Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Calling high means reaching the highest level appropriate person in an organization that you can reach to hear your pitch. The senior person you meet is unlikely to be the person actually making the decision. Not always, of course. In a small to mid-sized organization this is likely the CEO or perhaps a COO or SVP.

Sales 375

Sales Technical Review Organization Case Study 375

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have enough resources to bootstrap our own startups, so we are completely dependent on investors to help turn great ideas into great businesses. Of course, you need to show how your business will make money and provide an impressive investor return, but that should be only the beginning.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2022

Use personal networking. The best angels you will find are the ones who know you personally, or know a member of your team or advisory board. Of course, angels are really mortals. If you can earn an archangel's confidence, he or she will invite you to pitch the group, and you'll have an edge in the voting.

Invest 153

Invest Angel .Net Startup 153

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

The short answer is that you should have multiple versions of your “pitch deck” (a short, visual presentation in Keynote, PPT or similar and shared as a PDF) and each occasion has a specific goal. During the Meeting One last pitch for why you should send the teaser deck in advance. A great meeting is a debate, not a pitch.

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

You need to build business relationships with partners, team members, investors, and of course customers. As an introvert myself, I remember worrying that I could never be comfortable giving a sales pitch, or networking to find clients. Asking someone to be your mentor is not a sign of weakness, and most mentors love to help.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

It’s like the entire industry wants to outsource its brain to the smartest person they know and then follow that person. Sure, you need to learn what the common theme of the no’s are and be willing to make adjustments to your pitch. But if there is nothing wrong with you then please don’t let early rejections alter your course.”

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund. Of course – some people can be remote. He of coursed required me to lobby on his behalf as well. Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. Kevin Zhang.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Of course, between these extremes is a large overlap of interest and potential. Sending unsolicited business pitches to every angel and VC investor you can find on the Internet is a waste of your time as well as theirs. How much help do you expect and need? You need a warm introduction for most VCs, to get their attention.

Startup 98

Startup Venture Capital Funding Invest 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

Of course, Jeff Bezos no longer needs investors, but he worked hard in his early days courting potential investors, building relationships and credibility that allowed him to get the money he needed to scale his company quickly. They look at your track record, industry leadership, marketing energy, moral values, and peer relationships.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur Startup 147

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

This lesson on NINAs applies to VC pitches as well as any sale. And don’t assume that because a person’s title is “managing partner” or “founding partner” that this necessarily means that person has more authority than other partners. Every person with authority has a vote.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2016

Of course, between these extremes is a large overlap of interest and potential. Sending unsolicited business pitches to every Angel and VC investor you can find on the Internet is a waste of your time as well as theirs. How much help do you expect and need? You need a warm introduction for most VCs, to get their attention.

Startup 59

Startup Help Venture Capital Entrepreneur 59

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

This is hardly ideal and some simple changes could help management avoid both issues. If I’m in your shoes I’d think about what is most critical to help your business succeed. Have the maximum amount of time in person dedicated to discussing the most important topics. Ineffecient Board Meeting. Meeting Dynamics.

Writing 337

Writing Venture Capital Help SaaS 337

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Tech.Co: What was the road like leading up to your initial pitch for the competition? Manubay: Leading up to the initial, local pitch competition we were pitching to family and friends for practice and for possible investment opportunity. Did you do anything in particular to rally your fans?

Competition 101

Competition Startup Ideas Conference 101

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Of course not. A tool to better help you find bars & restaurants? A cautious person wouldn’t try to pry people out of Twitter right before their IPO to” join my cause!!” A rational person would have assumed that the taxi unions would have made it impossible. Of course you need to be open.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Before skimmers race to the comments or Twitter to complain – I’m not saying intro’s aren’t valuable – of course they are. I don’t want any formal pitches. Their dealflow is angels or seed investors pitching “their best deals” to you in emails. So I have a rule on accelerators.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2019

Being positive and excited about what you offer should not be reserved for stand-up pitches and closing large deals. It always helps to ask questions first, and keying off an element of passion in the other person’s perspective. Then craft an irresistible pitch, and iterate often to keep tuning it.

Mentor 90

Mentor Startup Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. We decided we would only take our accelerator to the next level if we found the perfect person to run it.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Here is a sample of the reading list for the course that gives you a flavor for just how modern and practical this course is. Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. In Summary.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Of course, between these extremes is a large overlap of interest and potential. Sending unsolicited business pitches to every angel and VC investor you can find on the Internet is a waste of your time as well as theirs. How much help do you expect and need? You need a warm introduction for most VCs, to get their attention.

Venture Capital 125

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Startup Invest 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2019

I found many more helpful suggestions in a new book, “ The Culture Question ,” by Randy Grieser, Eric Stutzman, Wendy Loewen, and Michael Labun, who have spent years providing leadership and professional development training to companies around the world. Ask for help in eliminating useless tasks.

Tips 96

Tips Satisfaction Training Mentor 96

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Of course in-person is best for true relationship development but that’s not always practical. A very common experience … One person emails some thoughts. The true intent of both is lost and the time makes each person’s anger grow and fester. Don’t be that person. Text is often tone deaf.

Startup 150

Startup Email Writing Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. Trade equity or services for startup help. Pitch your needs to friends and family. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. Trade equity or services for startup help. Pitch your needs to friends and family. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2019

Use personal networking. The best angels you will find are the ones who know you personally, or know a member of your team or advisory board. Of course, angels are really mortals. If you can earn an archangel's confidence, he or she will invite you to pitch the group, and you'll have an edge in the voting.

Angel 99

Angel Startup Invest .Net 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2013

While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. Of course, there's no law saying you have to go to college to start a business. Many colleges offer courses on entrepreneurship, to help you think like one. Just do it.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Course Education 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2011

The gist of MG’s argument is that he’d rather work with people who are openly critical of his ideas if it helps him to perform better than to have a bunch of “yes men” around who just say what a great job he’s doing. Of course I can’t write every press release for the company nor would I want to.

Press 337

Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2011

While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. Of course, there's no law saying you have to go to college to start a business. Many colleges offer courses on entrepreneurship, to help you think like one. Just do it.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Course Education 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Of course much of it is conflicting. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. Spend time researching your buyers and not just pitching them. Meet in person. Trust doesn’t come from one 45-minute Powerpoint pitch or 30-minute demo. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

You come into a meeting where your sponsor (the person who invited you to present to the partners) knows a lot about you and the rest of the room may have varying degrees of knowledge. Also, you might be presenting your telecom company to a 6-person team where 3 people are telecom experts and the other 3 have only superficial knowledge.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

" Typically, this requires quite a bit more information for me to be able to respond and provide real help. Of course, you will want to figure out a bit more about the specifics of what this developer needs to know vs. can learn. Your technical advisor can likely help. Refine your elevator pitch. Go to user groups.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

In the case of the investment they are often also not only committing personal risk of looking bad at their partnership if things don’t go well but also countless hours of board meetings, financial reviews, legal documents across what is often 7–10 years or more. Of course stringing out the process doesn’t lead to good outcomes.

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Eric Greenspan

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Our Director of Flow, Heather Burlesci will be attending these courses as she is looking to build up her skills in this area. We will collaborate on ideas and projects and we created the Superfriends together, a group of local entrepreneurs that will gather to share ideas and help each other grow personally and professionally.

Social Network 180

Social Network Networking Yahoo Social Media 180

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Shockingly, some of the recommended tactics pitched by NPS gurus could actually decrease your sales by solidifying a propensity to not promote your solution. A binary question will help you identify which customers are more likely to lead to future prospects and which will not. Turning Net Promoters Into Net Profits. Shots On Goal.

.Net 182

.Net Satisfaction Entrepreneur Custom 182

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Of course, the average beginning amount per startup is low, and usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. Shy introverts may be great technologists, but they won’t be entrepreneurs until they learn to respectfully ask for funding, after nurturing relationships, and practicing their elevator pitch.

Tips 86

Tips Funding Startup Entrepreneur 86

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

” The ultimate measure of success for a journalist is viewership so if nobody cares about your shitty little company and the story you’re trying to pitch then the journalist doesn’t want to publish. They basically help companies get sold and help buyers determine which companies to buy. ” Of course not.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Eric Greenspan

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Our Director of Flow, Heather Burlesci will be attending these courses as she is looking to build up her skills in this area. We created Superfriends, a group of local entrepreneurs that will gather to share ideas and help each other grow personally and professionally. I of course agreed to get involved. A great trade!

Social Network 196

Social Network Networking Social Media Yahoo 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

I understand this instinct for more capital and I have two very different personal experiences: In my first company we raised an A-round of $16.5 Constraints can spark creativity Of course it never feels this way when you’re the founder, but constraints can actually force creativity. I have this “How much should I raise?”

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292