Entrepreneur's Handbook

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Snippets of advice, tactics, and tools I used to raise an oversubscribed round during an economic downturn Image: Author I’m writing this blog post on the heels of closing our oversubscribed round during what’s been described as the worst time in history to raise capital. Taking on venture capital is not for everyone.

peer-to-peer 59

peer-to-peer pitching advice economic growth 59

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

Contestants pitch their legal product idea for a chance to win $5,000, tutoring, and more. The Baylor New Venture Competition is a business plan and elevator pitch competition for college students from around the globe. Student teams pitch and compete for more than $1.5 The competition has $50,000 in cash prizes.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

MARCH 31, 2023

According to Anastasiia Kuzmenko, head of talent acquisition at Flyer One Ventures, “the biggest difference between hiring in a healthy economy and hiring now is that there’s no room for mistakes.” “Pipeline generation at early-stage companies is expensive and time consuming, often more so than the sales process itself. .”

real estate 97

real estate pitching strategy advice 97

Dream It

JUNE 2, 2022

Our advice on cyber sales and crafting CISO security sales pitches will help improve your close rates and enterprise sales outcomes. Securetech Managing Director, Mel Shakir , covers the 5 common red flags from security startup pitches that CISOs hate hearing. Get expert advice on key issues to avoid.

startup 195

startup pitching frameworks advice 195

TechCrunch

AUGUST 18, 2023

A growth framework for reaching $1M ARR Pitch Deck Teardown: DeckMatch’s $1M pre-seed deck Image Credits: DeckMatch (opens in a new window) Using this slightly redacted 14-slide deck, the founders of DeckMatch raised a $1.1 Unless, of course, someone can explain exactly how to do it.

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VC frameworks mix-use pitching 81

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

We formed a partnership with some of our favorite early stage investors and friends including Jim Andelman at Rincon Ventures and Peter Lee at Baroda. You can see Zach James & Rich Raddon who are standing next to a demo table pitching a small, yet-to-be-funded company called MovieClips – now the powerhouse ZEFR.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. I think my mentality to banker pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. It’s a Demo Day thing. What stage?

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. I think the issue I have always had with investment bank pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. What stage? What price?

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VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There are too many deals to look at, too many seed funds or angels asking you to look at deals and weekly “demo days” with manicured and monocultural presentations crafted by experienced story tellers to help even the mundane idea sound like it will. My general advice is to do less. For investors life is no different.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Our advice on cyber sales and crafting CISO security sales pitches will help improve your close rates and enterprise sales outcomes. Securetech Managing Director, Mel Shakir , covers the 5 common red flags from security startup pitches that CISOs hate hearing.

startup 195

startup pitching advice ventures 195

TechCrunch

APRIL 13, 2021

Investors like Clara Brenner (Urban Innovation Fund), Quin Garcia (Autotech Ventures) and Rachel Holt (Construct Capital) — all of whom will grace our virtual stage. They’ll have plenty of insight and advice to share, including the challenges that startup founders will face as they break into the transportation arena.

micromobility 68

micromobility transportation construction networking 68

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. If you demo your product (which is always great) then tell us part of the story while you’re demo’ing. I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. It included some well known firms that made me come for a team pitch and then only gave me literally 15 minutes when we’d scheduled an hour. My blog was wiped out. Tempus Fugit.

VC 274

VC venture capital pitching capital 274

TechCrunch

APRIL 8, 2023

As The TechCrunch team sat through hundreds of startup pitches during YC’s biannual Demo Day, the backdrop of change was certainly noted. writing more broadly that “value investing in venture is like restricting your search for your lost keys under only brightly lit street lamps.”

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pitching VC construction startup 71

TechCrunch

JANUARY 21, 2023

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about a fresh new venture fund that isn’t afraid to talk about privilege or honesty, G on G I spoke to Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal and Girlboss, about her new venture fund for founders, Trust Fund. Amazing advice for anyone who is a student or just … new.

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construction ventures energy founder 92

NZ Entrepreneur

DECEMBER 10, 2020

It’s been growth ever since, and in 2020 the company pitched for funding to scale up. The fund raise required three in-person pitches, seven Zoom pitches and 30 Zoom calls before closing successfully in August. Successful pitches help your confidence snowball. A live demo of the product is essential.

capital 103

capital pitching startup investing 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. In Dan Rather’s book he talks about Ruth Bader Ginsberg who was appointed the the Supreme Court in 1993.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer mentorship VC 256

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. Some readers have commented that in today’s world you shouldn’t even need a PowerPoint presentation – in this era you should always just demo your product. I need something structured like slides or a demo to orient me. Act III – The Demo.

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VC advice pitching venture capital 238

Angel Capital Association

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

By: Dror Futter, Legal and Business Adviser to Startups, Venture Capital Firms and Technology Companies The SEC announced a series of amendments (likely to be effective early next year) to the rules governing private offering exemptions – by far the most frequent path for venture fundraising.

frameworks 52

frameworks incubation venture capital angel capital 52

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

And there’s none that makes me happier than to announce that Jordan Hudson has been promoted to a Principal at Upfront Ventures. What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? Even though my wife thinks my true mental age is still around 13, sadly I am not in this youth demo. Startup Advice'

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#. Mobile app?

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VC board pitching venture capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. True story.)

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startup founder founder startup VC 299

Entrepreneur's Handbook

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. Go deeper into these lessons and more: Why Startups Really Fail, and How To Fix It Don’t hide in shame from your startup failure “When I stepped on stage at Demo Day to pitch our company to hundreds of investors, I had never felt so confident.

startup 59

startup leadership entrepreneurship advice 59

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. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

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VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

Entrepreneur's Handbook

APRIL 19, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week! Here’s his advice so you can do the same: Don’t rush as it’s a waste of time to generate buzz if your landing page isn’t perfectly optimized. Use the first comment on the ProductHunt page as your elevator pitch. Here’s a sneak peek ??.

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advice entrepreneurs pitching communities 59

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve tried to make this advice as well-rounded and biased free as I can. Spend time researching your buyers and not just pitching them. Trust doesn’t come from one 45-minute Powerpoint pitch or 30-minute demo. Meet in person.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 25, 2012

3) Have offline copies of whatever you're doing, so you can demo using screenshots if you have to. 4) Be able to say what you do in a concise manner, in the pitch, in the opening e-mail: "We do X for Y using Z solution, and that's exciting because there are a billion Ys who currently pay a million dollars a year for that.".

pitching 382

pitching energy advice development 382

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Oh, and Demo charges the startups $18,000. I became quite good friends with a journalist at the Financial Times and eventually helped her as she wrote a book on the venture capital industry. Robert’s article is worth reading. It started socially.

advice 307

advice media startup SaaS 307

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Always be Pitching (line stolen from my favorite scene in one of my all-time favorite movies. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

VC 309

VC pitching advice venture capital 309

David Teten VC

AUGUST 20, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. I have been impressed by how these venture capitalists are accomplishing a major social impact goal…without even trying to. Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC?

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founder investing investment venture capital 74

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. Give everybody pages of the deck they’re to cover or parts of the demo for which they are to talk. Can’t you just demo & talk?

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VC venture capital leadership pitching 340

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

So what is driving the new energy in the remaining venture capital firms when we kept hearing how much the whole industry was “against the ropes?&# … 1. note: there is one rare exception – in 2006 Sevin Rosen declared that Venture Capital was broken and actually returned money to their LPs ! Seems an obvious fit.

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VC venture capital networking innovation 255

David Teten VC

JUNE 14, 2021

Former founders of successful ventures receive even fewer [emphasis added] callbacks than former founders of failed ventures. At my prior firm, ff Venture Capital, we invested in a company co-founded by Nate Jenkins , who had a successful exit, but not quite enough to buy a private plane. Work with a venture studio.

consulting 119

consulting founder investing investment 119

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email. Are Pitch Decks becoming obsolete? was starting.

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venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But if you identify investors with whom you’d like to work here’s my advice: 1. Imagine the “typical&# deal – somebody comes into a VC’s office, they’ve never met, they’re highly referred by a friend and they’re pitching a product demo and a PPT. That’s OK, too.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2011

When meeting with early stage entrepreneurs for the first time, after reviewing a demo or hearing their pitch, I often ask them to articulate what they’re most focused on building. When: Ideally, involve a startup lawyer as early as possible upon deciding to start a new venture. What is a startup really?

entrepreneurs 114

entrepreneurs advice pitching board 114

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

It is with this backdrop that I was really happy to learn from my friend Ethan Anderson (HBS alum & founder of RedBeacon) about an awesome program at HBS run by Tom Eisenmann called Launching Technology Ventures. And finally a reminder: Selling is about listening & reacting and not “pitching.”

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startup consulting pitching support 319