Summary | Backable by Suneel Gupta (2021)

Backable (2021)

What is it about?  Backable: The surprising truth behind what makes people take a chance on you (2021) discusses how we can convince others, like investors and bosses, to believe in and invest in us and our ideas.

Why bother? The tactics outlined in the book are practical for pitching ideas, which are essential for professionals to make career advancements and for entrepreneurs to receive venture investment. The recommendation to read the book post this summary is 4.0.

Key Ideas The key idea is how to make people back our ideas. The book describes 7 steps :

• Convince yourself first: we have to honestly believe in what we plan to do and say. To convince ourselves, we must dive deep into the ideas, research, perform incubation, take trials and learn from errors until we fully understand and are persuaded. The challenge is to preserve the passion and energy all along. 
• Casting a central character: describing how to narrate the story. The story needs to be emotionally relatable to supporters with extensive details. The detail can enclose every step of customer experiences and how the ideas address every condition. 
• Finding an earned secret: sharing insights on what led to the idea and why, including the market environment, people, and financial plan. The power word is "because." 
• Making it inevitable requires pitching ideas sufficiently to address all questions. The goal is to remove investors' concerns about the venture's safety and intrigue their eagerness to grasp the chance without missing the opportunity. 
• Flipping outsiders to insiders: bringing in our backers to the idea showing they are a pivot part of the plan and vision. The approach utilizes the IKEA effect, a cognitive bias showing when consumers tend to play high value on products if they are partially part of the creation. The power word in this step is "us.", a story of us. 
• Playing exhibition matches refers to what we learned from the past and keeps improving. Learn communication by talking to a circle of personal advisors with collaborators, coaches, cheerleaders, and devil's advocate. Dare to be embarrassed at early stage. 
• Letting go of your ego means turning the spotlight from us toward our idea. The most important thing is the vision, not the person pitching it. 

Last, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Backable people are action takers who do the homework and put in hard work. Now.

Favorite Quotes

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“You have the most attention from investors in the first few minutes,” he says. “Most investors arrive with questions, and if you proactively show you understand their principal concerns, you earn their attention for the rest of the pitch.” 
― Suneel Gupta, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You