The Observer's Notebook: I'd Like a Good Score Please

Volume II, Entry 8 | January 16, 2025

January 16, 2025 • Reading Time: 4 minutes

Happy Thursday.

Here are three things on my mind this week, plus some fascinating reads I think you'll enjoy.

🔖Bookmarks of the Week

  1. “AI is eating VC.” Great stuff in the State of Venture 2024 Report.🤖| CB Insights (link)

  2. Founders are in sales. Period.💼| Hunter Walk @Homebrew VC (link)

  3. How to avoid bringing terrible advisors into your business🚩| Burak Buyukdemir @Startup Istanbul (link)

🔍Three Things On My Mind

1. The 3-Point “Pitch”: Problem, Solution, What’s Different.🎯

This week a new entrepreneur asked me an excellent question: “Where do you see most people struggle when learning to “pitch” for the first time?”

Answer: Overly scripting.

They forget a piece. Somebody interrupts. They run out of time.

A better method: think and prepare using a simple framework.

Spend a day condensing the essence of the business to 3 simple bullet points that can be communicated in a single sentence:

  1. What’s the problem?

  2. What’s the solution?

  3. What makes it different?

Internalize the exact wording for each core idea.

Now we have a hyper-flexible pitch that can be given in one sentence, easily expanded to 5 minutes, or blown out into a full hour presentation depending on the circumstances.

2. Electricity Demand is Rising. This is a Big Deal.⚡

The EIA’s short term electricity consumption outlook currently projects something very exciting.

Growth.

After almost two decades of relatively little change, consumption of electricity grew by 2% in the United States during 2024, and we forecast it will continue growing at that rate in 2025 and 2026. If electricity consumption grows in each of the next two years, it would mark the first three years of consecutive growth since 2005–07, though this result could be affected significantly by weather. The growth in electricity consumption in our forecast is mostly the result of growing power demand in the commercial and industrial sectors. (Source; emphasis mine)

Problem: We need more electricity.

Solution: We’ll see investment in new energy production capacity across a variety of forms.

Rising tides lift all ships.

3. You’re Always Leaving an Impression.👣

This week I completed a half dozen reference interviews.

It’s truly amazing what you can learn about a person by spending 10 minutes with a former colleague.

PSA: If you work with other humans, you are making an impression. Every one of those humans can put a mental rating on how good of a job they think you’re doing. And someday, somebody like me might just ask them what that score is.

Until Next Week👋

Thanks for reading - have a great week.

-Andrew

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How did I do this week?

About Me

I cultivate flourishing.

I'm also the CEO of PitchFact, where our mission is to cultivate flourishing specifically through efficient and collaborative early-stage diligence. I'm a proud husband, grateful father, and honest friend. My love languages include brisket, bourbon, and a handwritten note.