The season 12 finale of The Pitch dropped this week 🎉 Fans are loving the episode on YouTube but there's a lot we can glean by digging deeper into each founder's story. There was one idea in particular that had The Pitch team rethinking some of our own assumptions about startups:
Your startup needs to be pure software. No human element. That's how you scale.
This has become standard venture capital wisdom. But what if this oversimplified view is causing investors to miss massive opportunities?
Virginia Frischkorn of PartyTrick recently faced this exact feedback from VCs:
"What we are looking for is pure software driven...there really isn't much of a human component."
The underlying assumption? Human-heavy businesses don't scale efficiently.
It's easy to understand why VCs love pure software plays. They typically offer higher margins, lower operational complexity, and theoretically infinite scalability. No messy humans to manage, train, or coordinate.
But PartyTrick tells a different story. When Virginia demos her event planning platform to potential customers, something fascinating happens:
"As soon as I did a screen share, you immediately see eyes go, 'Oh my God, Whoa, wait, where has this been?'"
The mix of both human curated experiences AND delightfully designed software, resonates deeply with her customers.
This hints at a larger truth that we at The Pitch believe to be true: the so-called "messy" human element, when properly leveraged, can create powerful competitive moats.
Take Salesforce, for example. Despite being the poster child for SaaS, they maintain a massive services component. Why?
Because sometimes human expertise creates more value than pure automation. As Josh Muccio noted about PartyTrick:
"Having spent time in your data room and seeing the team you've assembled...I have a sneaking suspicion that the way you're gonna be able to scale this business with the human part is not gonna be so bad. It actually might be the thing that makes you succeed."
The challenge for founders isn't eliminating human elements – it's finding investors who understand their strategic value.
"We want people on our team that are truly invested in what we are here for. It's not just money for money's sake." - Virginia Frischkorn
For startups considering this hybrid approach, remember to...
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Frame human expertise as a strategic asset, not a limitation
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Build systems to scale human operations effectively
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Seek investors who understand your market
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Focus on customer value creation over conventional VC wisdom
On the season 12 finale one VC passed on PartyTrick due to its human component. Virginia's response was telling:
"Not to sound cocky or arrogant, but like, why do I want him? This is a killer opportunity."
With the proliferation of AI making us question everything, it's important to remember that the future of startups isn't about choosing between pure software and human expertise – it's about finding the right balance for your specific market.
Sometimes, the human touch isn't a bug. It's the feature.
And always remember: Your business model should serve your customers, not VC preferences. The most successful companies often break the "rules" of what a startup should look like. Don't let oversimplified wisdom limit your vision of what's possible.
