Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

Slides 105

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 105

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

Startup 64

Startup Slides Technical Review Research 64

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. I also will point out that in the The 15 Mistakes of First Time Entrepreneurs : 9. Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?! This will only be disclosed when there is an NDA in place. How Stealthy Should You Be?

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. I also will point out that in the The 15 Mistakes of First Time Entrepreneurs : 9. Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?! This will only be disclosed when there is an NDA in place. How Stealthy Should You Be?

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Every entrepreneur needs a value proposition statement for his or her startup that can hook potential investors and partners in less than a minute -- the short time you might join them in an elevator on the way to their offices. You don’t have time for any story at this point. Build up for the punch line at the end.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

Tips 97

Tips Slides Technical Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry. competitive advantage entrepreneur investor startup'

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

Slides 95

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

I’m still amazed at how many technical entrepreneurs don’t have a business pitch, and offer me their product pitch or product spec instead. Certainly a slide or two needs to carry over describing the product and features at a high level. Solo entrepreneurs have a hard time finding an investor. But it’s critical to have one.

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

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. Slides, please.” My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

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. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. What is the current valuation of the company? Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same.

Slides 93

Slides Competition Sample Sales 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

But many entrepreneurs don’t realize that Angels are also extremely discerning in the projects that they will invest in, rejecting approximately 97% of the proposals submitted to them, according to the California Investment Network. In today’s world, if you don’t have a web site up and running, you will not be perceived as a real company.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

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. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the colorful autobiography.

Tips 56

Tips Slides Startup Research 56

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. Build a prototype product.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2010

My partner and I, Cliff Elion, have a patent pending neck technology, which enables the guitar to be made at a very accessible price point, and also have probably more functionality and connectivity than any device in history. When we started discussing the idea behind the company, Guitar Hero and Rock Band were the talk of the town.

Orange County 244

Orange County Startup Slides Paramount 244

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. are eliminated during due diligence.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

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

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. How-to learn about angel/vc term sheets - Gabriel Weinberg , June 28, 2010 I think every startup entrepreneur (and angel investor) should have a good understanding of financing term sheets.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175