Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

After seeing Chamillionaire interact with several entrepreneurs both at events and as an investor I started introducing him to startups in an advisory capacity. Chamillionaire has a way more refined sense of what customer behavior is like than most ivy league graduates with nice Powerpoint slides that I meet.

Conference

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. It eventually closed at 11,204 in April ’10 before sliding back around 10,000 as I sit here and type. What does this mean if you’re an entrepreneur? raise money now to weather any storms).

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The mistake entrepreneurs make is either writing a lengthy email (everybody has too much email so it will get skimmed / not digested) or not having a deck which means the VC can’t quickly determine his or her fit as a potential investor. The key is WHAT you send.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This involves a person who leads a PowerPoint presentation in which the presenter feels more comfortable racing through pre-practiced slides and rattling off charts & bullet points than having a discussion. The VC might have tried a few times to prompt a discussion and you didn’t take the queue but in stead reverted back to slides.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. What is the timeframe for the exit?

Slides

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

The first was to do a 5 minute “ignite&# presentation – 5 minutes, 15 slides. I did the outline of the 15 slides on the flight over (after a few beers). I tried to visualize how I was going to hit such a precise presentation where you get 20 seconds per slide and then they get auto forwarded. I couldn’t.

Slides

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. I was interested in learning more.

Startup

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. Hand out copies of the slides before the presentation for note taking, with proper cover sheet, with brochures, product samples, or other marketing material you may have.

Slides

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I also sometimes start a speech by asked for people to raise their hands if they fit a certain demographic. &# Raise your hand if you’re an entrepreneur, raise your hand if you plan to raise venture capital in the next year, raise your hand if you’re a service provider to the startup industry,&# etc. For fawk sake, practice!

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you, and demonstrating your readiness.

Entrepreneur

InfoChachkie

APRIL 18, 2011

I documented these highlights on PowerPoint slides, using as many direct quotes as possible and splitting the comments into “Positive” and “Negative” feedback for each question. Thus, confident entrepreneurs understand the value of seeing themselves through the lens of seasoned executives whose opinions they value and trust.

Entrepreneur

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

November 23, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Using Outsourcing to Obtain Capital Efficiency Needs to be Thought Through to be Effective - Robert Ochtel , June 7, 2010 Teen Entrepreneur, Brian Wong, Youngest Founder to Receive Angel Funding - teenentrepreneurblog.com , October 28, 2010 Build Your Own Silicon Valley?

Startup

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 30, 2020

Monday, August 3, 2020 -- Fixing the Top Fundraising Mistakes Startup Entrepreneurs Make. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Scott Fox, CEO of the OC Startup Council, for a discussion of the top mistakes that early stage entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups for funding. See [link] (more)

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2022

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. Dini makes the case that entrepreneurs are hunters, while the rest of us (large majority) are farmers.

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

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. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You didn’t intend it to happen that way.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs can still build big businesses on the outskirts.” David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. As per my video, think about the data in the following slide. Where David is Totally Right.

Technical Review

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

I recently got a phone call from an entrepreneur whom I respect and who runs a company that I hope will do great things one day. Entrepreneurs get so used to friends and family congratulating them on their press coverage that they forget sometimes that this isn’t real. Many entrepreneurs have a PR page in the PowerPoint deck.

Venture Capital

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. If the other party asks you to send them your slides, find out why they need them. No one can tell your story better than you.

Startup

Berkonomics

JULY 3, 2014

When I give a keynote address, I often start by asking my audience, by raise of hands, to tell me how many are angel or VC investors, and how many are entrepreneurs, how many are service providers such as attorneys. Immediately, I can tell how to orient the explanations behind my pre-cast slides, based upon the response.

Slides

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2014

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. A recent book, “ Hunting in a Farmer''s World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. Dini makes the case that entrepreneurs are hunters, while the rest of us (large majority) are farmers.

Entrepreneur

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs.

Invest

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. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. But tell me how practical is the 7s’s, really?

Startup

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. If you are raising funds, list “do nothing” as a viable competitor in your slide deck.

Competition

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2010

If you don’t already read Chris’s blog you should – it’s very well written, often takes a strong POV and speaks from an entrepreneur’s perspective but with a huge knowledge of the technology investors as well. I covered this a bit in my post about the market definition slide in fund raising. He is both.

Product

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you. Financial model.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2015

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. Dini makes the case that entrepreneurs are hunters, while the rest of us (large majority) are farmers.

Entrepreneur

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. Have minimums but a sliding scale. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You want them to earn.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

If you have ten minutes, that means no more than ten slides. I’ve seen several presentations that never moved past the first slide before running out of time. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. Then match your pace to cover all the material. Check the setup and set the stage.

Slides

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

How-to learn about angel/vc term sheets - Gabriel Weinberg , June 28, 2010 I think every startup entrepreneur (and angel investor) should have a good understanding of financing term sheets. You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur - Steve Blank , June 10, 2010 Who is an entrepreneur really? Yes, even bootstrappers. liquidation preference.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2011

I agree they certainly apply to the great entrepreneurs I have known. They never think they have "arrived"—because they know that once they think that, they'll start sliding back to the place from which they came. You need to think about how they apply to you. The best know what they truly want. They stay humble and hungry.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

On a regular basis, I am approached by entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. For the rest of you entrepreneurs, consider the value of a business plan when it is not required.

Entrepreneur

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 12, 2008

Friday, October 17, 2008 -- Maverick Bootcamp For Entrepreneurs. The Bootcamp Will Teach You To: Make a Successful Investor Pitch; Create an Effective Executive Summary; Develop a High-Impact Slide Presentation and more. See [link] (more).

Slides

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2020

Jeff Bezos is one of the world’s most admired entrepreneurs, primarily because of his humble style and his growth from a regular person background to a current net worth in the neighborhood of $200 billion dollars. Avoid PowerPoint and graphic slide presentations. Focus on the big decisions that are irrevocable.

Slides

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. We have no competition.”.

Competition

socalTECH

MARCH 18, 2009

Andrew has recently been interviewing interesting entrepreneurs and thought leaders, and recently interviewed Brian Johnson , the founder of eteamz, Zaadz, and Philospher's Notes. But it turns out that parents who used the site only wanted basic features, like the ability to see a picture of their kids sliding into third base.

Mixergy

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2016

I agree they certainly apply to the great entrepreneurs I have known. They never think they have "arrived"—because they know that once they think that, they'll start sliding back to the place from which they came. You need to think about how they apply to you. The best know what they truly want. They stay humble and hungry.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2012

This probably seems obvious to military types, but I see entrepreneurs violating this rule all the time. Lead with your two-page executive summary, be prepared to give a ten-slide investor presentation. Don’t charge the hill until you are “ready.” Needless to say, they usually get shot down, and get no second chance.

Entrepreneur