Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. Don’t confuse this with a tour-de-force education on the finer details of how your company operations. In any speech I do that is information rich I often have a summary slide at the end with the key points I want them to remember.

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. First, if it’s an early stage company, I don’t need to see a powerpoint deck. I funded them 8 weeks later.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and was going to use AngelList by Nivi & Naval as the basis for my example and the perfect prompt came yesterday when I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on AngelList. He first worked hard to get him to be an advisor to the company.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

I don’t think it takes book smart people to build great companies – sometimes it’s a hindrance. Because they’re street smart, most great entrepreneurs tend to prefer getting out and talking with real customers rather than sitting in a cubicle all day doing beautiful PowerPoint slides. Or I was asked.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. So no whinging about what a long post this is!

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and let the audience pick one company to win the final slot at Twiistup. I was the judge.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

It eventually closed at 11,204 in April ’10 before sliding back around 10,000 as I sit here and type. VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time. VCs get paid to “put money to work.&#. I doubt they will ever catch up.&#. We took $2.3

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298