In early January, I was asked to observe a promising young entrepreneur as he made his first pitch to a group of Angel investors in San Diego. We arrived at the home of a former investment banker prepared with a short slide deck designed to demonstrate the uniqueness of his ideas and further reinforce the reliability of his business model. As we walked in, he introduced me as his business advisor and mentor, and as such, my role was to watch, listen and offer insights that would help him improve.
In preparing for the presentation, we followed Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule – Ten slides, twenty minutes and thirty-point font; and fortunately his delivery was flawless; still though, the six investors seemed lost. As they paused to refill their drinks and hors d’oeuvres, I suggested to my friend that he sit between the six and demonstrate his idea with a sketch on a notepad. In less than 15 minutes, the light bulb went on for the host, and the rest soon followed to the tune of $250,000. We both walked away that night with a deeper appreciation for Sunni Brown and her work to inspire visual thinking. As you’ll learn in her book – The Doodle Revolution – a lot of what you’ve come to understand about ‘doodling’ is not only wrong, but is likely why you’re not as creative as you can be. First off, here’s how doodling will help enhance your memory.