Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. But then the truth sets in.

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entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Dream It

JULY 31, 2019

The most valuable resource the accelerator provides is the network, so use all my time to navigate that network. The press enhances this misconception around YCombinator demo days, where the 3-day pitch event is perceived like an auction, with investors fighting each other for the best deals. A HUGE network enhancer.

startup 334

startup accelerator pitching venture capital 334

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible. In fact, that''s what I tend to do--at least, what I say that I do.

VC 418

VC pitching networking venture capital 418

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 10, 2012

You pitch me on some product that. I'm not a publisher, so I have to rely on my network to do due diligence. Ok, so it wouldn't be that bad, but the point is: Never let an investor do your pitch for you to stakeholders. How's that for a strong pitch? When I introduced them to a developer, same thing. oh, I dunno.

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pitching startup networking founder 370

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. Any longtime readers of this blog will know that I often try to simplify complex ideas into a simple parable that is easier to remember to set the tone of one’s behaviors.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 29, 2015

As part of our firm’s rebranding strategy for McKenzie Pitch Partners, which was anchored by the publication of founder Hamish McKenzie’s new book, we held an innovative event in New York City that showcased Hamish’s philosophy in action. Honing their strategies and stories with Hamish, both got their best pitches together.

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pitching collaboration consulting hospitality 100

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. Everyone says they fund people in their network. And no, that doesn't mean pitch like a man.

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advice founder pitching VC 419

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. He used the 500Startups platform to uber network in the Bay Area where he was living. Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. Come to entrepreneur pitches. Sam in the perfect example.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 14, 2021

I imagine that other competitors discover the competition by a referral, or maybe they are motivated by their mentors or network to join. However, I met and pitched my business to people that I follow on social media as business role models. Tell us about your GSEA journey. For me, it was totally different. I thought, “Meh.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs pitching communities media 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

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. Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent.

startup 349

startup pitching advice consulting 349

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. How to network better ? I am VERY careful in board meetings and in startup pitches to tell entrepreneurs, “I feel very strongly about my opinion on this topic. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless.

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

StartupNation

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

In the startup world, it’s pitch decks, not business plans that get companies funded. Making a pitch deck is an art, a science, but most importantly, a story. Angel investors and venture capitalists have also learned to expect a standard pitch deck as the first filter when evaluating a company to invest in.

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pitching SaaS mix-use media 122

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

I always try hard to make this blog a place where you can learn lessons rather than an advertisement for portfolio companies. If you haven’t read the post the thesis was that I care way more about watching the trajectory of your performance as a team (or individual) than I do about how good you “pitch” on the first day you come to see me.

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investing investment VC media 303

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

To understand this in great detail see this very important blog post by Henry Blodget on the unemployment rate in the US and its impact on the recovery. So if I am unnecessarily concerned in this blog post (great!) Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. million – take it.

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 19, 2024

My first pitch was not to investors or potential clients; it was to my fiancée, convincing her to delay our wedding plans until Equifund was up and running — a promise that took significantly longer than the anticipated six months to fulfill. I doubled down on my efforts, making more calls, writing more content, and networking tirelessly.

financing 255

financing finance entrepreneurship mentorship 255

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Smaller businesses may be attracted to blogs, social media posts, and email marketing. and more articles from the EO blog. The post Strategic Casting: How to Fish For Your Ideal Clients and Employees first appeared on The EO Blog. It’s critical to set yourself apart from the competition. What about employees?

culture 260

culture incubation entrepreneurs media 260

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 10, 2011

Even the one time blogging platform of choice Wordpress can, without a lot of hassles, can be manipulated to be your entire site's content management system. Plus, there are a ton of in person networking and educational events related to startups that are free or relatively inexpensive. Why isn't it growing its own yet?

incubation 268

incubation peer-to-peer communities financing 268

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 9, 2020

If you’re a white professional in venture, you might feel uncomfortable tweeting or blogging about race. If you're in a more privileged position with lots of VC connections to pitch, you’ll either do one of the following things: You'll come right back at me, tell me why and how I'm wrong—because at this point you have nothing to lose.

founder 285

founder pitching VC opportunity 285

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 19, 2011

” There’s a valid concern in here somewhere—that our youth is actually becoming less social—but the cause of this problem isn’t social networking. For many teens, online social networking is both a symptom of and a remedy for their increasingly sheltered lives and limited freedoms provided by parents.

media 348

media networking opportunity technology 348

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 12, 2024

These EOers work with the students to refine their pitches and provide insights and tips to help them succeed in the high-level competition. It strengthened my belief in the power of mentorship and the cohesive, supportive nature of the EO network. The depth of learning I gained from the students!

mentorship 233

mentorship peer-to-peer leadership entrepreneurs 233

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 8, 2011

Seven years ago (yesterday, it seems… I had the date wrong in my calendar), I started this blog. I think that’s where people fall off the wagon when it comes to blogging. Blogging is taking batting practice. It’s a little thing that can change momentum when you get a tough pitch to hit. Don’t worry about what to write.

construction 260

construction pitching health media 260

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 15, 2023

You need a solid business plan, traction to demonstrate market fit, and the skills to pitch effectively. Don’t neglect ongoing investor relations “A lot of startup founders think that the only way investors will respond favorably is if they provide their best pitch on first contact,” said Mohammadi.

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pitching consulting advice communities 213

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Some images will draw in viewers more than others and as it turns out the headlines & images that convert at different in each social network or distribution partner. This is simply no different than curating on Pinterest, Tweeting interesting stories, editing on Wikipedia or blogging. They also know how to a/b test images.

advice 322

advice education pitching technology 322

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 17, 2024

Founders need to shift their thinking to an assumption of understanding—that investors who see thousands of pitches per year probably do understand what a founder is doing the vast majority of the time, and have simply decided that the risk/reward for investing in their company simply isn’t as good of a deal as others they’re currently looking at.

startup 415

startup micromobility consulting hospitality 415

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 13, 2012

Now, that skillset seems destined to be obsolete, as the network goes from physical to virtual. I ask this, because more and more I'm getting the feeling like coding is no longer the barrier to innovation--no more so than being able to pay for servers or installing a CMS is the barrier to having a good blog.

disruption 338

disruption frameworks enablement development 338

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. CEO Network – CEO’s from the portfolio companies are introduced to each other. These partners travel to a city and take ten minute pitches from the entrepreneurs. What are the most common mistakes in first pitch?

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

I had an interesting conversation with an entrepreneur last week about how he decided which VCs he was going to pitch. No matter how much I or any of the team here at First Round made themselves accessable through Office Hours, LinkedIn, Twitter, speaking, blogging, etc., I try and respond to pitches right away. If I don't.

VC 296

VC pitching entrepreneurs networking 296

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. 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. They know how to build pitch decks. I hustled.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. 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. They know how to build pitch decks. I attended events. I did speaking gigs.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

TechCrunch

APRIL 29, 2023

But I’ve always found those same focuses to be especially in conflict with what it means to be an early-stage founder pitching your vision: You have to have Elon Musk-level ambition, big dreams and the ability to sell a company to investors before there are any real metrics behind it. What is this, revenue growth for ants?

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pitching VC entrepreneurship leadership 75

Dream It

JANUARY 23, 2019

The acquisition comes at a time when enterprises and SMEs are doubling down on the resources they devote to earned media, the free word of mouth advertising that brands receive on social media, blogs, and major news outlets. Startups participate in one of Dreamit's three industry verticals: UrbanTech , HealthTech , or SecureTech.

real estate 210

real estate media accelerator pitching 210

Innovation 2 Enterprise

JUNE 25, 2025

Through the program, we homed in on our ideal customer, sharpened our pitch, and built relationships that unlocked real growth opportunities,” Kemi Olunloyo, Co-Founder & CEO of ProBound, said. Two additional teams, First Americans Marketplace Exchange (FAME) and Colorchain, participated in cohort 3 but did not pitch at Demo Day.

innovation 52

innovation startup mentorship energy 52

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2011

One of the best things any investor can do is to pull back from the day to day of getting pitches and think about high level trends. 2004 gave us widespread blogging and Meetups, and 2008 showed how the web could be a community organizing and fundraising tool. What areas are going to change? What areas need to be disrupted?

innovation 310

innovation technology peer-to-peer communities 310

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 3, 2021

With 568 MyEO interest and industry groups in the EO network database, there is truly something for everyone. Monthly sessions share best practices, resources and cover everything from marketing, presentations, ghostwriting, publishing tips, pitching–any and everything related to promoting authors and speakers.

education 236

education VC pitching support 236

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

I often hear pitches and think to myself, “that sounds plausible” but I nearly always start with the position that I’m not sure. ” I’ve already blogged about how I work through this process: I triangulate. It’s ok for us not to be the experts. And I encourage entrepreneurs to triangulate as well.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 28, 2022

Building an investor network from scratch sounds daunting. How do you start a network from zero? Depending on what networks you come from, your situation can be different. There was an agreement before you ever showed up to the pitch meeting. James Norman: It’s pretty varied when you’re a first-time founder.

networking 99

networking founder investing investment 99

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 5, 2024

Here are the top blog posts EO published on Inc.com in 2023: 1. And don’t miss Eden’s follow-up post for EO Blog, How to Stay Ahead of Crisis PR with ChatGPT. Having people from your network bet on you with an angel investment is like motivational rocket fuel.” Posts: A Lookback at 2023 first appeared on The EO Blog.

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consulting entrepreneurial ecosystem real estate entrepreneurs 211