This blog post has been on my plate for about a month. I thought it was going to be straightforward but I ended up trying to eat an elephant in one sitting.

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Error. Everyone knows, you must eat an elephant with a village over a weekend. This is too deep a topic to deal with in one blog post, but more on that later.

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The clarifying moment was sitting through the Pitchathon on Monday and Tuesday at the Asian Financial Forum. 

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The reality check: 100 pitches in two days

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I sat through nearly 100 FinTech and startup pitches (missed only about three, if you're counting). After recording and tagging all these presentations, something clicked. Rather than attempting to write the ultimate pitch guide, I realised we needed to start with three fundamental issues that kept coming up.

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State your problem (and make it specific)

Don't just say "payments in emerging markets are hard." That's too broad, and everyone knows it. Instead, get specific – show your unique insight. For example: "Did you know that remittances out of Nigeria, worth three billion dollars a quarter, are being bottlenecked by a single bank?"

General problem statements reveal only general understanding.

You need to hook your audience with the problem before presenting your solution. Remember: this isn't a credentials presentation.

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{{big-quote}}

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Who's your target customer?

If you're solving a payments problem in Nigeria, paint me a vivid picture.

Is it for mum-and-pop stores transferring money abroad? Or Nigerian students struggling to pay their international university fees? Tell me a story about the specific person whose life you're going to improve.

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Here's the truth: if everyone's your market, no one is.

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What makes you different?

About 60% of startups faced this question because they didn't address it in their pitch.

With countless payment solutions out there (and I mean countless – there are different ones for each market), you need to clearly articulate your unique value proposition.

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Making every second count

In a three-minute pitch, every sentence must pull its weight. You need to convey:

• A massive, specific problem
• Your clear target audience (which demonstrates market size)
• Your unique differentiator

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Building a better resource for Asian startups

Here's the thing: most pitch advice out there is either too generalised or too US-centric. Our ecosystem in Asia is different - more fragmented, with different investor expectations and market dynamics. We’re starting with what we call the "Pitch Pit" - think of it as the hexagon for pitching, because pitching is a blood sport with winners and losers. With finite funding and customer budgets, you either get good or get a bloody nose and go home.

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This is the first, of an entire world of content we’re building to give back to the ecosystem that has enabled us to build our own startup. 

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Next, we're taking it a step further by collaborating with Dr. Ryan Manuel of Bilby.ai and other experts and community partners to develop a comprehensive startup handbook specifically for deep tech founders in Asia. Having seen how our ecosystem differs from Silicon Valley, we believe this resource is crucial.

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In the context of the broader global competitive landscape, the next few years will be much harder to get startups off the ground. If you’re building in Asia, we want you to put your best foot forward and not fumble on foundational issues. 

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Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to get access.

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