Tips for the Perfect Pitch —in the TalkX with Mateo Salvatto

The TalkX with Mateo Salvatto, CEO at Asteroid Technologies and founder of the app Háblalo, taught us tips to prepare a good pitch, among many other things. For example, how important is the team in a project? Find out.

For the last talk of this Explorer’s edition, we had a special surprise in store: the TalkX featuring Mateo Salvatto, CEO at Asteroid Technologies and founder of the app Háblalo (an application that helps people with disabilities to communicate). 

Despite his youth, 23 years old, Mateo has had a long track record as an entrepreneur since he started his project before finishing high school. This was one of the aspects highlighted by Andrea Sánchez, manager of Santander X, responsible for the Explorer, Prepare to Launch, and SX100 programs —and a premium presenter of our TalkX. She started with some handy advice for all those attending the talk: “If you want to be like Mateo and make a positive impact on the world, the new Explorer call for applications is now open.” Sign up.

The Argentine entrepreneur himself recommended continuing, after Explorer, in the different phases of Santander X: “The community of companies and entrepreneurs to which you will have access is tremendous. And the people in charge of each stage will guide you and help you with contacts and networking,” he explained to the attendees at the private Q&A held after the talk. But before that, he talked about the most significant points of his career, the mistakes he made, the role of the team in his entrepreneurial journey, and, of course, the tips for a good pitch. Read on to find out what they are!

Tips for preparing a good pitch

“The main thing, stay calm. You will make many pitches in your entrepreneurial life, and this will be your first, so think of it as an opportunity to learn. Don’t memorize and use as little text as possible in your presentation slides; don’t get mad at yourself if you forget something. Instead, collect feedback and use it to improve your next speech. Be bold and use examples of people the audience can relate to: investors invest in people, so tell your story and why you are interested in solving that problem. Your solution may not be perfect, but if you make them fall in love with the problem you have, you’ll do well. If you trust yourself, they will trust you.” 

The most crucial moment in his entrepreneurial journey.

“When I participated in robotics competitions in high school, I always thought I was doing something significant. It was also there that I realized I could impact the world. At first, I didn’t want to share my project (Háblalo) with anyone, but after a year, I opened it up to investors and more people. That’s when it had a base and started to grow exponentially.”

Birth of Háblalo

“I was always interested in technology, and I grew up around people with a disability, as my mother is a teacher of the deaf. I saw how some aspects of communication couldn’t be easily solved, and I decided to do something that would help my friends and deaf students to communicate”.

Obstacles

There were many obstacles in the beginning. The main one was that I was 17 years old, and nobody trusted me. I also faced mental barriers that I put up for myself. The natural barrier was no money. We lost capital for four years in a row. Another area for improvement was developing the app and sharing it with my friends without asking them what they needed; I should have asked first and set it later.

The importance of the team

“The team is everything. OK, I’m the guy with the idea, but your team is vital in building anything. You’ll have material and emotional pitfalls, and you might get lost because an entrepreneur wants to solve everything. Then, you realise that you need people. They don’t know much at the beginning either, but with appropriate steps, everybody can learn. Remember, you must analyse if you have the right people.

Learning from building a project

“When building a company, every year seems like seven, as there is a lot to learn. However, there is a turning point in all entrepreneurship: when you realise that the journey is important, not the goal. You have to fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Every day you climb a new step; you have to work little by little, and you will reach your goals. Break each big goal into smaller ones, and you will achieve them. In any case, the biggest learning is that you have to learn. Ask questions and listen to other people.”

Then it was time for questions from the audience, to which Mateo responded with valuable new advice. You can watch the TalkX here: