Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2013

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. I outlined what investors expect to see in another article “ Adding Slides Does Not Enhance Your Investor Pitch.

Angel 102

Angel Funding Slides Technical Review 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. I outlined what investors expect to see in an old article “ Adding Slides Does Not Enhance Your Investor Pitch.

Startup 64

Startup Slides Technical Review Research 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Passionate entrepreneurs tend to talk on and on about their disruptive technology, their intent to change the world and free services, but if a business can’t provide quantifiable value to real customers, the dream will likely turn into a nightmare. Investors worry about competitors more than customer features.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Let me be quick to say that a plan doesn’t have be a book, and probably should start as a “pitch deck” of maybe a dozen slides which cover all the right bases. Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2012

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. Have at least one backup plan, such as copies of your slides to hand out and discuss, in case all else fails.

Tips 97

Tips Slides Technical Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Here are the ten slides you need: Problem and market need. Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Opportunity sizing.

Slides 93

Slides Competition Sample Sales 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I recommend a pitch deck with about 10 slides backed up with a written business plan of approximately 20 pages, both containing quantified answers to the following key questions. Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. I outlined what investors expect to see in an earlier article “ Ten Slides Make a Killer Investor Presentation.”

Slides 95

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 95

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. Beyond that, I want lots of conversations with experts, users, customers, VCs, partners, etc. Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?! You need all of these people to bake the cake. This will only be disclosed when there is an NDA in place.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

Unfortunately, customers look for value in solving their problem, and new technologies alone scare them, so these solutions don’t get bought by customers, or funded. Certainly a slide or two needs to carry over describing the product and features at a high level. Customized marketing strategy and realistic sales plans. “If

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

They are looking for startups that have a sustainable advantage over direct and indirect competitor offerings, as well as obvious value to customers living without your product today. Non-specific terms, like better usability and low cost don’t incite customers to action these days. Investors check connections.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. So far at the company I have raised seed funds of $500,000 of which $470,000 is still in the bank so I’m in pretty good shape. My blog was wiped out. After Office 2.0

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. Beyond that, I want lots of conversations with experts, users, customers, VCs, partners, etc. Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?! You need all of these people to bake the cake. This will only be disclosed when there is an NDA in place.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2010

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. I outlined what investors expect to see in an earlier article “ Investor Presentation – 10 Slides is Just Right.”

Tips 56

Tips Slides Startup Research 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

In today’s world, if you don’t have a web site up and running, you will not be perceived as a real company. Investors routinely go to candidate web sites to get a feel for the tone and scope of the company, as well as its maturity and offerings. Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. Free trials don’t count.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. The Gust Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process. Free trials don’t count.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. Clearly the founders and senior executives of a company are the most valuable resources and their time should be maximized on the most valuable tasks. Budgeting & Planning.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. The AngelSoft Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process. Close at least one initial customer.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market. haven't raised any money for my companies that required a term sheet (just friends & family money in my first company), and yet I still think it is important for a number of reasons.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175