Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. Don’t dwell on this slide for ever. If I have an hour with you I want to maximise the time we have a discussion so I want to get through the slides quickly. It’s in their personality type.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

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. Explain how you will make money and who pays you (real customer).

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I used to sit on the board of a company (for which I DID NOT invest) with a very smart and very likable CEO. The company had less than $5 million in revenue yet we had a multi-tab spreadsheet doing activity-based costing on our customer service staff, operations and technology. But I bring up this story for a reason.

Entrepreneur 415

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 415

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

Simply, this is identifying a customer need which has economic value to them if they can solve it. ” and if you can’t persuade enough potential customers they have some pain that needs fixing you probably should stick to your day job. Teams usually start with terminology that is very insular and less relevant to customers.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

- SoCal CTO , January 13, 2010 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 No Accounting For Startups - Steve Blank , February 22, 2010 Startup Advice In Exactly Three Words - #StartupTriplets - OnStartups , January (..)

Startup 380

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 380

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. It could be that a larger competitor has met with its customers, promising to extend its product line into this very niche. So, do your homework especially well by putting yourself into the minds of your potential customers.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Either of these qualms can ultimately sidetrack your startup as not worthy of investment, so it pays to do your homework on what you say and how to communicate effectively. Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. Investors invest in people more than the idea.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. They had slides with moving images and music. This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

.&# They know instinctually how customers buy and how to excite them. 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. They have a sixth sense for the competitors’ weaknesses.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

And having frameworks is a useful way to standardize your customer studies so that highly intelligent, inexperienced young people can crank out PowerPoint slides with such authority and beautiful consistency. I mean Porter’s Five forces is a useful framework but it’s basically microeconomics with a pretty wrapper.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing. From there Rob decided to make a small investment.

Guide 294

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 294

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. If a company wants to invest in your company and you haven’t read that post please do. Have minimums but a sliding scale.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

You’re adding unnecessary “purchase friction” If your deck is something I should open 3–4 times as I’m contemplating an investment, why add any consumption friction to the reader? There are a million ways to make graphics lighter or resize your file without a huge impact on the quality of the slides?—?after What should be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. My “no demo” approach is clearly not appropriate when assessing the veracity of investments with a hardware component or with a consumer facing product. Fool A Fool – I sold surgical robots from PowerPoint slides in the early 1990’s, before the robots existed.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2020

It allows investors to come into alignment with customers. For example, he continues to invest in space travel and energy harvesting ( Blue Origin ), even though we haven’t yet run out of energy, and we still have space for growth. Focus relentlessly and passionately on the customer.

Slides 137

Slides Customer Custom Satisfaction 137

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Remember to aim the content of both of these at investors, not customers. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Prepare a slide deck to highlight product and business.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. Your potential customers could choose “do nothing.”. It could be that a larger competitor has met with its customers, promising to extend its product line into this very niche.

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

You’re trying to get you contacts to get you that introduction to Ron Conway to sprinkle his legitimacy on your company through an angel investment. Often entrepreneurs show me their management team slides with the names of the people who are going to join him once they’re funded.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

1) has escaped the attention of the major Internet companies, which are better run than ever before; (2) is capable of being launched and proven out for ~$5M, the typical seed plus series A investment; and. (3) As per my video, think about the data in the following slide. How many ideas like that are left?” ” My 3.5

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

I apply visual thinking for nearly everything I do: preparing for important phone calls (I imagine my opening lines, I imagine the responses), writing keynote presentations, deciding whether or not to invest in a company, preparing for board meetings – you name it. These are all creative processes. So I thought I would. No matter.

Writing 357

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 357

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Packaging, pricing & discounts – In the early days of my first company we always had “list prices&# we quoted to customers and of course we were always willing to negotiate based on who the client was, how important the business was to us, who the competition was and how well the deal was negotiated.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

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. Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value. Provide specifics on the customer business model.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

People tend to overvalue past investments when making forward-looking investment decisions. Personally, I don't like weighty board packs and I do not wish to inflict slide preparation upon anyone. My long time friend and co-angel investor Will Herman wrote a post titled Angel Investing that summarized some of his advice.

Startup 176

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 176

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. These don’t get funded, nor bought by customers.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. Non-specific terms, like better usability and low cost don’t incite customers to action these days. Thought leadership position in your market and customer set.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

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. Explain how you will make money and who pays you (real customer).

Slides 93

Slides Competition Sample Sales 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2010

Quite honestly I see way too many company pitches that are designed for Techies but I only want to invest in products designed for Normals. I covered this a bit in my post about the market definition slide in fund raising. Build features that will delight your customers. Here’s my take on the topic: 1. Obvious, I know.

Product 348

Product Startup Design Blogging 348

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing. A great CFO will help you plan that. Board Preparation.

Outsource Development 339

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 339

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. Customers think about alternatives, and investors worry about competitors.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Management teams whisk through slides trying to get through a presentation to share how great things are going and they are eager to get through the meeting so they can get back to their real jobs. Once you prepare the deck each department that contributed slides feels compelled to get it’s half hour of time presenting their progress.

Tips 212

Tips Slides Startup Technical Review 212

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2017

In my activities as an angel investor, and my work with new ventures seeking investment, I find the “due diligence” stage to be fraught with the most risk. Usually this stage only really starts after an investor has expressed serious interest, or already informally agreed to invest. Update reference customers, partners, and vendors.

Invest 59

Invest Startup Doc Slides 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors. Start by developing an “elevator pitch,” that you can deliver in thirty seconds to hook a potential customer or investor.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

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. Remember to aim the content of both of these at investors, not customers. Marty Zwilling.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

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 30, 2019

Whether you are looking for partners, investors, or future customers, you need to show a level of professionalism and leadership very early that will draw people to your idea. You really need at least a prototype product or customer to make the video come alive. Make it light, but factual. Think of it as an infomercial.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126