In Entrepreneurial Pitches, Stage Presence Is Everything
蔡佳蓉（Chia-Jung Tsay）是伦敦大学学院管理学院组织行为学副教授，她要求1855位参与调查的受访者以多种方式回看竞标者演讲，预测19场风险投资竞标的赢家。这些方式包括有声视频与无声视频、录音和速记稿。她发现，无声视频最有助于人们识别出投资者青睐的创业者。结论就是：在风险投资竞标舞台上，演讲者的表现代表一切。
Chia-Jung Tsay, an associate professor at the UCL School of Management, asked 1,855 study participants to predict the winners of a total of 19 venture capital pitch competitions after being assigned to review the contestants’ presentations in various ways, including as videos with sound, silent videos, sound recordings, and transcripts. She found that the silent videos best enabled people to identify the entrepreneurs the investors funded. The conclusion: In entrepreneurial pitches, stage presence is everything.
蔡佳蓉：大多数投资者会说，在决定投资初创企业时，看重的是有趣的创意、才华横溢的创始人，和有实质意义的商业方案。但是我通过12项调研发现，人们可以根据创业者的表达方式，特别是肢体语言和面部表情，而非实际竞标内容，来预测风险投资的结果。通常而言，几秒的无声视频后，人们就能准确识别出投资者青睐的创业者。在我的研究中，视觉表现比语言或其他信息更能影响人的判断。
Tsay: Most investors would say that when they're deciding which start-ups to back, they focus on interesting ideas, talented founders, and substantive business plans. But across 12 studies I found that people could predict VC funding decisions based not on the actual content of entrepreneurs’ pitches but on how they were presented, especially body language and facial expressions. Often people watching the silent videos took only a few seconds to correctly identify which pitches had been favored by the investors. In my studies the visuals influenced judgment more than words or other information did.
HBR：你如何确定不是出色的PPT带来更大的视觉冲击？
HBR: How do you know it wasn't well-designed, information-rich PowerPoint slides that made the visuals so compelling?
蔡佳蓉：这个研究中的创业者没有使用PPT，所以是肢体表现对决策产生了重要影响。
Tsay: The entrepreneurs in the competitions I looked at didn't use slides, so it was simply their own physical presence that had such a profound impact on decisions.
HBR: 那么，风险投资和参与调研的受访者都是根据自己所见，而不是听到或读到的信息做出判断的吗？
HBR: So both the VCs and the study participants made snap judgments based on what they saw, not what they heard or read?
蔡佳蓉：是的，而且他们并没有充分意识到视觉的作用如此强大。这也说得通。创业者需要激情、参与感和能量来取得成功，而这些信息可能不需要通过语言传达。这是一种气场，竞标者在登上演讲台时就会体现出来，随后的表现可以直接反映出他们的准备程度和承诺决心。
Tsay: Yes—but without being fully aware that visuals were having such a strong effect on them. This makes sense. Entrepreneurs need passion, engagement, and energy to be successful, and it’s possible to convey all those things without words. There’s something about the way presenters carry themselves as they walk onto the stage and then make pitches that may reflect their level of preparation and commitment.
HBR: 创意和方案还是很重要吧？
HBR: But surely the idea and plan count for something, right?
蔡佳蓉：我们无法确定风投的想法，但是那些通过速记稿或音频了解更多初创企业信息的受访者，无论是否看过视频，都会比只看过无声视频的人更自信。不过获得的信息越多，就越不容易辨认出赢得投资者青睐的创业者。这也突出了一种矛盾，人们自认为关注的信息，与实际影响决策的信息并不一致。
接下来我们还将研究获得投资者青睐的初创企业的后续发展，看看靠视觉主导决策是否为一种可靠的投资战略。
Tsay: We can't be certain about the VCs, but the study participants who received more information about the start-ups by reading transcripts or listening to the pitches with or without video felt more confident about their picks than participants who saw only the silent videos. But the participants who got more information were also less likely to identify the entrepreneurs who won over the investors. This underlines the discrepancy between what people say they value and the information that actually drives real-world decisions.
A future step would be to look at the winning start-ups'outcomes to see if letting visuals drive decisions is a sound investment strategy.
HBR: 有没有可能，专业投资者从创业者的演讲中听出了外行听不出的信息？
HBR: Could it be that professional investors heard something in the presentations of those entrepreneurs that the amateur study participants didn't?
蔡佳蓉：好问题，这也是我当初第一个猜测。所以我找了一些不了解，或没那么了解初创公司的外行，也找了一些有经验的创业者、天使投资人和多轮众筹的投资人，一同参与调查。结果显示，专家和新手根据无声视频能够最准确地识别出实际赢家。专业人士或许懂得更多，但他们似乎也同样受视觉因素的影响。
Tsay: Great question. That was one of my first guesses too. So I brought in amateurs with little or no experience with start-ups as well as experienced entrepreneurs and angel and repeat crowdfunding investors to review the pitch competitions. It turns out that both the experts and the novices were best able to pick the actual winners based on the silent videos. Professionals may be more knowledgeable, but they seem to be similarly influenced by visuals.
HBR: 这可以归结为人们倾向于更有魅力的创业者——或说得浅显一些，更青睐那些看起来最像硅谷典型创业者和投资者的白人男性吗？
HBR: Could this all boil down to people’s tendency to favor attractive entrepreneurs—or worse, white men who look most like prototypical Silicon Valley founders and VCs?
蔡佳蓉：会有人这么想。但是我调研的受访者仅凭照片并不能准确识别出获胜者。因此，性别、种族、外貌等影响并不如可以传达激情和能量的视觉信息重要。当然，其他很多研究也证明了，如果是代表大多数群体的种族和性别，或被公认为外貌出众，是会给事业带来一定好处。不仅创业如此，其他领域也是如此。
应该说明，我会刻意区别试验参数，来观察参与者就这些问题的偏见，以及他们认为投资方会有的偏见。在一些研究中我会问，“谁赢了？”在另一些研究中我会问，“你认为谁会赢？”两种问法看似相同，但其中差异非常重要。对于“谁赢了？”人们会说，“我没带偏见，但评判员不一定，所以他们出于某些虚假的理由选择了某人。”如果换种让他们发表自己观点的问法，大多数人会避免表现出对性别、种族或相貌的偏见。但我的发现在两种条件下是一致的。观看无声视频的人可以给出最贴合投资者决策的预测。
Tsay: You might think that. But my study participants weren’t able to correctly identify the competition winners at rates significantly over chance using photos alone. So it seems to be less about gender, race, and attractiveness than about dynamic visual information that conveys passion and energy. Of course, many other studies have demonstrated the professional benefits associated with representing the majority-group race or gender or being deemed beautiful or handsome by society. That’s not just in entrepreneurship but in other domains as well.
I should note that I also varied my experiments to check for participants' bias on these issues and their perceptions about the biases VCs might have. In some studies I asked, “Who won?” In others I asked, “Who do you think should win?” This might seem like a minor nuance, but it's important. With “Who won?” people can say, “Well, I'm not biased, but the judges probably are, so they chose him or her—for spurious reasons.” Phrased differently, when giving their own opinions, most people try to avoid showing bias based on gender, race, or looks. But my findings were consistent under both conditions. The predictions of people who watched the silent videos best matched the VCs' decisions.
HBR: 是不是因为获胜者的视觉表现非常吸引眼球？我们之前曾刊登过有关新品展示时手势重要性的研究。这里是否也关乎特定的肢体语言？姿态？面部表情？
HBR: What was it about the winners' visual presentation that was so captivating? We've published previous research on the importance of hand gestures when showcasing a new product. Is it that kind of body language? Posture? Facial expression?
蔡佳蓉：竞标过程中展现出来的激情是关键，它可以反映在很多方面，比如精神、手势、面部表情。当我让参与者选出最有激情的创业者时，他们选出的往往就是最后的赢家。
Tsay: It's the passion that comes through in the pitches, which is reflected in a constellation of ways, including energy, gesture, and expression. When I asked participants to identify not the winners but the most passionate entrepreneurs, their choices mapped to the actual winners.
HBR: 你对竞标的创业者有什么建议？更注重锻炼表现，少担心商业方案？
HBR: What's your advice for entrepreneurs making pitches? Develop more stage presence and worry less about your business plan?
蔡佳蓉：我认为打磨创意和内容依旧重要，同时也要承认视觉表达的重要性，特别是在演讲之初，至少在这上面花些时间。你要思考，如何把对创意的激情以真诚的方式表达出来。评判者可能会认为你的热情能体现出高品质的产品和创业精神。
Tsay: I think it’s still important to hone your idea and polish your content. But you should also acknowledge the importance of your visual impression, especially at the start of your pitch, and spend at least a little more time on it. You should consider how you might convey your passion about your idea in a way that feels authentic to you. The judges are likely to assume your enthusiasm reflects a high-quality product and start-up.
HBR: 对于风险投资者呢？他们能否防止潜在的视觉偏见，避免受其影响？
HBR: What about VCs? Can they guard against this potential visual bias that might or might not play out for them?
蔡佳蓉：我还不能称之为偏见，除非有实践经验为证。这更像一种倾向或“默认选项”。在一些领域，人们会认可这一问题并尝试防范潜在偏见。例如一项研究表明，当评委看不到音乐家而进行盲选试镜时，会录用更多女性音乐家。尽管这样做是出于好意，但可能会导致评委只根据声音做出的判断与观众偏好产生偏差，这其中就包括视觉。
Tsay: I'm hesitant to call it a bias until that's empirically shown. It's more like a preference or a shortcut. In some domains people are acknowledging the issue and making attempts to guard against possible bias. For example, one study showed that blind auditions of musicians, where those evaluating the performers couldn't see them, resulted in the hiring of significantly more female musicians. But well-intentioned as these efforts are, they could lead to a discrepancy between what the judges base their decisions on—sound only—and what the audience enjoys or doesn't, which includes the visuals.
HBR: 没错，因为对大多数工作来说，你的举止和别人对你的看法都很重要——无论你是音乐家还是创业者。
HBR: Right, because how you carry yourself and how people perceive you are important in most jobs—whether you’re a musician or an entrepreneur.
蔡佳蓉：对，激情和自信与成功息息相关。也就是说，如果你想防止视觉依赖，可以避免驱使人走“选择捷径”的工作环境。你要减轻认知负荷，才能有更多时间思考——例如，别在短时间内给决策者提供过多信息。
Tsay: Yes, passion and confidence are related to successful outcomes. That said, if you want to guard against a dependence on visual information, one suggestion would be to avoid work conditions that prompt people to take mental shortcuts. You want to reduce the cognitive load on people so that they have more time to think—for example, by not overwhelming decision-makers with tons of information in a short time frame.
HBR: 你刚刚形容的就是风险投资竞标的环境——大量创意和商业方案在短短一天之内快速交付。
HBR: You just described the conditions of a VC pitch competition—lots of ideas and business plans, delivered quickly, all in one day.
蔡佳蓉：确实。在现实世界中，如果你接触的投资者参加了很多会议，听到了很多提案，情况也是如此。他们会记住那些不需要说话就能激励别人的人。
Tsay: Indeed. And the same would be true in a more real-world setting if the investors you're approaching are taking a lot of meetings and hearing a lot of proposals. They're going to remember the people who are somehow able to inspire without saying a word.
胡安·马丁内斯（Juan Martinez）| 访
柴茁 |译 刘隽 | 校 孙燕 | 编辑
