Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your pitch deck should really be your best marketing tool Your pitch deck shouldn’t contain your deepest, darkest secrets and plans.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

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.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For those of you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Craft your irresistible pitch. An irresistible pitch is a clear and concise explanation of what you do best, benefits to your customers, an honest statement of why you do what you do, a question that pulls the listener in, and words and language that engage the hearts and mind of your ideal customer. Engage graciously. Marty Zwilling.

Sales 105

Sales Entrepreneur Mentor Customer 105

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied. While this post is written about raising venture capital (which I always remind entrepreneurs IS a sales process) the lessons can be applied to any sale or biz dev deal.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

These range from companies pitching me to portfolio companies presenting at board meetings. Almost always the CEO plus members of his or her management team including tech, marketing, sales and/or product. Here are some guidelines for you – particularly for VC pitch meetings. I sit through a lot of presentations.

Venture Capital 377

Venture Capital Slides Course Summary 377

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs. When you pitched me I really did love you. I worked on a new model and I’d really love to show it to you in person. And you get to demonstrate your skill sets without even pitching.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Pilot-authors tell their stories in the first person, and all of us readers slow down to think while reading of these events, wondering “what if” or whether this could happen to me. We ask ourselves “what if?”. In aviation circles, we read in our pilot magazines about “Never again!” or “I learned about flying from that.”

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

The short answer is that you should have multiple versions of your “pitch deck” (a short, visual presentation in Keynote, PPT or similar and shared as a PDF) and each occasion has a specific goal. During the Meeting One last pitch for why you should send the teaser deck in advance. A great meeting is a debate, not a pitch.

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Think about how you would sell in person. Practice on your friends and pitch selling them on your concept and perfecting the pitch. Billy Mays was doing road shows for 12 years perfecting his pitch before he actually took Orange Glo, Kaboom and OxiClean on TV. You may need to hire a good script writer.

Dollar Shave Club 106

Dollar Shave Club Tips Marketing Sales 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

His focus is primarily on improving the results for traditional sales professionals, but I’m convinced that the same principles are equally critical for entrepreneurs selling their startup to investors, strategic partners, and customers. These attributes include the following: Specific moment-in-time indication.

Startup 125

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2012

All the experts these days are talking about the increasing need for customer focus and maximizing sales. Typically entrepreneurs and even professional sales people think this means more emphasis on the customer selling process, when in fact it really means spending more time understanding the customer buying process (view from the customer).

Sales 96

Sales Customer Custom Competition 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2011

All the experts these days are talking about the increasing need for customer focus and maximizing sales. Typically entrepreneurs and even professional sales people think this means more emphasis on the customer selling process, when in fact it means spending more time understanding the customer buying process (view from the customer).

Sales 93

Sales Customer Custom Competition 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

You need to work just as hard to convince investors that you are the best person to take your idea from a dream to a successful business, and provide an impressive return on their investment at the same time. Develop a personal story as a visionary and learner. In reality, that’s only half the story. The other half is you.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Now is the time to pitch the entire business model to a group of customers or a specially selected focus group. This is not just a product pitch, but must include all elements of your pricing, marketing, distribution and maintenance. If it doesn’t relieve the pain, or doesn’t work, no business model will save you.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Pricing Software Review Customer 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2011

Craft your irresistible pitch. An irresistible pitch is a clear and concise explanation of what you do best, benefits to your customers, an honest statement of why you do what you do, a question that pulls the listener in, and words and language that engage the hearts and mind of your ideal customer. Engage graciously.

Sales 93

Sales Entrepreneur Mentor Customer 93

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2022

This means meeting personally with real customers, in an environment friendly to them. More effective questions usually start with “what,” and focus on that person as a customer, rather than you, your product, or your service. Requests for input that are thinly disguised sales pitches won’t work.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Product Social Network 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

from any person?—?must I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services.

Email 250

Email Writing Conference Mobile 250

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.

Ideas 122

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Now is the time to pitch the entire business model to a group of customers or a specially selected focus group. This is not just a product pitch, but must include all elements of your pricing, marketing, distribution and maintenance. If it doesn’t relieve the pain, or doesn’t work, no business model will save you.

Product 159

Product Technical Review Pricing Software Review 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2020

Here are some example strategies to pitch and practice: Adapt an existing product to a new use. Emulate the expansion of personal computers into industrial-strength versions, and cheap low-function boxes. Innovation doesn’t even require technology. This step may also lead to a disruptive innovation in the future.

Startup 129

Startup Artificial Inteligence Examples Google 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Let me assure you that a business plan and product plan are two different things (I have personally written several of both). Be sure to include this in your “elevator pitch,” which you must always deliver as a prelude to your technology features. Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. You need both to survive.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2020

For example, if that person is an investor, listen for a background in technology or a focus on financial returns, before highlighting your vision to change the social culture. Ask questions first to find what people or interests you might have in common, and then explore these at a personal level to build a positive relationship.

Networking 126

Networking Social Media Startup Media 126

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. Kai said, “Responding to RFPs is where sales processes go to die.”

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2019

Image via Flickr by Alan Most of you who start new ventures don’t think of yourselves as sales experts. Yet in today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, top notch sales and marketing skills are critical to the success of every business. Then craft an irresistible pitch, and iterate often to keep tuning it.

Mentor 90

Mentor Startup Sales Examples 90

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

As an introvert myself, I remember worrying that I could never be comfortable giving a sales pitch, or networking to find clients. Every entrepreneur, especially an introvert, can benefit from the perspective of another business person, ideally one who has prior experience in the domain you are about to enter.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

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. What a luxury in a startup to have the number one person in the business get to focus on just strategy? This person can do budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, legal, HR, office moves, etc. I find them strange.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

They get pitched by so many blowhards that more genuine people who aren’t in it for just a story stand out from the crowd. The other thing that tech execs often want to do is to delegate the PR to their marketing person. They don’t have enough billable hours to be able to really understand what you do or effectively pitch it.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2020

This means meeting personally with real customers, in an environment friendly to them. More effective questions usually start with “what,” and focus on that person as a customer, rather than you, your product, or your service. Requests for input that are thinly disguised sales pitches won’t work.

Customer 128

Customer Custom Activity Social Network 128

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

The event transformed Dodger's Stadium into a place for not baseball pitches, but startup pitches, with ten different companies pitching their companies to a large audience of investors and others in the technology industry sitting in the stands. ProDay (San Francisco), SidePrize (Atlanta), and Swish Analytics (San Francisco).

Class 100

Class Los Angeles Statistics Incubator 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2021

The reality is there are only a few processes that are key to every small business, like the sale, delivery, and support for your primary solution. In fact, you as the owner may not even be the best person for the job. At least if you work together in two-person teams, it will only take half as long.

Startup 107

Startup Training Guide Sales 107

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

The Founder needs to remember that meetings up to this point have been primarily off-site, with staged demos, and managed personally by the CEO or a small team. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2021

Great entrepreneurs seem to all exhibit a common set of attributes which go well beyond the basic skills required to be an entrepreneur: “Larger than life” personality and presence. Richard Branson’s adventurer escapades are legendary, and Steve Jobs made new product presentations an experience, as well as a sales pitch and an education.

Marketing 157

Marketing Design Entrepreneur Ideas 157

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2013

And a natural sales person. They are personally embarrassed by it. I’ve sat through so many meetings where sales reps didn’t ask for the order. I’ve been pitched by hundreds of entrepreneurs who never actually asked me whether I would invest. Even today. She was a hustler. And a ball buster.

Sales 416

Sales Class Training Technical Review 416

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2011

I am a big believer in VC pitches that the bio slide should come up front. Actually, I think the advice in this post applies to any sales meeting also. If you really believe that then just have your team practice their personal intro’s and tell them the time budget they have to hit. ” That’s an excuse.

Slides 296

Slides GRP Partners Venture Capital Writing 296

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&#. I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. Many people agreed and added that even the best sales meetings are also discussions and not pitches. A Tale of Two Pitches.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Yahoo 288