Anxiety before investor pitch: Give Nerves a Job.
Anxiety before investor pitch moments can work for you when you read it as helpful. A 2010 study linked that reading to higher real GRE maths scores. Also, a 2024 study found founders who tied nerves to passion were judged more favourably.
A real exam, not a karaoke game.
In 2010, Jeremy Jamieson, Wendy Berry Mendes, Erin Blackstock and Toni Schmader studied 60 Harvard students preparing for the GRE. Before a practice test, some read that anxiety might help them perform. That group did better on the practice maths section.
Later, 28 returned with real scores, averaging 770 in maths against about 706. Verbal scores did not differ, so test anxiety reappraisal GRE results stayed specific.
Small group, real consequences.
Twenty-eight people is a small group, and the author would not bet a career on it. However, it was a real exam that shaped futures. It also took remarkably little effort, just a few lines read once. That is about the same effort as the sentence you will say before a difficult call.
How founders handle anxiety before investor pitch.
Lily Zhu, with Maia Young and Christopher Bauman, published a 2024 study in the Journal of Business Venturing. Most surveyed entrepreneurs managed anxiety before investor pitch moments by distraction, while about one in eight reframed it. Yet judges preferred founders who linked anxiety to passion. In a charity pitch experiment, that group seemed more persuasive and fundable. Their nerves stayed visible, because nerves show you care, Zhu suggested.
Reframe your anxiety before investor pitch practice.
Write one sentence linking your nerves tonight to why your business matters to you.
Before your next pitch, say that sentence instead of trying to distract yourself.
From the book.
Twenty-eight people is a small group, and I wouldn't bet a career on it. But that was a real exam with real consequences, not a game in a lab. It also took remarkably little: a few lines of instructions, heard and read once before a practice test, which is about the same effort as the sentence you'll say out loud before your next difficult call.
I Want to Start a Business but I'm a Coward, chapter 8: Do not calm down
Questions about anxiety before investor pitch.
Can anxiety before investor pitch meetings actually help me?
In the research led by Lily Zhu, founders who linked nerves to passion were rated more persuasive. Their anxiety stayed noticeable, but it worked for them.
What did the GRE study find on the real exam?
Students who read the message averaged 770 in maths, against about 706 for the others. Their verbal scores did not differ.
What did Zhu say about anxiety?
She said that if you are anxious, it is often because you really care.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 8, “Do not calm down”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Fear and excitement feel the same: Who Names It.
- 02 Pump up song before a presentation: Why Roar.
- 03 Say I am excited instead of nervous: Brooks's Test.
- 04 Record yourself practicing a pitch: Two Takes.
- 05 Anxiety before investor pitch: Give Nerves a Job.
- 06 Traders physiological response to risk: Listen.
- 07 Rafael Nadal pre match rituals: Get Activated.
- 08 Does anxiety reappraisal really work: The Limits.