Pitching an Idea So It Can Scale

One of the gifts of coordinating and working among 17 institutions over the past decade is the ability to see what resonates across campuses and hear the questions people have in the back of the room. Funders frequently ask why campuses don’t scale each other's ideas or what gets in the way. From my unique vantage point, one of the biggest challenges is the way people talk about the ideas and innovations they hope others will borrow.  Over time, I have developed a keen ear for the pitch architecture that resonates and helps ideas spread.  
 
First, what not to do: Most of the time I hear a campus start by telling you what they accomplished and how many students they served (“We’ve increased retention by 30% for 5,000 students”). That headline approach might work when pitching philanthropy or media, but when it comes to helping another institution vet whether or not they might need your solution or if your idea might resonate on their campus, it doesn’t gain traction. Other university leaders want to know what challenge you overcame, not just what target you hit. 

So when talking about successful innovations, lead with the challenge you sought to address. This invites others to figure out if they share that challenge and might be able to learn from your approach. Then, show a little vulnerability and let others know you didn’t just immediately come up with an answer. Explain what you tried, where you stumbled, and what you learned so others feel like they can trust your process (and save some time by identifying similar roadblocks on their campuses). Finally, present your positive results to demonstrate what you accomplished.

Below is the pitch architecture I recommend to help focus your offering on the needs of the listener and help them understand whether or not your idea is something they can import and implement. Remember: start with the challenge and end with the headline accomplishment. 

1. I don't know if you have this problem, but at my campus we had a _____ problem. (Extremely important - this needs to go first.)
2. We did not know how to fix it. (Also important.)
3. So we tried 1, 2, 3 - and they didn't work. (You are teaching/coaching, not bragging. This builds trust.)
4. Finally, we tried X. (Describe it as simply as possible.)
5. We learned a, b, c. (Again, you are being generous, teaching, helping, trust building - not selling.)
6. We think this works because of ___ data point. (Close by demonstrating the improvement and sharing context for the population served.)

Talking through your innovative solutions in this order makes it more likely that others will want to listen and learn about what you did. By focusing on how you did it, they will appreciate the work you put in, learn something about your perspective, and, since you don't seem like you are selling a solution, they may be more willing to trust your approach.

Having helped our campuses launch their ninth multi-campus scaling initiative this past year, we have learned valuable lessons about what works and what doesn’t when helping people understand and appreciate an idea not born on their campus. 

I’m confident this framework will make a big difference in helping spread your great ideas and innovations so many more students benefit. 

October 20, 2023