This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 26, 2012

In venture capital, you say "no" a lot. I want your pitch to be the one I say yes to--and I want you to solve the inherent problems in your business model. Take pitches? Unfortunately, there's a lot of the "velvet rope" mentality going on in venture. When you say no a lot, you get good at it. It is your default response.

VC 371

VC pitching venture capital creativity 371

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.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

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 415

VC pitching networking venture capital 415

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

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. First off, the vast majority of venture dollars goes to white men. Something else is at play.

advice 418

advice founder pitching VC 418

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

I''ve closed three investments in the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund that haven''t quite been made public yet, bringing the total to 13 companies. And please, please, please don''t pitch VCs who blog to write about your company as if we were tech journalists. Venture Capital & Technology'

startup 381

startup construction venture capital financing 381

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

First, I''ve finished raising the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund--tallying $8.3 These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. When you blog, tweet , Instagram , etc., I''m announcing two things today. How many more investments could I do? How where things going?

pitching 412

pitching board VC opportunity 412

Dream It

JULY 31, 2019

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. Many programs still put a lot of focus on demo day rehearsals, prep, and on getting the pitch deck just right. It did for me, at least.

startup 334

startup accelerator pitching venture capital 334

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. That prompted Fred Wilson’s blog post appealing to the industry to make these simplified term sheets standard. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice.

founder 252

founder pitching VC advice 252

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. Put it this way – Upfront Ventures spend on PR per year = $0. 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. I do it myself.

pitching 319

pitching media advice venture capital 319

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Keep reading for some more of the most common mistakes startups make when pitching and for Steve’s tips on how to fix them. Investors want to hear, “Our unique insight is __”… in your pitch 2. End your pitch with something along the lines of, “So, is this something you feel you would like to get behind?” co-founder).

startup founder 397

startup founder founder startup pitching 397

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital? The number of times I’ve had people come to me and say they want to blog more. Board Meetings. Conferences. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. go on, click it ).

creativity 400

creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Quiet-as-a-mouse Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures. True-to-his-heritage Rory O’Driscoll from Scale Ventures. So what are Rob’s secret hacks that he didn’t spill in his blog post? . Key point – if your emails are as long as my blog posts you’re forked. Wallflower – yours truly.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

It doesn't have to count as an official pitch of any kind. It's more just to understand the kinds of things VCs are going to ask and want to see when you are ready to pitch. In fact, more people e-mailed me boring powerpoints in the last week than signed up to actually pitch in person. So you'd think it would be sold out, right?

creativity 325

creativity VC pitching communities 325

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.

investing 303

investing investment VC media 303

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 10, 2012

You pitch me on some product that. Ok, so it wouldn't be that bad, but the point is: Never let an investor do your pitch for you to stakeholders. We do a quick hacky check with people we know if it seems interesting, and because we don't know how to pitch it as well as you do, they don't get excited, so we don't. oh, I dunno.

pitching 340

pitching startup networking founder 340

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 14, 2021

But then I came across the video game Minecraft where, from nothing more than my tenacious passion, I built my first venture: a Minecraft community that I converted into a business. However, I met and pitched my business to people that I follow on social media as business role models. literally building things!

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs pitching communities media 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Brad on blogging. How did you start blogging? “My My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. was starting.

venture capital 288

venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

But most venture-backed startups are “still overwhelmingly white, male, Ivy-League-educated and based in Silicon Valley,” according to a study conducted by RateMyInvestor and Diversity VC. Venture funding does remain elusive , but here are some tricks for startup founders to hack the system. Funding for Black entrepreneurs in the U.S.

startup ecosystem 129

startup ecosystem ventures founder startup 129

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. Weren’t entrepreneurs tired of the golden handcuffs of venture capitalists and bankers?

finance 255

finance financing entrepreneurship mentorship 255

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

If I had to put a number on it I’d say 1 in 20 pitches – maybe 1 in 30 – are by an entrepreneur who comes across as truly passionate about her project. His blog is even called SaaStr (a bit too close to Suster if you ask me ;-)). True Ventures with hardware startups. The Lehrers for content and commerce.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. Venture capital is kind of like a knuckleball. Why ever read another tech blog? Why should that stop me, though? It doesn't stop anyone else. Often times, the advice is terrible or impractical. So why bother showing up?

advice 412

advice startup VC strategy 412

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2011

This blog takes no responsibility.). Getting venture money starts with a relationship, and not with a pitch. Even Grubwithus has been throwing Hacker News meals. I think the most random of all tech connection hobbies is when Josesphine Dorado got some NY tech folks to go out skydiving.

entrepreneurship 271

entrepreneurship communities pitching innovation 271

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.

pitching 110

pitching SaaS mix-use media 110

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. In the early 80’s he left academia to work on venture capital investing with Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies. These partners travel to a city and take ten minute pitches from the entrepreneurs. To say something that is not credible.

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

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. Besides, if you’re not comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them—what are you even doing in venture? Until that changes, I need to be taking these really tiny risks at a bare minimum.

founder 260

founder pitching VC opportunity 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. Experienced entrepreneurs and VCs share what they know on their blogs, and anyone can get thoughtful answers to tough questions on Quora. Why isn't it growing its own yet?

incubation 268

incubation peer-to-peer communities financing 268

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

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. Between that time and now, TrendKite raised approximately $46 million in venture funding.

real estate 210

real estate media accelerator pitching 210

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?

pitching 75

pitching VC entrepreneurship leadership 75

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures.

incumbents 270

incumbents entrepreneurs education pitching 270

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 8, 2011

By the way, I didn't add social media as a tip because, if you're reading this blog, you probably already use it. and if you don't understand the value of Twitter, blogging, etc. Networking is not just handing someone a business card or giving them a pitch. by now, well, I just don't know what to tell you. 1) Be Discerning.

networking 287

networking media communities innovation 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. They know how to build pitch decks. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price?

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 8, 2010

Last week I went to a Girls in Tech talk about women entrepreneurs and venture capital. Men, on the other hand, can meet another guy just a couple of times and have no problem reaching out to each other for advice, a favor, or to pitch them on a deal. Tags: First Round Capital Venture Capital & Technology nextNY.

networking 250

networking venture capital advice entrepreneurship 250

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 16, 2024

Unlike other business owner communities, people aren’t joining to pitch you on their company’s products or services, so you can build real relationships and help one another. and more articles from the EO blog. The post EO Accelerator Graduates Share Successful Growth Tactics and Why They Joined EO first appeared on The EO Blog.

accelerator 227

accelerator peer-to-peer leadership entrepreneurs 227

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.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Work with other companies to share contact lists, introduce each other to other reporters, and to pitch things together. Sometimes, often times, that means you''ll be the one saying it--through blog posts, videos, etc. Venture Capital & Technology' 5) Create an editorial schedule. Save & Close.

peer-to-peer 346

peer-to-peer startup collaboration venture capital 346