Structural, linguistic and rhetorical features of the entrepreneurial pitch

Purpose – As mastering the two-minute entrepreneurial pitch is a key skill required of entrepreneurs and all those who have to sell an idea in a business context, the purpose of this paper is to analyse successful entrepreneurial pitches in order to provide practical pitch-related advice to entrepreneurs and to business school instructors developing pedagogical materials. Design/methodology/approach – As mastering the two-minute entrepreneurial pitch is a key skill required of entrepreneurs and all those who have to sell an idea in a business context, this paper aims to analyse successful entrepreneurial pitches in order to provide practical pitch-related advice to entrepreneurs and to business school instructors developing pedagogical materials. Findings – A ten-stage discourse framework was shown to underlie most pitches and typical linguistic exponents and rhetorical devices were identified. While there was a strong correlation between linguistic exponents and particular organisational stages, it was n...

[1]  G. Lakoff,et al.  Metaphors We Live By , 1980 .

[2]  James A. Holstein,et al.  The new language of qualitative method , 1997 .

[3]  Alistair R. Anderson,et al.  News and Nuances of the Entrepreneurial Myth and Metaphor: Linguistic Games in Entrepreneurial Sense–Making and Sense–Giving , 2005 .

[4]  Alistair R. Anderson,et al.  The entrepreneur as hero and jester: Enacting the entrepreneurial discourse , 2011 .

[5]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[6]  D. Schiffrin.  Approaches to Discourse , 1997 .

[7]  Robert Smith.  The Fabrication of Entrepreneurial Fable , 2005 .

[8]  Crafting a Sales Pitch for Your Grant Proposal , 2011 .

[9]  S. Kotha,et al.  Entrepreneur Passion And Preparedness In Business Plan Presentations: A Persuasion Analysis Of Venture Capitalists' Funding Decisions , 2009 .

[10]  R. Baron.  The Role of Affect in the Entrepreneurial Process , 2008 .

[11]  James Paul Gee,et al.  话语分析入门 : 理论与方法 = An introduction to discourse analysis : theory and method , 1999 .

[12]  Oren Klaff,et al.  Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal , 2011 .

[13]  Richard T. Harrison,et al.  “Auditioning for Money” , 2003 .

[14]  Martin L. Martens,et al.  DO THE STORIES THEY TELL GET THEM THE MONEY THEY NEED? THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL NARRATIVES IN RESOURCE ACQUISITION , 2007 .

[15]  C. Hardy,et al.  Discourse and Institutions , 2004 .

[16]  Jeanne Fahnestock,et al.  Rhetorical Style: The Uses of Language in Persuasion , 2011 .

[17]  Ellen S. O’Connor,et al.  Storytelling to be real: narrative, legitimacy building and venturing , 2004 .

[18]  Peter Coughter.  The Art of the Pitch , 2012 .

[19]  Ellen S. O’Connor,et al.  Storied Business: Typology, Intertextuality, and Traffic in Entrepreneurial Narrative , 2002 .

[20]  A. Johansson.  Narrating the Entrepreneur , 2004 .

[21]  Colin Clark,et al.  The impact of entrepreneurs' oral ‘pitch’ presentation skills on business angels' initial screening investment decisions , 2008 .

[22]  D. Silverman.  Doing Qualitative Research , 2009 .