Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In reality, they need a separate pitch about the business, carrying over only a slide or two about the solution. Remember, investors are buying into the business, not the product.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

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. I’m a technologist, so I always love to learn about the product, but every investor needs to make sure you have a business, as well as a product. But it’s critical to have one.

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. I’m a product geek more than a spreadsheet ninja. The product feedback will be invaluable. Consumer?

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2013

I “second the message” that chaos never subsides, from a couple of successful entrepreneurs, Clate Mask and Scott Martineau, in their book “ Conquer the Chaos.” The easiest way to reduce chaos is to buffer all your activities (slow down), define safer generic processes, which spiral down productivity. Your income drops.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Slides IP Technology 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2011

I second the message that chaos never subsides, from a couple of successful entrepreneurs, Clate Mask and Scott Martineau, in their book “ Conquer the Chaos.” The easiest way to reduce chaos is to buffer all your activities (slow down), define safer generic processes, which spiral down productivity. Your income drops.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Slides IP Technology 95

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We take a really friendly, Shark Tank approach that promotes young entrepreneurs, and lets them pitch to a group of seasoned investors and venture capitalists on a panel, and where they not only get an actual investment, but also go through a retail challenge, to get consumer feedback. How did you get involved with angel investing, initially?

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Some readers have commented that in today’s world you shouldn’t even need a PowerPoint presentation – in this era you should always just demo your product. I also recently wrote a post about a company that came in for a presentation and never even got the slides out or presented a demo. Very few people ask.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

One, is an upright, traditional looking microscopes, where you look at glass slides. Eugene Cho: We had a seed round for less than $3M, and we did a note round with the Tech Coast Angels for $2M after we won their Quick Pitch competition, over about 150 other companies. There are typically two types of microscopes. but internationally.

Tech Coast Angels 124

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

In my work with new and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most struggle with putting together a written business plan, often pointing out that someone they know started a business without anything written down. You really need at least a prototype product or customer to make the video come alive. Make it light, but factual.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

As an aspiring entrepreneur, one of the most important things you need is a memorable “ elevator pitch ,” to communicate your startup value proposition and leave a great first impression on friends, investors, employees, and future customers. Describe technology and features, not competitiveness.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

One, is an upright, traditional looking microscopes, where you look at glass slides. Eugene Cho: We had a seed round for less than $3M, and we did a note round with the Tech Coast Angels for $2M after we won their Quick Pitch competition, over about 150 other companies. There are typically two types of microscopes. but internationally.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 100

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. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 5, 2011

As noted in RIP RFPs , entrepreneurs should generally avoid RFPs because they cannot afford to expend the time and resources required to participate in such regimented and lengthy sales processes. As noted in Competitive Sleuthing , some partners routinely share information about the companies with whom they are working. .

Startup 216

Startup Slides Resource Organization 216

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

For what ever reason we’re wired to have amnesia during the run up and prescient memories of how we ‘knew it all along’ as soon as the slide begins. ” Case studies get done with ebullient CEO’s espousing the benefits of said software even though their organization was barely using the product.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2014

I “second the message” that chaos never subsides, from a couple of successful entrepreneurs, Clate Mask and Scott Martineau, in their book “ Conquer the Chaos.” The easiest way to reduce chaos is to buffer all your activities (slow down), define safer generic processes, which spiral down productivity. Your income drops. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 100

Startup Slides Entrepreneur IP 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

Now is the time to be an entrepreneur and create a business from your passion. On the other hand, everyone is doing it, so that means more competition, and the market and technology are changing faster than ever before. Advisors and investors need to see your whole story in as few as ten slides.

Funding 73

Funding Social Media Slides Platform 73

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. Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs. Competition and sustainable advantage.

Slides 93

Slides Competition Sample Sales 93

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

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. We started building the product 18 months ago so we are in better shape than 99% of start-ups. Slides, please.” I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would become aware of my link. I wasn’t feeling it.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

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. Your second sentence should acknowledge competition, but highlight your added value.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. You’ll gauge people’s excitement level for the product and for various features. 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?!

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

We then talked about our product roadmap. Then competition. You put some update slides on things like key hires or biz dev deals being negotiated and you didn’t plan to talk about them. But they were in a slide and people asked you questions so it ended up chewing up 30 minutes. Don’t let that be you.

Startup 331

Startup Slides Guide Writing 331

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. You’ll gauge people’s excitement level for the product and for various features. 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?!

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

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. Build a prototype product. File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Frothy is good for entrepreneurs. Seed-round investment.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

No amount of persuasion would work so I asked simply if I could be staffed on one of his projects to teach some of his MBA geniuses about computer networks since they were working on defining telecom product offerings for the Internet age. Send me in a corner to work on slides, graphs, spreadsheets and charts. 25, ISDN, T3s, etc.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process. Build a prototype product. Every entrepreneur needs a professional business plan for their own use, whether they intend to seek investor funding or not.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2010

I second the message from a couple of successful entrepreneurs, Clate Mask and Scott Martineau, in their book “ Conquer the Chaos ” that chaos never subsides. The easiest way to reduce chaos is to buffer all your activities (slow down), define safer generic processes, which spiral down productivity. Your income drops. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 57

Startup Slides Entrepreneur IP 57

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

And when it comes to timing, wait until you’ve come up with a working prototype and developed your product before you seek external funding. There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. These are usually the first sources entrepreneurs tap. Crowdfunding. Vendor funding.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The path I went down after a few years was to hire more process driven people and devolved more daily operational ownership to people running individual functions such as product management, sales management, finance, etc. Rarer still is the startup CEO who can make the transition effectively on their own.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Having a defensible competitive advantage or “barrier to entry” is another critical step to funding, and another common stumbling block during all phases of the funding process. Build a prototype product. Every entrepreneur needs a professional business plan for their own use, whether they intend to seek investor funding or not.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Another impetus for this was I saw some of the slides that Mary Meeker had done in the Kleiner Perkins annual PDF that they send around, and I realized that the market was being underserved by Airbnb and other key players in the market. I got to live in Tel Aviv for four months with their product team, and I really got bit by the travel bug.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Mobile Pricing 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I was thumbing through Twitter messages on my Blackberry on Monday (I use Twitter as a “ mobile first, web second &# product) when I saw the following Tweet (see graphic). rounds and still be competitive. I resisted the temptation to jump in with a response because I knew it was too complicated of a topic to discuss on Twitter.

Startup 294

Startup Sales Venture Capital Slides 294

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. So let’s be very specific: let’s assume your dream job is product manager at Google, working on the Analytics product. think his slides are great (and by far much easier on the eye then mine.). By doing the job.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

From LA Demo Day to Silicon Beach Fest to Crowdstart LA to hackathons to Startup Weekends, companies and entrepreneurs alike have joined forces to feed the startup ecosystem. I faced the same challenge not being able to form a team because most people joined the competition with friends that they had already planned on working with.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

Pivoting - Chris Dixon , June 14, 2010 My Hunch cofounders and I frequently ask ourselves: “If we were to start over today, would we build our product the same way we had so far?&# 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.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

Every 1:1 meeting you’ve had to date has been collegiate and productive. Understand how knowledgeable the room will be around your industry and your product and importantly – agree a plan with your sponsor on how to play the meeting. So you arrive at the meeting in the comfort that somebody has championed you to this point.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318