Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

If you or your team sees you as an idea person, your first task as an entrepreneur should be to find a co-founder who can deliver. Professional investors expect far more than an idea pitch – they are looking for a documented opportunity analysis and realistic financial projections. Managing marketing metrics and the sales pipeline.

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Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Billion dollar brands like GoPro built their empire marketing with video, but we don’t all have a sea of extreme sports athletes to upload thrilling footage. So here are the top 8 tips from 2 successful brands on what we can do to create engaging content and market our brands using YouTube as our platform.

Dollar Shave Club 106

Dollar Shave Club Tips Marketing Sales 106

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Email updates frequently. Key point – if your emails are as long as my blog posts you’re forked. Make your emails actionable.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2022

This means meeting personally with real customers, in an environment friendly to them. Email surveys and voice response units are not effective listening. More effective questions usually start with “what,” and focus on that person as a customer, rather than you, your product, or your service.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

As VCs we’re inundated with emails from founders, friends, colleagues, angels, seed investors, VCs, law firms, venture banks, corporates and so forth with their favorite deals. What I’m saying is that you can’t spend all of your time in email working your inbox. I don’t want any formal pitches.

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TechCrunch LA

MARCH 26, 2020

Startups across the nation and around the world are looking for ways to relieve shortages of much-needed personal protective equipment and sanitizers used to halt the spread of COVID-19. In fact, Kentucky was outbid by the federal government for personal protective equipment. “We break it up into three different programs. .

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. He told me to stop responded to RFPs where I wasn’t the person who helped write the specs for the RFPs.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I usually judge people’s reactions not by the comments section of my post (where people are a little bit more polite so you get selective bias) but by the private emails I get. I expected it to be controversial and it was.

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Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Berkonomics

AUGUST 29, 2019

Email readers, continue here…] We used to call these personal and business contacts that all board members possess collectively the “golden Rolodex,” but long since have had to replace the name since there is an entire generation of management unfamiliar with the circular Rolodex.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2020

This means meeting personally with real customers, in an environment friendly to them. Email surveys and voice response units are not effective listening. More effective questions usually start with “what,” and focus on that person as a customer, rather than you, your product, or your service.

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InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As noted in Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Pitch Their Ideas To Venture Capitalists , most sophisticated investors place their bets on people rather than opportunities.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 2, 2013

Then I got an email that asked: I'm leading the marketing efforts for an early-stage startup. However, I often wish that I had someone more experienced both in marketing and working in a startup environment that I could go to for advice. Then you search for the people who were in marketing there early on.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2009

But so that you finish reading my post first I’ll give you the summary version – when approaching somebody at a show be polite / respectful of time, try to be introduced if possible and never assume the person remembers who you are. I do about 15 in person meetings / week … that’s about 750 / year.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

If you or your team sees you as an idea person, your first task as an entrepreneur should be to find a co-founder who can deliver. Professional investors expect far more than an idea pitch – they are looking for a documented opportunity analysis and realistic financial projections. Managing marketing metrics and the sales pipeline.

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Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

This shows itself when people try to do an elevator pitch, send concise, actionable emails or have a quick phone call with you to ask for help. Brad Feld told me that TechStars makes each company practice the 1 or 2-minute pitch the first week of the program. Don’t be that person.

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Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Tech.Co: Since launch, what was the most challenging part of gaining market traction? 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.

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I’ve recently had a chance to reconnect with Eric David Greenspan ( LinkedIn , Twitter ) He’s the CEO of Make It Work a high quality, personal, high touch technology service provider for homes and small businesses. A typical day starts with email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yammer checks/updates. Sometimes I make a blog entry.

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InfoChachkie

MAY 7, 2012

If you are fortunate to pitch a sophisticated investor in person, assume they already believe in the veracity of your idea, the market and the underlying technological trends. I similarly seek entrepreneurs who perceive failure as a personal affront and refuse to walk away from a venture, even when success seems remote.

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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.

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Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

In marketing materials founders often refer to their customer base as a “community”, but there’s a huge gap between having customers and creating a community. a platform to allow local communities police and manage themselves through in-person events and meetups. Derek founded Bevy ?—?a possibly even more so.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising. This is one book-end of the cycle.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

I owe ya’ a 20 minute call (or in person next time I’m in San Diego). The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email. Are Pitch Decks becoming obsolete? Aren’t pitch decks still the norm? “I

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Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

It started when a well-intentioned colleague introduced me to the caller via email, without first confirming with me that the intro was welcomed. As described in Why Blind Intros Suck , it is more often than not a waste of everyone’s time: mine, the person making the introduction and the person being introduced.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

They’re pitching to you. I’d like to talk about Crocodile Salesmen in 3 scenarios: 1) when YOU are selling (or someone on your team), 2) when you are trying to recruit a sales person. What I personally recommend is that you use “What We Find’s.&# They don’t handle Twitter feedback, emails or IM.

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Sales Startup Venture Capital Custom 314

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Even if you’re the shiest of shy, you’re bound to interact with at least one person while you’re there. The visible press pass label is a people magnet – most people you pass want to talk, discuss, pitch. I received dozens of long emails each day with press releases, pitches, news and information.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. 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 never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs.

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Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

If you sell a product direct to a customer – in person or on the phone – you need to understand what their pain points are and position your product benefits against those pain points. They like to feel like they compared your solution to something else on the market. If you’re not ready to buy then you go into an email database.

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Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2014

Craft and hone your elevator pitch early. Follow up personally on every new connection. Key introductions in a networking meeting will be quickly lost, unless you take the next step of calling or emailing later to request a personal meeting. These days, winning in the crowded startup world is all about marketing.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2012

I’m talking about doing some real networking to test your elevator pitch, and get to know some potential investors before you ask them for money. Start writing a blog, speaking at local groups, and conversing at networking meetings about the need you see in the marketplace, before you pitch a solution. Practice your message.

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InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

The following guest post is from Dan Monarko, Online Marketing Manager at The Resumator , a SaaS applicant tracking system and hiring platform trusted by many of the fastest-growing companies in the world, including: Pinterest, Tumblr, Hootsuite, Klout, Posterous, Bitly, Atari and Mashable. Hire for Swagger. Innovative Thinker.

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Tips RSS Ideas SaaS 182

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

And it’s the latest in a series of investments we’ve made in building out our practice as the LA technology market continues to grow robustly and attract entrepreneurs and investors. He sent me a few nice emails. Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. Come to entrepreneur pitches. Jordan Hudson.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. But nothing causes one to stand up and doing something faster than being beaten in the market.

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InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. If the pitch sounds good, they are "in." Share and Enjoy.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

VC Pitch Decks. The great thing about the VC pitch deck is that you can have 30 slides. I’m going to write a post soon with my personal product design philosophy, “design for the novice, configure for the pro.&#. &# WIDLIO. That way the reader isn’t searching through a haystack to find your needles.

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Slides Software Review Blogging Venture Capital 346

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. Her post is short & well written so definitely worth a read if you’re a startup person and want to hear some sensible views on sales. In my post I specifically talked about the integration of marketing and sales.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2016

I still hear too many excuses for not working early on the elevator pitch, like wanting to fly under the radar, don’t have the team together yet, or can’t afford an agency. Craft and hone your elevator pitch early. Follow up personally on every new connection. Requests for investment come later.

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