Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2022

Lead with your two-page executive summary, be prepared to give a ten-slide investor presentation. Don’t insist on a product demo – he is buying the business, not the product. If the investor thinks you are coming to ask for domain advice, and you ask for money, your success probabilities are shot.

Slides 126

Slides Outsource Summary Conference 126

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For reference, here is a quick summary of key elements which most investors include in their due diligence process: Key personnel review. Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. Status of the solution. In addition, manufacturing and inventory levels will be reviewed.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2019

You can cover everything you need to convey in 20 pages of text. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Use page breaks to separate sections. When in doubt, go to the next page. Nobody worries about having to turn to the next page. It won’t work.

Tips 96

Tips Entrepreneur Writing Content 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

In that critical first minute, no one needs to hear that you have a passionate dream of changing the world, introducing new disruptive technology, or a product with more features than competitors. Focus on quantifiable and relevant specifics, such as “reduces your cost by 40 percent,” or “increases productivity by 50 percent.”

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Summary notes, as always, provide below. The idea actually came to him from the Yellow Pages business. He took out an ad in the Yellow Pages (it was the early 80′s, pre Internet), which cost him $1,000 / month for a half-page ad. So the Yellow Page business was always “pay for placement.&#.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Most people will be engaged by a single-page double-sided glossy executive summary, and offer support or the right people to move forward. You really need at least a prototype product or customer to make the video come alive. Prepare a business plan 20-page document. Just talking and waving your arms doesn’t do it.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For reference, here is a quick summary of key elements which most investors include in their due diligence process: Key personnel review. Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. Status of the solution. In addition, manufacturing and inventory levels will be reviewed.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters. Too many plans don’t have a summary section, or the summary is all you get. You lose in either case.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Algorithms and data are required to compete.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

The best businesses understand the difference and that communities are the single best advocates for others to buy your products. the customer on stage showing your product turns into an advocate or evangelist while the prospect is far more likely to be persuaded by a customer presentation than a salesperson’s pitch.

Software 234

Software Startup Tool Platform 234

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Almost always the CEO plus members of his or her management team including tech, marketing, sales and/or product. So have the difficult conversations – it’s better that you’re all on the same page anyways. Summary : Teams matter. Each of these scenarios has a team presenting. Some fare less well.

Venture Capital 377

Venture Capital Slides Course Summary 377

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters. Too many plans don’t have a summary section, or the summary is all you get. You lose in either case.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Give them the iPod not Microsoft Office products. In order to improve the efficacy of my reports I often would write an “executive summary&# as the start that would have one paragraph describing the problem I was trying to solve, one paragraph talking through the options considered and one paragraph with my conclusion.

Slides 346

Slides Software Review Blogging Venture Capital 346

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2017

You can cover everything you need to convey in 20 pages of text. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Use page breaks to separate sections. When in doubt, go to the next page. Nobody worries about having to turn to the next page. It won’t work.

Writing 56

Writing Tips Content Summary 56

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

You can cover everything you need to convey in 20 pages of text. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Use page breaks to separate sections. When in doubt, go to the next page. Nobody worries about having to turn to the next page. It won’t work.

Writing 95

Writing Content Summary Entrepreneur 95

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

The video can be watched here , but there is a most excellent summary below provided by John Excley. Because he was particularly attracted to the idea of positioning Quigo in the business of helping retailers with search, Quigo started building sophisticated technology for applied semantics stuff with web pages.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2019

Lead with your two-page executive summary, be prepared to give a ten-slide investor presentation. Don’t insist on a product demo – he is buying the business, not the product. If the investor thinks you are coming to ask for domain advice, and you ask for money, your success probabilities are shot.

Slides 85

Slides Outsource Summary Conference 85

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

We had agreed to a stated internal policy that even though taking this stance would mean our product would have considerably less traffic it was an important part of what we felt our long-term brand represented. ” If people had seen the article on the home page of the news outlets website it no doubt would have been Tweeted.

Press 336

Press Blogging Journal News 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page). I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages. Written business plan.

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2012

You can cover everything you need to convey in 20 pages of text. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Use page breaks to separate sections. When in doubt, go to the next page. Nobody worries about having to turn to the next page. It won’t work.

Tips 101

Tips Writing Content Summary 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. I see too many investor pitches, and even executive summaries that ramble on for many pages without a clear message. Develop an efficient and effective writing style. Let that ideal co-founder find you.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page). I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages. Written business plan.

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. He offers a number of worthwhile tips and tricks that I was not able to capture in the textual summary, so the 14-minute audio file is well worth your time. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Paige’s responses. Click here to listen to the Audio File.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page). I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages. Written business plan.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

A summary of what we discussed is below: Not 100% in order of the video, but close. Give everybody pages of the deck they’re to cover or parts of the demo for which they are to talk. Progress to date of your company (when started, key milestones, what shape is the product in, any pilot / beta customers, financing).

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2011

You can cover everything you need to convey in 20 pages of text. The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment. Use page breaks to separate sections. When in doubt, go to the next page. Nobody worries about having to turn to the next page. It won’t work.

Writing 104

Writing Content Summary Entrepreneur 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). Everything we were taught pre-Internet is still relevant.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 10, 2013

You start out your board meeting and a well-meaning board member who read your deck noticed a detail she didn’t understand on page 18, “Bob, I noticed that your margins in Canada declined from 48% to 46% while your margin in Mexico is up by 4%. Can I Just Show You One Thing That Doesn’t Work in Your Product?

Startup 312

Startup Course Summary Product 312

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Build a prototype product. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most Angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Build an investor presentation and summary. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

This was certainly the case when I invested in a small YouTube video production company called Maker Studios that recently sold to Disney for just shy of $1 billion. The first product tests for gluten and is especially targeted at people with Celiac’s disease which affects 1% of the population meaning millions of people.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 6, 2011

DueToDos is a web based business productivity platform that seeks to save you time and increase efficiency whether you’re solo or on a team. DueToDos, is a full featured web based utility where users can also assign and track tasks, manage users on their team, receive web notifications, and daily activity summaries.

Email 102

Email Platform Web Summary 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2013

I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. Draft a business plan summary. Rather than starting with a full business plan, I recommend that you start with an executive summary of a couple of pages, or an executive level presentation of maybe ten charts. Prepare 5-year financial projections.

Ideas 106

Ideas Startup Summary CalTech 106

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. TWIVC Summary – Richard de Silva. Mike built a white label product that let large publishers leverage text based ads by building their own marketplace rather than using Ad Words. Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265