The overlooked part of pitch preparation

When you’re pitching an idea, the actual pitch presentation is only part of the conversation. Sometimes a small part. And yet, it often gets all of the attention in the preparation process.

It’s just as important to prepare for the Q&A part. But how do you do that, given that you don’t know what actual questions are going to be asked?

My favorite way is to play the devil’s advocate game and to do it rigorously. Choose someone on your team to challenge your idea in every possible way and have an actual conversation.

Here’s the crucial part. You have to play it seriously. It’s easy to be satisfied with the first reply that pops into your mind and just check the box. Resist that urge and play it seriously! Challenge that reply again.

And when you’re done, repeat the whole process. Again and again. Changing roles in every cycle.

You will never need most of the situations you’ve gone through in that process. But remember that in order to appear as though you didn’t have to prepare, you gotta be prepared 10x.