Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

With VCs my strong suggestion is that you be open & realistic. Leaving your real competitors off of you presentation to a VC is not recommended. The “competition slide&# of your investment deck is such a great opportunity to talk about how you’re positioned (premium product vs. economical product? Harvey Balls.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Slides Competition Education 313

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Slides Startup Sales 238

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

.” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

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 147

Slides Funding Technical Review Startup 147

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Fool A Fool – I sold surgical robots from PowerPoint slides in the early 1990’s, before the robots existed. The post VC Confessions: I Don’t Really Care About Your Product Demo appeared first on John Greathouse. You can follow John on Twitter: @johngreathouse. Image credit: Shutterstock. Share and Enjoy.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the VC & Private Equity world there’s a small number, too, with one of the most respected being PEHub. I always wanted to have Dan on This Week in VC with Dan Primack ( to see video click link ) because he’s blunt, honest, opinionated and well informed. Question: Some people are saying traditional VC is dead.

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital Slides Seed Funding Google 232

Berkonomics

JANUARY 21, 2021

When I give a keynote address, I often start by asking my audience, by raise of hands, to tell me how many of them are angel or VC investors, how many are entrepreneurs, and 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 156

Slides Startup Venture Capital Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2011

I am a big believer in VC pitches that the bio slide should come up front. The short answer is that by knowing the key members of the management team the VC firm can quickly identify strengths on your time and know whether you have some competitive advantage in your chose field relative to other people with whom you will compete.

Slides 296

Slides GRP Partners Venture Capital Writing 296

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. If you haven’t read the other VC fund-raising posts I’ve done as part of this series you can find the whole outline and this first in the series here.]

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Competition 239

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2020

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 118

Startup Slides Technical Review Research 118

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. Don’t dwell on this slide for ever. If I have an hour with you I want to maximise the time we have a discussion so I want to get through the slides quickly. 25% of VCs are expressives, like you.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 30, 2020

See [link] (more)

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2019

If you present slide after slide and if this becomes a download of too much information and not enough of a discussion then people’s attention spans wane. The best board meetings are discussions and debates about the business yet many executive teams spent their time wanting to walk through hours of slides on how great they’re doing.

Slides 275

Slides Email News Startup 275

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Handling PR with VCs. This is part of my series on How to Raise VC but could equally be filed under Startup Advice more generally. Just notice how many VC emails you get after your TechCrunch article or after you were on stage at TC50. In your VC pitch your PR page should take no longer than 30 seconds – Wait.

Venture Capital 291

Venture Capital Press News Startup 291

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 201

Slides Startup Venture Capital Organization 201

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Hire admin / office management after you raise a reasonable size VC round. Ok, well not that pretty since I do my own slides and often at 1am. But my slides are linked above and you can also download from SlideShare. If you need a COO then perhaps you’re not a CEO? It’s all in this deck in a prettier format.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2011

This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. It’s any meeting where you are in a small room and are being called on to present on some form of overhead slides. The worst behaved will literally never be on the slide you’re presenting. In slides, less is almost always more.

Tips 392

Tips Screening Slides Venture Capital 392

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

You can go as high as 1% because they’re going to get diluted when you bring in VC. Don’t overplay in your VC pitches – Final bit of advice – don’t overplay the advisers in your VC pitch. It’s OK to have the advisor slide where you glance quickly over the names. Have 8 of them!

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Xconomy

AUGUST 30, 2019

But in Paris, this cardiologist will be in a conference center, walking an audience through a slide deck packed with Phase 3 data for a new cholesterol-lowering drug, inclisiran. You might be camping, barbecuing, or sleeping on Monday. It’s Labor Day, after all. Inclisiran’s owner, the Medicines Co.,

Slides 80

Slides Conference Venture Capital Study 80

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2022

But for angel investors and venture capital investors, just remember that investors are not on your team (yet). Lead with your two-page executive summary, be prepared to give a ten-slide investor presentation. The first rule is to separate your advisors from your investors. Fully prepare for the assault.

Slides 126

Slides Outsource Summary Conference 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

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 105

Slides Technical Review Startup Research 105

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. Mostly, this segment of the market (like all of VC) is stacked in favor of the few. Unfortunately that’s a myth.

Invest 306

Invest Angel Venture Capital Slides 306

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. I put up this slide as part of my discussion. What is your cash balance?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Slides Capital Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

As per my video, think about the data in the following slide. I remember a discussion with an older VC who told me that in the early 90′s they wondered whether the VC industry had a future. That’s why I say, “ It’s Morning in VC & the Startup World. The future certainly looks brighter to me.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Xconomy

OCTOBER 16, 2017

Along the way, Khosla has invested in a range of startup companies—including several tackling radiology, cardiology, and mental health (see slide and list at bottom)—that are. It’s been quite a ride since then. Read more » Reprints | Share: UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS.

Artificial Inteligence 98

Artificial Inteligence Slides Blogging Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2013

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.

Angel 102

Angel Slides Funding Technical Review 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

It’s encouraging to know that there are still great VC firms like KV that are looking to make these short of big bets on shaping the future. One of the biggest mistakes I see at board meetings is what I call the “filibuster board” in which the executive team spends 2 hours going through 100 slides and runs out the clock with no discussion.

Startup 234

Startup Slides Venture Capital Course 234

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. In a VC business when you raise additional capital you need to “level up” and act the round you are. I have seen many companies raise their first $3 million and still act like a company that has no resources at all.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “ Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. The following are some tips for the debate style VC meeting. Tips in a debate led VC Meeting.

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Sales Slides Startup 275

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

Send me in a corner to work on slides, graphs, spreadsheets and charts. I talked with a few VCs and batted around the idea of becoming a VC. No prizes for guessing how my VC chats went. But you don’t really have VC experience.” How can you become a VC unless somebody decides to let you become a VC?

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2010

And this is my chance to give back to all of those people for whom I don’t have enough time in the week for that “15 minute coffee meeting&# that many people wants with a VC. I have my basic slide decks complete but always happy to add, amend or ad-lib. Tags: VC Industry. Hope to see you!

CalTech 222

CalTech Startup Santa Monica Venture Capital 222

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. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. It’s when the game slows.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

Non VC Growth Rounds. The other major trend of 2012–2015 was the entrance of “non VCs” into late-stages of venture capital , which mostly consisted of hedge funds, mutual funds, corporate investors, sovereign wealth funds and even LPs doing direct deals. VC Infighting. Some called this “buying logos.”

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Seed Funding 150