Would you like some pie?

There are 2 people who are offering you some pie.

Person 1:

They tell you that they are about to bake a pie. They then continue to tell you a story that they are terrific pie makers and that all of their experience in and around the kitchen (watching their parents bake) and eating lots of pie, gives them the right qualifications to make a really great tasting pie. They also tell you about their secret recipe, which has never been used before. They are certain it will make a far superior pie. They even show you the written recipe and tell you about the ingredients and methods.

After all this explaining they then ask if you’d like a taste, but before that, you will have to wait until they bake it. Then they ask you to give them some money to go build a kitchen and buy some ingredients. They want to bake these pies at great scale. They think they can sell many of these pies.

Person 2:

Has already baked a pie and offers you some. They have only baked this one small pie. But would like you to try it even though it is just a small sample. It smells nice, and it looks nice. You try some and it tastes lovely. You then engage in some conversation about their pie. How they baked it, the ingredients, and if they think they could replicate this pie and make it at scale. It turns into a really great discussion and evolves into a deeper immersion about the pie business. You’re both really inspired by each other and start planning some next steps.

Your startup is the pie. Which person would you invest in?

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6 thoughts on “Would you like some pie?

  1. Well the first one is how many people try and sell their startup to investors…. And only once we put it in a real life situation do we see how ridiculous it sounds!

    Steve.

  2. if you’re providing a service – volunteer your service(s) a couple of times, work out some of the kinks, and then get references. win – win for all!

  3. I admit, when I first started working on my idea I was just completely and utterly convinced that investors would hear about my idea and just fall down at my feet begging to invest 🙂
    Reality was the feeling of a short, sharp slap to my face. We’re going live in a month or so with a smaller scope, and then maybe I’ll try again with investors 😉

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