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Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on corporate governance, featuring Alexey Volynets of International Finance Corporation. From what structures make sense to employ, and when in the life cycle of your business you should use them, Volynets provides advice and insights on how corporate governance can be a powerful tool for your business.

While many entrepreneurs fear corporate governance because they believe it means more legal constraints and less control, Volynets wants to change the way founders of small to medium-size enterprises think about governance. He has been researching and teaching companies about the ins and outs of corporate governance for years and understands why it’s  so challenging. “It's really hard to let go. It's hard to delegate. It's hard to allow people from outside the company to make huge strategic decisions on what it should do,” he acknowledges. But Volynets believes there comes a time in every company’s journey when leaders have to delegate and formalize systems and structures to support growth.

Top Six Masterclass Takeaways 

1. Corporate governance goes beyond boards. Volynets defines it quite simply: it’s about how companies are directed and controlled. And second, it’s when companies have created structured policies that “mean you can take a vacation for three weeks and not be afraid your business will fall apart while you’re away.”
2. The stage of your business makes a difference. You don’t have to have all your corporate governance structures done on day one. What makes sense for a mature, expanding business is far different than an early stage startup.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for external advice. And the earlier you start thinking about it, the better. It can be formal or informal, but relying on others with expertise you don’t have in-house is essential.
4. Build a good management team, too. A good board of directors needs to have a partner in the company beyond the CEO. And realistically,  in the early days when resources are strapped, your management team can perform many of the functions you’ll later assign to a board. 
5. Don’t wait to create an organizational chart. While you’re focusing on growth, adding people and units, you need to start formalizing your organization’s key functions, and what those key functions actually do. And it might just come in handy for succession if one of your key people suddenly leaves. 
6. Ease into corporate governance with an advisory board. It can be a great stepping-stone as you formalize governance structures.

Listen to Volynets’ insights, advice, timing, and strategies for how you can ease into and ultimately formalize and manage a board when the time is right.

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Is it time to consider an advisory board? And if so, why? What skills do you need? And how do you find the right people who are willing to help? Aashish Agarwaal, founder and chairman of the Enerji Group, and Alexey Volynets of the International Finance Corporation share entrepreneurial perspectives and corporate governance advice to help you figure out what’s right for your company.

Rare is the entrepreneur who is an expert at everything. Turning to others outside your company for advice can be essential for success. Formalizing that process with an advisory board is helping Aashish Agarwaal strategically transform Enerji Group, the digital publishing enterprise he founded in India. But it took awhile to figure out exactly what he needed, who could help, and how to run the board effectively.

Alexey Volynets understands what Agarwaal had to go through to create the ideal advisory board. As an expert in corporate governance at the International Finance Corporation, he has been teaching companies about corporate governance  for years.

The most common manifestation of corporate governance is a board — fiduciary or advisory. Whereas fiduciary boards have financial liabilities, advisory boards are simply there to provide expertise that you may be lacking. 

“As you are growing, and when you are on the top of the world, it's important to have a check,” Volynets explains. “External advisors, especially very independent voices will ask you the right questions and will challenge your assumptions.”

Agarwaal figured out who he needed by first identifying the skill gaps in his company and what strategic initiatives he needed help with and how often. He suggests “I would say first what are the gaps, and second, do you need that help on a consistent basis or intermittent basis? Because again, you have to decide how much investment you're going to make in it.” 

Finding the right people isn’t easy, either. Volynets suggests the best place to look is your own networks to find the business people you trust with the criteria you need. But Volynets cautions entrepreneurs to avoid adding friends, suppliers, contractors, etc. to an advisory board, even if they have the requisite skills. He says “The most important characteristic is emotional independence.” 

 Listen to Aashish’s first hand experience on creating an advisory board and Alexey’s insights on how to do it strategically and successfully when it’s time to tap into the experience and expertise of other business leaders.

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Do you have a few open coaching spots that you'd like to fill right away? This video provides 5 different strategies and tips you can use to get your next coaching client right away. These tips focus on organic marketing and are free to implement in your coaching business.

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Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on power, featuring Dr. Deborah Gruenfeld, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor of organizational behavior. From the body language of power to the authority vs. authenticity debate, Gruenfeld provides insights on how and when to use your power to gain the trust and respect of others.

Professor Gruenfeld is a psychologist by training and she’s been researching and teaching about the psychology of power and powerlessness for decades. So, she has a deep understanding of why this invisible force can have such a profound social and business impact.

There are plenty of myths and misconceptions about power, starting with the fact that most people believe that only other people have power and that power corrupts. Gruenfeld says the research disproves this idea, explaining, “It’s having power while feeling powerless that leads people to behave badly.”

So, how do people in positions of power use it as a force for good? If you want to have a positive impact on others and on your organization, Gruenfeld suggests there’s no advantage career-wise to being a jerk. Instead, she recommends “behaving in a way that leads others to trust you more.”

Top Five Masterclass Takeaways 

• Your body language can communicate power … or powerlessness. Gruenfeld advises entrepreneurs to imagine putting on a headdress or crown before you walk in a room full of strangers. The stillness and physical expansiveness you convey will provide nonverbal cues that you’re comfortable and in charge.
• Sometimes it’s better to lead with deference than dominance. While dominance tends to look more authoritative, deferential behaviors are more approachable, show respect for others, and help build relationships.
• Effective leaders need to balance authority and approachability. You need to be equally capable of behaving in a way that commands respect and shows respect to others because people will need different things from you in different situations. 
• Leaders need to practice types of power that may not come naturally. More than likely, you’ll be more comfortable with either an authoritative or approachable style. Use this as an opportunity for growth so you can be the leader whom others need you to be.
• Often the best way to use your power is to empower others. While not intuitive for most leaders, showing vulnerability and asking for help can be highly motivating for teams.

Listen to Dr. Gruenfeld’s insights, advice, and strategies for how entrepreneurs can use power more effectively as you manage growing teams, pitch investors, and negotiate deals.

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What are the unique challenges facing the African entrepreneurial ecosystem? How is the rapid growth of fintech startups impacting the Nigerian economy? And what does it take to become a modern business leader? Hakeem Belo-Osagie, accomplished businessman, philanthropist, and educator, has the experience and expertise to tackle all three.

Few business leaders understand the systemic challenges facing African finance as well as Hakeem Belo-Osagie. For three decades, he’s been a driving force in the Nigerian economy, working across the energy, finance, and telecom sectors. He left a decade-long career in the Nigerian government for the life of an entrepreneur — and he hasn’t looked back. But it didn’t start well, as Belo-Osagie explains:

“I think I mightily over-estimated my abilities, and my first entrepreneurial venture in finance was a complete failure, the bulk of which was entirely my own fault. It was a wonderful lesson. And I was able to pick myself up. The second venture of mine, which was a securities trading company, went very well. Subsequent to that, I staged the takeover of a large government-owned bank that I realized after buying was effectively bankrupt.”

Managing a hostile workforce at that bank, UBA, and working with seemingly hostile government regulators has taught Belo-Osagie about the importance of empathy, patience, and courage. Being aware of how much your employees and regulators really understand about the situation is key to success. As he explains about the bureaucratic mindset, when government officials don’t understand something, the instinctive reaction is to say no.

Ultimately, Belo-Osagie defines success, especially in Africa, this way:

“We have to measure how well we're doing, not by how many people are on the Forbes cover, or by how many billionaires Africa has, but basically what has happened to the bottom 40 percent. Business success has to enable people to make good sums of money, but it also has to be a system that lifts people out of poverty, large proportions of the overall population.”

Listen to Belo-Osagie’s turnaround story at UBA, his thoughts on the role of regulation in the future of fintech, and what it takes to be an effective leader … in Africa and beyond.

As we said at the beginning of the episode, the Seed Transformation Program will open applications for the 2023 class on April 1st, 2020. Founders and CEOs of companies based in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with annual revenue of at least $300,000 are eligible to apply. To apply or find out more, visit: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/seed/transformation-program/admission

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Welcome back to Grit & Growth from Stanford Graduate School of Business. We’re tackling the complex issues facing entrepreneurs who are building businesses in Africa and South Asia. These emerging markets are exploding with opportunity and obstacles. And you’ll hear firsthand from entrepreneurs about their trials and triumphs, along with insights from Stanford faculty and global experts on how to overcome challenges and achieve success. We dig deep on product innovation, negotiation, corporate governance, regulation, and retention. We hear stories about corruption, women in business, and the role of power. Listen in and learn from entrepreneurs and experts on Grit & Growth Season 2.

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After a year of Grit & Growth podcasts, Darius Teter, our host and executive director of Stanford Seed, looks back on his conversations with intrepid entrepreneurs from Africa and India. He not only shares powerful moments but also some of the lessons he’s learned along the way about the struggles and opportunities of entrepreneurship in emerging markets. 

It’s hard to pick favorites, but some stories held special resonance and, in retrospect, revealed key themes about the long, often lonely, yet rewarding journey of entrepreneurship. No surprise, grit is one of the qualities that stood out in the entrepreneurs Teter spoke with, especially in the face of unprecedented adversity. Kwami Williams, whose company suffered from two fires, the pandemic lockdown, and personal tragedy, talked about the importance of taking one step at a time to stay resilient and recover.

Working to solve important problems is a red thread throughout many of the conversations. 

“It got me thinking that much of what we take for granted are really fundamental human rights — access to food, water, basic health care, and information,” Teter explains. “The phrase ‘purpose and profit’ may be overused, but these remarkable people are solving important problems as a business, not a charity.”

Teter points to Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, who built a network of affordable yet sophisticated hospitals across India and staffed a 1,000-bed hospital in weeks during the darkest days of the pandemic, and Samuel Appenteng, whose company brings drinking water to seven countries in Africa. Often, just doing business in some of these markets is a problem worth solving, from providing access to markets or using machine learning to providing short term financing.

From creating dignified work and highlighting the importance of mission to considering the role of governance and securing financing to scale their businesses, these entrepreneurs showed true grit and growth.

As Teter looks back and to the future of entrepreneurship in the region, he says, “What I have learned through my association with these incredible people is that the locus of innovation is rapidly shifting to these emerging markets, where a combination of necessity, untapped consumer demand, network penetration, and new technologies is leading to an explosion of business activity. And I learned that being an entrepreneur in these markets can be a lonely journey, and they value the opportunity to network and learn from each other.”

Listen to highlights and observations from our first season, tune in to the full stories of these amazing entrepreneurs, and get ready for Season Two.

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Profile of Purpose: A Tough Nut to Crack

Meet Frank Omondi, wildlife biologist turned entrepreneur. As CEO, he took Ten Senses Africa, a Kenyan producer and distributor of macadamia nuts, from the brink of bankruptcy to a modern, sustainable, and successful venture that satisfies customers and supports farmers.

Frank Omondi approaches business differently than most entrepreneurs: “I look at business in a way that helps uplift more people. I think the future of Africa's food production lies in the hands of the small-holders.” This belief influences every decision that Omondi makes for Ten Senses.  

“Ten years ago, we set it up as a company that is going to be fair to farmers. We found small-holders were being taken advantage of,” Omondi explained. Instead, Ten Senses developed long-term relationships with farmers, committing to buy all their products and pay them a fair price. And they brought in technology to facilitate mobile payments and farm-to-shelf traceability.

“We're able to pay farmers directly on mobile phones,” Omondi said. “Instantly, each person can move nearly $2,000 to $3,000 on their phone. You don't get that anywhere else.”

Ten Senses is not only doing right by farmers. The company is also helping to combat climate change and deforestation. To date, Ten Senses has provided over one million seedlings to farmers. And it has doubled its sales in the past five years, too, proving that success and sustainability can go hand in hand. Omondi explained, “We are not only helping vulnerable farmers to get income, but also giving them climate change resiliency.”

Listen to Omondi’s mini profile to hear how his company is cracking the nut on sustainability, traceability, and profitability for small farmers in Kenya and soon Tanzania and Ethiopia. 

Bonus: Two of our future guests, Dr. Deborah Gruenfeld and Dr. Margaret Neale, are the faculty directors of Stanford’s executive program in women’s leadership. This intensive, one-week workshop will take place on campus from May 1–6, and it will transform the way you negotiate, manage teams, and lead. The deadline to apply to the program is March 18, so don’t wait. Learn more and apply here.

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Meet Samuel Appenteng, managing director of Joissam Ghana, a company working to make clean water more accessible to rural communities in West Africa. By collaborating with the communities his firm serves, Appenteng is pumping hope and health into the people who need it most.

Unfortunately, the scale of the problem is immense. Appenteng explained, “In sub-Saharan Africa, over 320 million people have no access to potable water. As we went more and more into the rural communities and saw the kind of deprivation and denials of a decent living, I began to realize that we need to bring relief to people.”

From groundwater exploration and research drilling to water quality analysis and water treatment, Joissam is changing lives with clean water. Joissam began its work in Ghana, but the company has already expanded to seven more countries: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Togo, and Gabon in Central Africa. Its approach is unique: to involve the community in the clean water effort from the very beginning. 

“They will all come around and help you as you go and pass the lines to be able to start sending electrical charges into the earth,” Appenteng said. And once drilling starts, he continued, “You will have everybody in, down there observing, and there's a lot of tension. And then the technical team was saying, we are getting there. We're getting there. You start getting a lot of excitement. Believe you me, as soon as you hit water, and it starts gushing out, women and children start jubilating like it's a football game with a lot of goals.”

Listen to Appenteng’s mini profile to hear how his company is increasing its impact across Africa and providing health and economic benefits to millions.

And for more information on the Executive Program in Women’s Leadership mentioned at the top of the episode, visit https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exec-ed/programs/executive-program-womens-leadership

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Meet Afolabi Abiodun, founder and CEO of SB Telecoms and Devices, a company creating HR solutions for small and medium businesses in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa. From street hawker to debtor to entrepreneur, Afolabi is proof positive that a boy from the streets can find success.

No one ever doubted that Afolabi had the drive to succeed. But his lack of business knowledge often got him into hot water…and lots of debt. After incurring millions in debt, he actually ran away from home to avoid embarrassment and move on to a new life.

To make matters worse, Abiodun explains “it was actually my grandma's property that was used as collateral for my business. The banking office went straight to my grandmother and told her ‘your property will be sold’”.

A message from his brother changed his course. “He said: you can run fast as long as you want, but the problem that you've left behind will haunt you for the rest of your life.” Abiodun came back and the rest is history in the making.

The problems Abiodun faced running his own businesses — recruitment, payroll, and other HR tasks — led him to create SB Telecoms, an easy-to-use HR application that handles everything from recruitment to retirement and hire to fire.

“When people talk about problems. I say to people, yes. It's easy to say. We don't have infrastructure in Africa. Power is a problem, but I mean, for me, this is a way of life for me all my life, the road has always been bad. This is the world I know. I try not to complain about it. I try to solve it.”

Listen to his mini profile to hear how street smarts and business smarts can help propel entrepreneurs on their journey forward.

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Meet Lerang Selolwane, co-founder of Lucient Engineering, a company that’s bringing water, power, roads, and rail to the people of Botswana. By constructing and maintaining the essential infrastructure his country and people need, Lerang is also creating pathways out of poverty.

Selolwane is not your typical 20-something entrepreneur. He began his career working for the largest diamond mining company in the world — a job that literally took him around the world. It was an exciting time, but he realized that his priorities were somewhere else … specifically, back in Botswana.

“These experiences I'm having are great, but what about my people? Who's going to build a London for my people? And after a while, it goes from being a great experience to not being so great because you realize that this isn't yours. Your people, people who look like you, don't get to have this,” he said.

So, he came back home to build a business that would make an impact on his country and people. He started by focusing on the basics — roads, water, power, and transportation.

Selolwane explains why:

“When you don't have access to clean, reliable water … when you don't have access to transportation that can get goods to market … when you don't have power that allows you to even dream about building a tech or an IT company … everything else just doesn't happen.”

While Selolwane has recently transitioned out of Lucient Engineering, the company’s work continues. And, in true entrepreneurial spirit, he’s involved in two new ventures designed to drive further economic development in Botswana.

Listen to his mini profile to hear how a strong purpose can drive both value and impact for mission-minded entrepreneurs.

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Meet Sriram Gopal, founder and CEO of Future Farms, a hydroponics company on a mission to deliver clean, healthy food to all Indians. With a trillion dollar market potential and a vision to make clean food a fundamental right, not a privilege, Sriram is growing his company for a greater good.

Sriram always wanted to be an entrepreneur because his father was one, too. Motivated by his role model, Sriram set out to build a business that would also create an impact. Hydroponic farming seemed to be a perfect solution, saving 90% more water than traditional farming and protecting people from pesticides, bio toxicity, and heavy metal contaminants. 

“The main reason why we do this is because in India there are no mechanisms to check where the food comes from and it can be very, very, contaminated. People can choose organic food, but they're paying like three times more. What it actually means is only people who can afford to pay three times more, can actually have access to clean food. And to me that just feels wrong because I think clean food is not a privilege. If anything, it should be a fundamental right.”

Future Farms didn’t become the largest hydroponic and controlled-environment agriculture technology company in India overnight. Like most startups, it happened one small step at a time — from building small hobby kits with his father to creating rooftop farms and quarter acre commercial farms. Sriram has set his sights beyond India, expanding his greenhouses and technology to Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, and Singapore…so far.

 “I want to grow a company that is global and that creates a lot of good. And if our technology works in India, I'm pretty sure it will work in all the other parts of the world where people are still struggling.”

Listen to Sriram’s mini profile to learn how doing the right thing for people can be the right thing for your  business, too.

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Meet Wandia Gichuru, CEO and co-founder of Vivo Activewear, a Kenya-based fashion brand made for the modern African woman. In an industry dominated by imports, Wandia is creating clothing that instills confidence and makes a difference in the lives of both her customers and her employees.

Wandia didn’t dream of being a designer all her life. But she has always been passionate about making an  impact. Now she’s doing that one dress at a time —creating clothes made in Africa, for African women that “takes into account our different body shapes, sizes, skin tones, lifestyles, and style preferences. Women haven't known what it feels like to wear something that was made with you in mind. It’s more than just clothing and style. It's about what makes you feel more confident, appreciated, or accepted.”

Empowering women extends to her company as well. She strives to create work- life balance for her employees, 70% of whom are women. Vivo provides meals everyday, health insurance, training, and no one works more than five days a week, which is uncommon in Kenya. While it hasn’t been easy, the struggles are turning into successes — Vivo is increasing its revenue, employing more women, raised capital, launched an e-commerce fashion platform, and expanded to Rwanda.

Wandia does it all for the women. “What drives me for sure, and hopefully the business as a whole, is the opportunity that we have to inspire women and change the way we see ourselves.”

Listen to Wandia’s mini profile to learn how one entrepreneur’s passion can make a world of difference.

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How do you convince Africans — both buyers and sellers — to move from informal outdoor markets to e-commerce? Juliet Anammah of Jumia Group is up for the challenge. Listen to her interview for the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series to learn how Jumia is breaking down traditional barriers with technology.

Jumia operates in 11 countries. It’s the largest e-commerce platform on the African continent and the first African tech startup to be listed on the NYSE. But e-commerce still represents less than 5% of total retail, which means there is tremendous upside if the company can overcome all the obstacles. Jumia is seeking to do just that by creating a marketplace that connects buyers with sellers, integrating with third-party providers, building trust with buyers, providing training and data analytics to sellers, and engaging with regulators. The ultimate goal: to improve lives on the continent using the power of the internet.

As former CEO and now chairwoman of Jumia Nigeria and chief sustainability officer of Jumia Group, Anammah has her hands in all of it, as she explained at the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series event.

Jumia’s strategy is to integrate with existing third-party solutions to handle everything from logistics to delivery to payments, creating a full digital ecosystem. “It's an asset-light model. You have people who have tricycles and vans and so on, but what was lacking was always the technology to integrate that together and to use the data to make quality decisions.” Anammah continues, “The real value you bring to consumers is not limiting them to your own solution — it is actually giving them a platform through which they could use whatever payment method methodology that they have.”

Jumia is breaking down more than just trade barriers, but gender ones as well. ​​“At least in Nigeria and Kenya, which are key markets, about 51% of our sellers are actually women. It’s a gender agnostic environment. You could be a fashion seller, you could be an electronic seller, and you know you don't have a lot of physical markets where someone can make those kinds of gender-related decisions that could be forbidden.”

Anammah believes that the power of the platform extends far beyond commerce, driving development and creating jobs across the continent. “In the end, reducing inequality is so critical and is a big part of how we create value. And how we create sustainable improvement in quality of lives on the continent is by asking ourselves: What more can we do?”

Listen to Anammah’s entrepreneurial journey as a guide for your own. Hear about the challenges of building a marketplace business, competition, expansion plans, sustainability efforts, and more.

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How can small businesses gain access to the working capital they need? Zach Bijesse of Payhippo and Tunde Kehinde of Lidya are trying to figure it out. Hear how new technologies are changing the future of lending for small businesses in Nigeria, Africa, and the world.

With over 200 million people and 40 million small businesses, Nigeria is the perfect spot to launch a fintech company that’s trying to push the boundaries of how businesses get capital. Both Zach Bijesse and Tunde Kehinde saw a huge market opportunity in Nigeria with its sheer size and strong startup culture. Their companies, Payhippo and Lidya, respectively, are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to make lending faster and more accessible for entrepreneurs, and in turn, more successful for this new breed of lender.

Zach makes the problem clear: “Businesses can’t get money in Nigeria when they need it. It’s that simple.” 

Tunde believes that artificial — and human — intelligence are key to filling the small business lending gap. “Humans are involved in setting the rules. I think on average per loan, we have close to a thousand data points we look at. And so humans are looking to say, based on our assessment criteria, is it working or not working? And if it's not working, how do we tweak the rules to make sure the recollection is done properly?” 

Likewise Zach’s Payhippo endorses ongoing experimentation and the importance of training their algorithms to get better over time. “People forget that you can only train your machine learning algorithm based on your data set. So, you know, we have a few defaults in our loan portfolio. That's not a bad thing. You just have to give loans and figure out what works.”

Unlike most entrepreneurs, these two aren’t intimidated by competition, even from banks themselves. Instead, they’re always looking for opportunities to collaborate and partner. As Zach explains, “there's a $46 billion opportunity for small business lending in Nigeria. Why would Payhippo need to take one hundred percent of the market? Let's keep growing and do what we do. And then once we get a little bit of bandwidth, it'd be great to empower the other guys and collaborate with them. That's really exciting to us because then the whole financial infrastructure develops and it's better for everyone.”

Listen to Zach and Tunde’s story to learn how technology and new ways of thinking can impact how you approach and solve your specific business and market challenges.

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Meet Ankit Agarwal, Founder of Phool, a flower recycling business based in Kanpur, India. By collecting waste flowers from temples and converting them into eco-friendly products, the company is making an impact on both the women they employ who live near the sacred yet polluted Ganges River and the river itself. 

Ankit’s entrepreneurial journey began with a question from a friend who was visiting the Ganges:  “If this river is so sacred, why is it so polluted? And why don't you do something about it?” Ankit did just that.

“Every year, we, Indians, put in about eight million tons of waste flowers in the waters. All the pesticides that are used to grow these flowers mixes with the river water, making it highly toxic. That is the leading cause of diarrhea, hepatitis and severe cholera across India and Bangladesh, where the water flows. Finally, I decided to form a company where we can collect waste flowers and do some products.”

Ankit believes real change will not happen in this generation...but he is hopeful. ”It will happen in the next generation, when the kids of the women that we're able to employ start going to school: their next generation will be liberated from scavenging.” 

Listen to Ankit’s mini profile to learn how a great business idea can change lives for generations.

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Meet Linda Ampah, founder of KAD Manufacturing and a fashion brand called Cadling Fashions based in Ghana. Linda’s entrepreneurial journey has had all the typical hurdles plus the extra challenges of being a female business owner in Africa. That’s why providing job opportunities for women is central to her mission.

Linda has always loved the sound of sewing machines. Now she gets to hear them all the time in her factories where she manufactures school uniforms and makes garments for U.S. brands like Anthropologie and Brooklyn Industries. 

“In Ghana, in the marketplaces there are women and girls who sleep on the streets. We went out asking them whether they'll be interested to come and train? And the response we got was just amazing. We invited them over and then we started training them. Now the challenge though was that because they didn't have a place to stay, they get raped. We decided we'll add housing to it. And usually after a year, they are able to rent their own place then they move from the hostel.”

Listen to Linda’s mini-profile to learn how employing women in need can have a ripple effect on an entire community.

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Pieces of the Portrait: An Autobiography by Linda Ampah

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Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on communicating with confidence, featuring Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer in strategic communications. Whether pitching to investors, reporting to your board, or motivating employees, Abrahams has tips and tricks for managing anxiety and making an impact with both what you say and how you say it.

Abrahams knows a thing or two about communicating. Whether he’s teaching MBAs at Stanford GSB or hosting his podcast “Think Fast, Talk Smart,” he advises entrepreneurs on the value of “Speaking Up Without Freaking Out” — which is also the title of his best-selling book.

Abrahams believes confidence and mindset can be developed to alleviate anxiety and improve almost any pitch or meeting. He’s also on a personal mission to stop entrepreneurs from beginning their presentations with “Hi, my name is _______, and today we're going to talk about_________.”

“That is boring. It's silly because you're showing a slide that has your name and your topic on it. I like to joke that every good pitch should start like a James Bond movie. No, not with sex and violence, but with action, get people participating and focused … and that's what will help people get interested in what you're saying.”

Top Seven Masterclass Takeaways 

• Some anxiety is a good thing. It can give you energy and focus. Abrahams suggests using cognitive reframing to use your excitement about your business and vision to manage your fear of pitching.
• Use nonverbal cues to convey confidence … even if you’re not feeling it. Gesture more slowly, make direct eye contact, take deep breaths to slow your speech rate down. These nonverbal cues will make people think you’re confident, which will actually make you feel more confident.
• Record yourself and watch it. Rather than judge and evaluate based upon your own internal dialogue, try to see what others will see in the pitch or presentation.
• Mindfulness can help you manage anxiety. Give yourself permission to be nervous — it’s only human. And forgive yourself if you’re nervous or make a mistake. That’s human, too.
• Create a compelling hook. Make sure it grabs people’s attention and is relevant. Abrahams explains, “If you do something different, you automatically stand out. You've got my attention just because you did something different.”
• Learn to tell your story fast and slow. Have a two-minute, 10-minute, and 30-minute version to deliver depending upon the situation.
• Consider cultural differences and pay attention to social status. Low context and high context cultures require different approaches. And hierarchy and social status should impact how you communicate.

Listen to Abrahams’ insights, advice, and strategies for how entrepreneurs can communicate with greater confidence and learn how you can improve your next pitch, board meeting, or presentation.

Please take a few moments and provide us with your feedback on Grit & Growth. We would love to hear what you’re interested in learning about and how we can make the content we create relevant to your growth journey. 

Resources

Podcast Survey

Think Fast Talk Smart podcast

No Freaking Speaking

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Meet Martin Stimela, CEO of Botswana-based Brastorne Enterprises, and Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and communications expert. As Martin prepares to pitch his business expansion plan, hear Matt’s tips on how to grab attention, harness emotions, and create a lasting connection with your audience. Then listen in on Martin’s actual pitch...and Matt’s feedback. 

Almost every entrepreneur eventually needs to make a pitch to capture attention...and dollars. Martin Stimela is no exception. As CEO of Brastorne Enterprises, he’s looking to raise capital to scale his growing technology company to 19 more countries, starting with Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali. His vision: to connect the unconnected by enabling Internet access without the need for expensive data plans or smartphones. Matt Abrahams shares some tips and then listens in on Martin’s pitch. 

Matt Abrahams is a Stanford lecturer and host of the podcast "Think Fast, Talk Smart," and he has plenty of strategic communications advice and techniques for both Martin and fellow entrepreneurs. Before you even write the first word of your pitch, Matt suggests you need to think first about who your audience is and what they need from you.

“A fundamental mistake people make is they start by saying, here are the things I want to say. Rather, you need to focus on What do I want them to know? How do I want them to feel? And what do I want them to do?”

Here are a few pitch-worthy pieces of advice:

Create a good hook to capture people’s attention

“You know, 99% of people start with: Hi, my name is_______. Today, I'm going to talk about______. If you do something different, you automatically stand out as different.”

Introduce a character

“Think about leveraging testimonials, examples of how people are benefiting from your particular set of offerings. If we become familiar with a particular person and their situation, it makes it much more real for us than simply talking in generality.”

Be conversational

“Avoid reading word for word from a script or slides. Instead, focus on the structure of your message and the key ideas you want to get across.”

Practice by teaching

Like most things in business and life, practice makes perfect. And Matt encourages practicing by teaching.

“Something that I find very useful for entrepreneurs to do is when they're working on pitches, I invite them to actually think about how would they teach somebody else to pitch their business. So bringing on a co-founder or a colleague, how would you teach them to pitch the business by putting themselves in the role of teacher, it helps them see things that we don't typically see.”

Listen to Matt’s advice and Martin’s pitch to learn new strategies and techniques to improve your own pitch.

Think Fast Talk Smart podcast

No Freaking Speaking 

Stanford Seed

Stanford Graduate School of Business

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