Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

In the video I describe how to best play this meeting and why, without a champion going into the meeting, you’re unlikely to get an investment. Remember that most people are visual thinkers and Powerpoint slides simply help frame the conversations. If you don’t, make sure you follow up and ask for feedback.

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. Exit strategy.

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Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. If I feel a priori that the CEO can’t cut it I’m highly unlikely to invest.

Startup 360

Startup Venture Capital Invest Slides 360

InfoChachkie

JULY 1, 2013

If you are forced to display financial data, ensure that the slides are unintelligible. Make it clear you do not know their investment focus (e.g., nor did you take the time to research the investor''s investment portfolios. An effective method to incite Death By PowerPoint is to deploy an extraordinary number of slides.

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Slides Tips Startup RSS 220

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

whether they invest or not. If you have another 15–20 super detailed slides they should either be in an appendix after you get through the main presentation or in a separate deck that you may or may not get out. If the investor spends all of his or her time staring at slides you’ve lost. Don’t send these?—?go

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Here are the ten slides you need: Problem and market need. What equity is the company willing to give in return for the investment? What is the timeframe of return on investment? Give the “elevator pitch” for your startup.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2009

My goal is to bring in informative speakers who stretch our collectively thinking on topics that will influence our investment strategies and use it as a way for us to share our experiences in ways that I hope benefit the Southern California technology ecosystem. slide 29). Mobile game content revenue > PC game revenue (slide 98).

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Slides Southern California Social Network Startup 188

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I used to sit on the board of a company (for which I DID NOT invest) with a very smart and very likable CEO. I said (out loud), “I sure wish that some of the time that went into these PowerPoint slides would have gone into meetings with the COO, CFO or CMO of [Elephant Customer].&# But I bring up this story for a reason.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

They had slides with moving images and music. If you really get nervous and are afraid you’ll forget your lines have one 3X5 cue card in your hands for each slide. The best way to manage to a time is: a) practice with a stop watch and b) have less slides than you think you’ll need. One strategy I often employ.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

InfoChachkie

JULY 1, 2013

If you are forced to display financial data, ensure that the slides are unintelligible. Make it clear you do not know their investment focus (e.g., nor did you take the time to research the investor''s investment portfolios. An effective method to incite Death By PowerPoint is to deploy an extraordinary number of slides.

Slides 154

Slides Tips Startup Research 154

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Either of these qualms can ultimately sidetrack your startup as not worthy of investment, so it pays to do your homework on what you say and how to communicate effectively. Investors will be looking for a sizing validated by industry analysts large enough for good investment returns. Investors invest in people more than the idea.

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Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

That’s a reason why some are quick to portend “a new bubble” but this post sets out to show that would be a misunderstanding of the market and in fact by historic levels this may be amongst the best times to invest in seed and early-stage funds. Here are some simple slides that outline the point: a. More on that later. Still reading?

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. If you are raising funds, list “do nothing” as a viable competitor in your slide deck. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” Well, come to think of it, this is especially true in such an instance.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Prepare a slide deck to highlight product and business.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing. From there Rob decided to make a small investment.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

And having frameworks is a useful way to standardize your customer studies so that highly intelligent, inexperienced young people can crank out PowerPoint slides with such authority and beautiful consistency. I mean Porter’s Five forces is a useful framework but it’s basically microeconomics with a pretty wrapper.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 5, 2018

We're going deep into the investors' mind to understand how they analyze startups for investment. Through a slide-by-slide explanation of the investor deck, you will learn what turns investors on, what turns them off, and what investors absolutely abhor when founders are pitching them.

Slides 100

Slides Education Ideas Invest 100

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Grade A Entrepreneurs , September 5, 2010 Why Krispy Kreme failed in Australia - Start Up Blog , November 3, 2010 Mellow Johnny’s: Retail Stores as Community Hubs - IDDICTIVE.COM , July 14, 2010 Is crowdfunding an option for my business?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

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. Prepare an investment-grade business plan. Use your own money or friends and family to demonstrate progress early.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

So now you’ve got your key USPs written down and you’ve worked them into slide format to get them across to your prospects. It’s called ROI (return-on-investment) selling. The other worthwhile exercise is to write down what your competitors uses as its USPs – even ones that you don’t think are really valuable to customers.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

SoCal Tech Calendar

APRIL 8, 2018

We're going deep into the investors mind to really understand how they analyze startups for investment. Through a slide-by-slide explanation of an investor pitch deck, learn what turns investors on, what turns them off, and what investors absolutely abhor when founders are pitching them.

Slides 100

Slides Education Invest Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# 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.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

You’re trying to get you contacts to get you that introduction to Ron Conway to sprinkle his legitimacy on your company through an angel investment. Often entrepreneurs show me their management team slides with the names of the people who are going to join him once they’re funded.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

If you want the full SlideShare deck with many slides not in either post it’s in this link –> The LA Tech Market. ” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.”

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

I’ve observed the following scenario in both of my companies and in countless others I’ve advised or invested in: - your company becomes moderately high profile in a few press articles. If a company wants to invest in your company and you haven’t read that post please do. Have minimums but a sliding scale.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 29, 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011 -- Investor Pitch Essentials; 11 Key Slides Every Deck Must Have. Join Barbara and TCA member Ray Chan as we discuss the most important elements of building a winning investment pitch deck. Tech Coast Angels. Success or failure often hinges on your ability to clearly communicate your message to investors.

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Tech Coast Angels Slides Invest Angel 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

I apply visual thinking for nearly everything I do: preparing for important phone calls (I imagine my opening lines, I imagine the responses), writing keynote presentations, deciding whether or not to invest in a company, preparing for board meetings – you name it. These are all creative processes. No matter.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

People tend to overvalue past investments when making forward-looking investment decisions. Personally, I don't like weighty board packs and I do not wish to inflict slide preparation upon anyone. My long time friend and co-angel investor Will Herman wrote a post titled Angel Investing that summarized some of his advice.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. If you are raising funds, list “do nothing” as a viable competitor in your slide deck. We investors see this all the time. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new.

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

1) has escaped the attention of the major Internet companies, which are better run than ever before; (2) is capable of being launched and proven out for ~$5M, the typical seed plus series A investment; and. (3) As per my video, think about the data in the following slide. How many ideas like that are left?” ” My 3.5

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

You’re adding unnecessary “purchase friction” If your deck is something I should open 3–4 times as I’m contemplating an investment, why add any consumption friction to the reader? There are a million ways to make graphics lighter or resize your file without a huge impact on the quality of the slides?—?after What should be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2020

For example, he continues to invest in space travel and energy harvesting ( Blue Origin ), even though we haven’t yet run out of energy, and we still have space for growth. Avoid PowerPoint and graphic slide presentations. It allows investors to come into alignment with customers. Focus on the big decisions that are irrevocable.

Slides 137

Slides Customer Custom Satisfaction 137

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m no dummy on businesses that are in the financial services sector, but my 3 partners have been investing in the space for 20 years so I’m clearly on a different level. In our current portfolio 3 or his 4 investments are in the Fin Svcs space. 30% of our last fund went into deals in this sector. Is that OK with you?&#.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

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

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

By 2008 I had gotten more serious about championing companies through our investment process. And just when I thought I had the deal that was worthy of bringing to investment committee the world changed. Let’s review all of our existing investments. Eventually you have to invest. It was September 2008.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. My “no demo” approach is clearly not appropriate when assessing the veracity of investments with a hardware component or with a consumer facing product. Fool A Fool – I sold surgical robots from PowerPoint slides in the early 1990’s, before the robots existed.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Founded by Alessandro Petrucciani from Italy, Alex Napetschnig from Austria,Baris Tamer from Turkey, Emiliano Saurin from Argentina and Roland Heuger from Germany, Klash App recently closed its first ever investment round and revamped its iOS App which is now online. Dare Your Friends. Daring Inspiration. Its inspiration was daring too.

Invest 68

Invest Slides Ideas Mobile 68