Berkonomics

JANUARY 21, 2021

And if you are making a one-to-one presentation, don’t start without a conversation about the other person’s knowledge of your space. Immediately, I can tell how to orient the explanations behind my pre-cast slides, based upon the response. Asking the important question creates a connection. How I ask the question.

Slides 156

Slides Startup Venture Capital Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

We started with our financial statements. We then talked about our product roadmap. So I changed things up and became much happier with my results. 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. Then competition.

Startup 331

Startup Slides Guide Writing 331

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. First to market, for example, is not normally a sustainable advantage for startups. No investor wants to be tied to a “one-trick pony.”

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. 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. Large companies can be strange sometimes. Sometimes it actually does.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Business model. Executive team.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

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.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

He shared a number of witty entrepreneurial insights, including: "Startups are like high school. Note: I am an investor in Brian''s current startup via Rincon Venture Partners.). But the more I started to think about it, I said, well, why the hell not? I mean, that''s what entrepreneurs do every day.

Startup 223

Startup Yahoo Santa Barbara Slides 223

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Many startup companies hire advisory boards. It’s mostly done by first-time entrepreneurs who want to persuade (bribe?) If you plan to set one up – no problem. come out of the gate strong and never let up) then you might get some attention.

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Business model. Executive team.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

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. There is no crowd of successful entrepreneurs. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

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 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

One of them was about better understanding personality types. We had a training session from somebody who put up the four-quadrant graph you see above. This has proved one of the more valuable lessons about meetings I have learned. This is really important as extroverts like to have the answers presented to them up front.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

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. Can you just show up without one? Act I – The Discussion: You’re goal in starting the meeting is to establish rapport. They’re partially right. DO NOT drone on endlessly.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Note: This is Part I in the Startup Advantages series. Startups have few advantages. The more sensitive the data and potentially damaging to your company, the more likely it will end up in the hands of someone who can use it against you. If the other party asks you to send them your slides, find out why they need them.

Startup 216

Startup Slides Resource Organization 216

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# 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. Lines vs. Dots is all about people. But what about markets? Think about Twitter.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. So why would I have talked so much about the deck in my post? Can you just show up without one?

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Berkonomics

JULY 3, 2014

If you are making a one-to-one presentation, don’t start without a conversation about the other person’s knowledge of your space. Immediately, I can tell how to orient the explanations behind my pre-cast slides, based upon the response. And you will not insult the industry experts by appearing to talk down to them.

Slides 201

Slides Startup Venture Capital Organization 201

InfoChachkie

JULY 1, 2013

The great thing about beginning your pitch in an awkward manner is that you can alienate the majority of your audience quickly, making the fact that you are unprepared (as outlined in next suggestion) much less relevant. You are an entrepreneur – go for it. A minimum of 20 to 30 slides per minute is a reasonable rule of thumb.

Slides 220

Slides Tips Startup RSS 220

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2018

In reality, in business or even in sports, the evidence is conclusive that it is as much about how you think, as what you do. I agree they certainly apply to the great entrepreneurs I have known. You need to think about how they apply to you. The best don't just think about their desire for greatness; they act on it.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Training Slides Pricing 99

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

Eugene Cho is CEO of San Diego-based Echo Laboratories (www.discover-echo.com), a startup which is developing a new kind of microscope. The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. Explain what's special about Echo's microscopes, and what's your background? How did you start the company?

Tech Coast Angels 124

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 124

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. Once you understand both sides of the cycle you start to recognize signs of behavior during each phase. I’m always paranoid about shelfware.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

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 137

Slides Customer Custom Satisfaction 137

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 16, 2013

Article after article points out that Los Angeles is on its way to becoming one of the most robust startup communities in the United States. It is meant to bring everyone together so that they can learn, network and leave with the sense that they now belong to a family of entrepreneurs, all trying to make LA a startup hub.

Rustic Canyon 74

Rustic Canyon Startup Los Angeles Class 74

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

What's the difference between pitching your startup on television, versus pitching your startup in real life? And how do you best take advantage of a TV audience to promote your startup? Hatched recently started into its second season. For those not familiar with Hatched, tell us about the program?

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Image via Pixabay In my role as a new business advisor and occasional investor, I hear lots of people talking about their dreams of “someday” starting and running a new venture. They can talk with passion about their innovative new idea, and ask lots of questions, but never seem to really get started.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

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. Anyway, Chris’s blog got me thinking about Techies and Normals. He is both.

Product 348

Product Startup Design Blogging 348

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2014

If you need to know how to do something, just look it up online. My message today is to avoid the consultant stigma by signing up to do the job, not just talk about it. My message today is to avoid the consultant stigma by signing up to do the job, not just talk about it. Then lead by example. Produce results.

Startup 102

Startup Slides Email Customer 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2021

Every startup fears that one angry and unfair customer who can jeopardize the business by a negative post on Ripoff Report , Yelp , or one of the hundreds of other consumer complaint and review sites on the Internet. For all the rest of us, it’s nice to know that we can shout back quickly and broadly, when someone starts to whisper about us.

Search Engine Optimization 163

Search Engine Optimization Content Social Network Google 163

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

Eugene Cho is CEO of San Diego-based Echo (www.discover-echo.com), a startup which is developing a new kind of microscope. The startup is backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Dolby Ventures. Explain what's special about Echo's microscopes, and what's your background? How did you start the company? but internationally.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2016

In reality, in business or even in sports, the evidence is conclusive that it is as much about how you think, as what you do. I agree they certainly apply to the great entrepreneurs I have known. You need to think about how they apply to you. The best don't just think about their desire for greatness; they act on it.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Training Slides Pricing 105

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. Some will be quick to chalk about “personal branding” as gimmicky or manipulative. My starting salary was $27,000.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

InfoChachkie

JULY 1, 2013

The great thing about beginning your pitch in an awkward manner is that you can alienate the majority of your audience quickly, making the fact that you are unprepared (as outlined in next suggestion) much less relevant. You are an entrepreneur – go for it. A minimum of 20 to 30 slides per minute is a reasonable rule of thumb.

Slides 154

Slides Tips Startup Research 154

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

I thought about trying to spell it differently (like Guy Kawasaki always says Bull Shitake (as in the mushroom, but slightly misspelled) but somehow it lost the same effect that this saying has always had for me. I grew up in the US but lived in England for so long I can never remember from which country my slang comes.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378