English pitches for Lisbon startup teams: explaining value with evidence

01

Choose the decision before choosing the slides

A customer, a potential partner and an investor may hear the same company description but need different information. Write down what the listener should be able to decide after the conversation. A customer may need to judge whether a trial fits an existing workflow. A partner may need to understand responsibilities. An investor may ask about evidence, economics and the next stage.

Do not begin by translating every slide from Portuguese into English. First remove material that does not help the intended decision. Then write the central explanation in language that a person outside your company can follow. An acronym that everyone in the office uses may require a short explanation for the audience.

Prepare a brief version for an introduction and a longer version for a scheduled meeting. These should share the same facts, definitions and claims. If a founder describes the product differently from the sales lead, an English lesson alone will not solve the inconsistency. Agree the meaning together before polishing delivery.

02

Use Lisbon’s ecosystem as context, not an endorsement

Unicorn Factory Lisboa’s founder resources distinguish incubation, growth-stage support and thematic programmes. That is a useful reminder that startup needs change by stage. Check the current programme criteria directly; a general resource page does not guarantee admission, a mentor, a meeting with an investor or a place at an event.

Startup Portugal’s Start from Knowledge page describes support linked to turning academic knowledge into business activity and includes pitch materials among possible activities. Its eligibility conditions are specific. This guide does not determine whether a company qualifies or whether an application remains available. Consult the current official notice before making a funding decision.

For communication itself, Y Combinator’s guidance on explaining a company emphasises clarity and a readily understood description. The exercises below apply that principle to language practice. They are original editorial proposals, not an accelerator’s assessment framework and not a prediction of investment success.

03

Explain the user’s action in plain English

Try a three-part description: the user, the task and the change your product makes possible. A fictional example is a tool that helps small accommodation teams assign maintenance requests and see whether they were completed. The explanation is easier to question than a claim about transforming operational excellence because the listener can imagine a person doing something.

Ask someone unfamiliar with the company to repeat the explanation without looking at the slide. Note the nouns and verbs they use. If they believe your tool makes bookings when it actually manages maintenance, identify which sentence caused the misunderstanding. Revise the explanation before adding more detail.

For a technical product, prepare two depths. The first describes the practical use; the second explains the relevant mechanism when asked. Avoid removing an important limitation merely to make the sentence shorter. Clear language includes conditions: the product may work with particular systems, require certain inputs or still be a prototype. Say which is true.

04

Make each number and comparison interpretable

A pitch metric needs a definition, a period and a source within your own records. Registered users, active users, trial organisations and paying customers are different measures. Do not translate them all as customers. If a percentage is used, know the underlying numerator and denominator and explain what changed during the measurement period.

Consider a fictional rehearsal example: a team interviewed twelve operations managers and ran two unpaid pilots. Those facts do not establish twelve customers or paid demand. Practise stating the evidence accurately, followed by what the team plans to test next. This is language practice around honest reporting, not a judgement on whether the business deserves investment.

Keep a small evidence note for each claim in the deck. The note can identify who owns the data and what can be shared externally. If the number is an estimate, label it as an estimate and explain the basis when asked. A confident voice should not blur the difference between observed results and future plans.

05

Rehearse disagreement and missing information

A presentation becomes a conversation when the listener challenges a claim. Practise three kinds of response: answering with known evidence, clarifying the question and acknowledging a gap. A useful clarification might distinguish whether someone is asking about the current product or the planned version. Answering both at once can accidentally present a future feature as already available.

When you do not know, state the boundary and the next useful action. You might explain that a result covers a limited pilot and offer to check a separate measure. Do not promise a follow-up date unless the responsible person can meet it. During language practice, the teacher can focus on a concise response that does not sound evasive.

Agree how team members hand over questions. The speaker can introduce the colleague with relevant knowledge and briefly state why they are taking the question. Avoid simultaneous answers, unexplained switches of language or a founder overriding another team member halfway through a sentence. A short pause is often more effective than competing explanations.

06

Run a four-session pitch workshop

In session one, each team member writes a two-sentence product description independently. Compare the versions and resolve differences in user, task and product status. Choose a single accurate base explanation. Record an initial delivery so that later changes can be assessed against an actual starting point.

In session two, build a short pitch for one audience. Keep the slides simple enough that a listener can follow the speaker without reading dense paragraphs. Mark every claim that needs a definition or qualification. Rehearse saying numbers, dates and units slowly enough to be understood. Check that the spoken version matches the visible figures.

In session three, invite a colleague from outside the product team to ask questions. Give that person permission to stop when an explanation is unclear. Record the misunderstood concept rather than blaming their knowledge. Practise a customer question, a partner question and a question about the limits of the evidence.

In session four, run the presentation at its real time limit with questions afterwards. One observer checks meaning, another checks delivery and transitions. Finish by writing three changes that will help the next listener: perhaps a clearer product sentence, a defined metric and a shorter answer about the pilot. Do not rebuild the whole deck to address every stylistic preference.

07

Choose language support that preserves the business facts

An English coach can help with structure, intelligibility, listening and spontaneous answers. The team remains responsible for product accuracy and the claims it makes. Share an anonymised or approved version of the deck, and confirm how any recordings or documents will be handled before uploading confidential information to a service.

Ask for a sample exercise involving a real communication difficulty: explaining a workflow, distinguishing a forecast from a result or answering a question about a limitation. A session that only corrects slide grammar may leave the most difficult interaction untouched. Request time to repeat an answer after feedback.

Flalingo publishes this guide and offers paid English learning. Local institutions and international references are cited to support the context, without implying a partnership or endorsement. The practical goal is a listener who understands the company and its evidence well enough to ask the next useful question.