👨🚒 Great Pitch Example: Steve Wolf of Team Wildfire

Founders often ask me for examples of good pitches. I want to share an example of a really well-structured story by fellow list reader Steve Wolf. His five-minute Techstars pitch gives us everything we need: a powerful hook, a big problem, a simple solution, and confidence he’s the right guy to do it.

You can watch his 5-minute pitch here. shared with permission.

What I find interesting is that Steve doesn’t introduce the solution until the halfway mark. His example shows precisely why we don’t talk about our solution right out of the gate in a pitch. He has given us a reason to care about it first.

I’ve broken down some key points, quoted Steve, and put my annotations in italics.

The Problem (small)

“Just because your town’s not on fire doesn’t mean that wildfires don’t impact you.”

Steve is telling us about the problem, but not for some generic person. He’s telling us why this is YOUR problem.

The Problem (big)

”Every country is struggling to find ways to put out fires…Trillions in damage, 8 billion tons of CO2”

Now he’s zooming out to tell us how this is a BIG problem.

What’s NOT the solution

“We invest billions of dollars in cool new satellites, sensors and cameras. But as it turns out, data doesn’t douse fires.”

How the problem is already being addressed, and what’s not working about that solution.

Definition of a good solution

“The weather owns the fire. So if you want to control fires, you have to own the weather…”

This subtle transition serves as a teaser for the solution he’ll talk about later.

Linking the problem to his solution

“For the last 30 years I was a special effects coordinator in Hollywood…It turns out that by modifying the way we make weather on movie sets we actually can give fire teams exactly what they need.”

He introduces his professional background as a crucial piece that links the problem and the solution.

The buildup to this solution has us hooked! Here’s a problem that affects me directly, that affects everyone on Earth, and he’s made a case for why the existing solutions aren’t enough. Now I need to know…what is he going to show us?

The solution!

“We actually can give fire teams exactly what they need: hurricanes on wheels. The ability to focus Category 5 storms exactly where we need them to push fires back and drown them out without endangering firefighters.”

…the solution! Note that he talks about what problem the solution solves rather than specifics of the truck.

Thanks Steve for sharing your pitch with us and for dreaming up this wild contraption. I can’t wait to see it in action!