Pitch envisaging: The role of narrative transportation in pitching success

• Published in: Journal of Business Venturing Insights 2024-11, Vol.22, p.e00501, Article e00501
• Main Authors: Purtell, Clinton T., Rutherford, Matthew W., Phillips, Duygu, Pollack, Jeffrey M., Edwards, Bryan D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Investors; Narrative transportation; Persuasion; Pitching
• ISSN: 2352-6734; 2352-6734
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2024.e00501

How are entrepreneurs able to optimize their ability to persuade angel investors to commit resources? Narrative transportation theory suggests that familiar elements of a story can change an audience's perceptions of, and attitudes about, the opportunity by influencing their cognition. When experiencing the effects of narrative transportation, individuals are “transported” into the story and begin to accept the narrative world as created by the story in lieu of personal knowledge, experiences, or real-world facts. In an entrepreneurship context, we posit that if investors are narratively transported through a familiar pitch narrative, they may envisage a favorable outcome of what is pitched and adapt the opportunity in their minds with the result of, ultimately, committing resources. The findings from our study of investors who watched and reported on multiple pitches suggest that cognitive processes induced by narrative transportation explain the relationship between familiarity and entrepreneurial opportunity adaptation, which—in turn—increase the likelihood of angels' resource commitment. The key insight of our study reveals that when the investors are mentally transported into the story contained within a pitch narrative, they will be more likely to adapt the opportunity and more likely to commit their resources. •When investors are mentally transported by a pitch, they will be more likely to adapt the opportunity, and in turn more likely to commit their resources.•Through strategic stories which activate sensegiving and sensemaking processes, entrepreneurs can obtain critical resources.•Pitches can stimulate cognitive responses that enable an audience to mentally elaborate on story interpretations and perceived outcomes.