Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. 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. Then match your pace to cover all the material.

Startup 64

Startup Slides Technical Review Research 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2012

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. 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. Then match your pace to cover all the material.

Tips 97

Tips Slides Technical Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. 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. Then match your pace to cover all the material.

Slides 95

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 95

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. They incumbents might provide terrible products or services that you think you can better.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs. 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. We committed to product features.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

The bring your product to life. Establish the persona of the person who would be using your products. Tell us what their life is like without your product – how they struggle. Tell us about the breakthrough they’ll have when they’re using your product. Stories have starts, middles and ends.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. When I need to give a speech and I’m writing a slide for my deck, I think up the story in my mind that I’m going to tell for this slide. Yet most startups seem to constrain creativity to product design. Many people are visual thinkers. No matter.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298