to be able to persuade, and you have to persuade about the things they care about, not the things you care about.

00;19;18;04 - 00;19;20;18
Scott Nichols
Very true. Yeah. Yes.

00;19;20;18 - 00;19;33;26
Scott Nichols
Yeah. Spot on. I mean it could be. Yeah. Those principles really are, you know across the board whether it is pitching to, to investors or if you're pitching an idea to your co-founder about something they should do different with the business or you're, you're pitching,

00;19;33;26 - 00;19;41;08
Scott Nichols
your business to a potential customer. It's, it's understanding the, your audience and who you're talking to.

00;19;41;12 - 00;19;42;01
Scott Nichols
And,

00;19;42;01 - 00;19;46;11
Scott Nichols
what what it is that, that you're trying to solve for and how it's going to impact.

00;19;46;11 - 00;20;00;27
Scott Nichols
Because because there is going to be an impact. And, you know, if if it's a customer that you're trying to pitch to you, then you want to identify their pain point and, and make it painfully clear that this doesn't have to be this way.

00;20;00;27 - 00;20;03;00
Scott Nichols
We've developed a solution for this.

00;20;03;00 - 00;20;08;23
Scott Nichols
And that that should be up front and center. And if it's just about the product itself,

00;20;08;23 - 00;20;29;20
Scott Nichols
without addressing the problem, it's likely they're not going to have interest or they're not going to be able to connect the dots with things or whatever the case may be. So, so pitching is, you know, universal, I would say even if you're, you know, you've got a buddy and you want to pitch an idea for a movie that you want to go watch or, you know, you know, something that you want to do over the weekend or anything like that.

00;20;29;20 - 00;20;32;27
Scott Nichols
Like a lot of it's kind of kind of the same principles.

00;20;32;29 - 00;20;55;21
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I, I see that a lot of times with, with my, you know, clients, you know, help folks with their marketing. And so many times I, I tell them, look, nobody cares. They're like, oh, we're different because of this. I'm like, yeah, nobody cares. You're just going to confuse them. Don't take them down that path.

00;20;55;24 - 00;20;56;12
Scott Nichols
Yeah.

00;20;56;14 - 00;21;04;17
Craig Andrews
And it's funny, it's easy for me to do that for others. It's hard for me to do that for myself.

00;21;04;19 - 00;21;25;12
Scott Nichols
Yeah. That's and that's, that's something that, that I've seen for for years working with my clients, you know, with with writing resumes, with writing pitch decks is that, you know, these individuals that I work with, they're they're often so close to their work that it it's challenging and it's no fault of their own. It's it's just what it is.

00;21;25;15 - 00;21;29;18
Scott Nichols
But they're so close to their work, it's it's very difficult to zoom out and,

00;21;29;18 - 00;21;40;19
Scott Nichols
and look through a different lens and, and tell a different kind of story, which is ultimately, you know, part of why I get hired to do what I do and YouTube for that matter, so.

00;21;40;21 - 00;21;43;15
Craig Andrews
Well, and I think for me, and I'll just speak about for me,

00;21;43;15 - 00;22;01;01
Craig Andrews
and the things I should be saying are the things that when I look at, I'm like, well, that's obvious. And I need people in my life to remind me. Craig, that's obvious to you. Yeah. This is not obvious to others. It's obvious to you.

00;22;01;03 - 00;22;17;16
Craig Andrews
You know, it's the curse of expertise. You know, you feel like, you know, I think we have this need of of just maybe challenging ourselves, you know? Hey, I'm going to talk about the more, you know, the more revolutionary things. And,

00;22;17;16 - 00;22;22;00
Craig Andrews
you know, so, you know, for me, it's easy for me to start talking about,

00;22;22;00 - 00;22;31;17
Craig Andrews
the different ways of creating emotional bonds and the mechanics of how that happens and, and how that will really, you know, drive,

00;22;31;17 - 00;22;33;29
Craig Andrews
that will warm up your leads and make them ready.

00;22;33;29 - 00;22;50;00
Craig Andrews
Are you ready to buy or make more interested in my. And I think the people that work with me, they're just like, Craig, we just want more leads are ready to buy all this other stuff you said is just kind of blah, blah, blah.

00;22;50;02 - 00;22;50;26
Scott Nichols
Yeah. It's,

00;22;50;26 - 00;22;53;12
Scott Nichols
Yeah, you've got a point there for sure. And,

00;22;53;12 - 00;23;10;24
Scott Nichols
you know, giving, giving people what they need and what they want. And I think part of that is, is, yeah, understanding again, the audience and listening and asking those questions and listening to to what it is that they want to accomplish. And you know, where you know, where their level of understanding is with things.

00;23;10;24 - 00;23;13;23
Scott Nichols
And, and you know what's going to be most important to them.

00;23;13;25 - 00;23;18;18
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Wow. Well very cool. Well, Scott,

00;23;18;18 - 00;23;20;20
Craig Andrews
how can,

00;23;20;20 - 00;23;26;08
Craig Andrews
well, first let me ask this. If somebody came to me and said,

00;23;26;08 - 00;23;36;07
Craig Andrews
hey, look, I'm not a startup. I'm not pitching the books, but I got a deck that's just not resonating. That somebody would help. Or do you just work in the VC community?

00;23;36;09 - 00;23;37;15
Scott Nichols
No. Absolutely.

00;23;37;15 - 00;23;42;05
Scott Nichols
Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, a lot of the principles of of what we do,

00;23;42;05 - 00;23;46;19
Scott Nichols
apply to so many different types of presentations. So we do,

00;23;46;19 - 00;23;48;12
Scott Nichols
sales decks, we do,

00;23;48;12 - 00;23;51;09
Scott Nichols
M&A decks, like sell side M&A decks.

00;23;51;09 - 00;23;59;04
Scott Nichols
I had a, a client request that we do a landing page for them, and they just bought the domain for we just finished up their pitch deck project.

00;23;59;04 - 00;24;01;05
Scott Nichols
They were preparing for a conference.

00;24;01;05 - 00;24;15;11
Scott Nichols
And they wanted they wanted something that people could go to and look at. And I was like, well, yeah, we've got, you know, most of that, that content is is there in the pitch deck already. I understand the business. And so we can adapt that to, to that medium and do that.

00;24;15;11 - 00;24;19;02
Scott Nichols
So there's there's a lot of ways that, that we can help with

00;24;19;02 - 00;24;24;17
Scott Nichols
you know with presentations and all different types. So it's not not just limited to startups and VCs.

00;24;24;19 - 00;24;29;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well very cool. Well, how did people reach you?

00;24;29;14 - 00;24;30;22
Scott Nichols
I'm pretty easy to find.

00;24;30;22 - 00;24;31;18
Scott Nichols
LinkedIn.

00;24;31;18 - 00;24;34;17
Scott Nichols
You can go to Velocity Pitch. Dexcom.

00;24;34;17 - 00;24;44;13
Scott Nichols
Is is probably the best way to go if you're looking me up for the first time, check out our website. We can look for for Scott Nichols. On on LinkedIn.

00;24;44;15 - 00;24;49;19
Craig Andrews
Okay. Well, I hope people reach out to you. And, Scott. Thanks for coming on Layers and Legacies.

00;24;49;22 - 00;24;54;15
Scott Nichols
Thank you so much for having me, Greg. Really appreciate it.

00;24;54;15 - 00;25;21;11
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;25;21;11 - 00;25;23;06
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;25;23;08 - 00;25;46;18
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;25;46;20 - 00;25;54;25
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;25;54;25 - 00;27;57;00
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.