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Investors reveal what grabs their attention--and what makes them cringe. For a certain kind of tech start-up founder, the pitch contest offers a thrill that few other events can deliver: You have only a few terror-filled minutes to successfully demo your product (using shaky wi-fi, no less) in front of a firing line of judges who can—and will—find holes in your idea big enough to drive a truck through. I've spent the last two days camped out at this year's Launch Festival , a tech start-up competition in San Francisco founded by entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis, where more than 40 start-ups competed for more than $1 million in prizes and seed capital.

Each year , I help fellow entrepreneurs and investors judge the MBA business plan competition at Harvard Business School. This year, I noted which pitch approaches seemed to work best and which tactics fell flat. Here are five things that worked in this year's presentations—and that you should consider including in your next business plan pitch: 1

Comfort and JoyThe Mulsanne is designed to make the good life great. Just sitting in the driver’s seat—which feels more like a throne than a vehicular necessity—provides a sense of lofty serenity that can be described only as perfect