This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder. I don’t have enough traction.

advice 429

advice pitching venture capital VC 429

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. If I want dealflow from other VCs, my first thought is, " How can I send more dealflow over to others ?" Generosity.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital pitching ventures 363

TechCrunch

MARCH 3, 2021

Weeks or even months of working on your pitch deck could come down to the 170 seconds (on average) that investors spend looking at it. “Investors see a lot of pitches,” VC and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman noted. “In You want them focused on the opportunity. exit strategy”. just X percent”.

pitching 113

pitching VC strategy leadership 113

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 10, 2020

VCs are notorious for kicking tires. VCs take a meeting just to learn about an area. If deal flow is slow, a VC will take a meeting if you and your team seem mildly interesting even if your product isn’t. Some VCs have no money left in their funds, but they still like playing VC. Do you have dry powder for this?

VC 396

VC pitching opportunity founder 396

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. How many more investments could I do? How where things going? That''s also why I''m finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc. So there ya go.

pitching 412

pitching board VC opportunity 412

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. In my mind, that creates the opportunity for increasing returns. Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers. No risk, no return.

venture capital 378

venture capital pitching health VC 378

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Back when I was pitching my previous startup to investors, it had never really dawned on me that they had experienced what I was going through--and that a VC firm was essentially a startup. VCs pitch for money, too. No one ever thinks about VCs having to pitch, who they pitch to, or how it works.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

Then, they need to figure out a way to project that brand up above the venture community, like a Bat signal calling for the best founders to come and pitch them. This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients. The question is what to focus on.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

I see this time and time again—a founder pitches a VC or an angel and they say to come back when there’s more traction. They might also be convinced of a repeat founder’s ability to identify what a big opportunity is and what isn’t. They’ve done it before. It’s easier to handle if you’re getting that feedback consistently.

pitching 357

pitching VC opportunity founder 357

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Case in point: only 1% of 2022 VC dollars went to Black founders, a marked decrease year over year. And while many venture capitalists rely on pattern recognition as a tried and true investment tactic that can and has delivered returns, it is also a model that perpetuates a history of opportunity gatekeeping.

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

One of the big opportunities for them is audience development--driving event attendees to the content, events to the readers, and doing some low-hanging fruit upgrades to their social strategy. The first pitch I got was from someone who didn''t intend on staying with the business as an employee. How is that story being told?

pitching 336

pitching consulting VC venture capital 336

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2021

It was a clearly hot space and they felt like they had missed out on an opportunity to place their bet in it—and worst of all, they lost the deal to what they considered a rival firm. Sorry buddy, but no, I don’t have any other VC friends whose thesis is trying to lose money as fast as possible. You’re kind of a jerk.

founder 317

founder pitching VC advice 317

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2017

Do you think there is more money out there looking for good opportunities, or more fantastic opportunities? There was a time not too long ago when VC bios read "Fab investor", "Quirky investor", and "Gilt investor". Even if you're not one of the worst, and you strive to do your best everyday, a VC isn't perfect.

VC 332

VC advice pitching opportunity 332

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Most of USV’s big wins have been in companies where we were the first institutional VC to talk to the company or where we had way more conviction about the opportunity than other investors at the time of our investment. ” He was surprised and said “You are the first VC to say that.”

VC 254

VC pitching investing investment 254

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. When you conflate hyperbole for ambition and realism for lack of aggressiveness, you will ultimately wind up shutting out a lot of groups from the game of risk seeking capital and opportunity.

venture capital 413

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

When I’m scanning a pitch deck I’m basically looking to put it into one of two buckets – Traditional or Different. But we’re interested in taking this risk when the person and opportunity warrants it. Screendoor has now looked at more than 1,500 venture firms raising funds, backing roughly 1.5%

peer-to-peer 88

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 88

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? One of the main co-investors was High Peaks capital and one of their team members, the uber talented Rahul Gandhi , loved the deal so much he quit his career as a VC and jumped in as a co-founder. And could we then compete?”

real estate 380

real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 27, 2017

Does the VC need to call a special partner meeting because you already have three term sheets or is this the beginning? I know you want to move fast, but don't make a VC prioritize your timing when I'm literally the first meeting. Make references to founders you've backed available upon request. I favor the simple math approach.

VC 353

VC pitching founder opportunity 353

TechCrunch

APRIL 25, 2023

After attending TechCrunch Early Stage last week, I was cheered to meet so many first-time founders and experienced investors who are looking for opportunities. Based on my conversations, VCs are very open to working with novices who can show that they understand the market in which they hope to compete.

pitching 98

pitching incubation board opportunity 98

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 9, 2020

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 260

founder pitching VC opportunity 260

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. The more self-assured the VC is and the more impressionable the entrepreneur is the worse the outcome. I love the intellectual challenge of trying to figure out what hypothesis I think holds for each opportunity.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

There have been a lot of calls for VC firms to make more hires from the Black and Brown community, as well as to hire more women. In venture, it’s all about getting an opportunity to make partner and being included in the carry—the economic upside of a fund. Not all hires, however, are made equally.

venture capital 308

venture capital ventures capital mentorship 308

Entrepreneur's Handbook

DECEMBER 13, 2020

The Future is Uncertain, Your Pitch Deck (and Profitability) Can’t be On the off chance you need to be reminded, factors that can make or break your business are unpredictable, and 2020 has reminded us in no uncertain terms how quickly market opportunities, customer demands, and institutions can change irrevocably at a moment’s notice.

pitching 109

pitching VC founder financing 109

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Luckily for aspirational baseball players, pitch velocity, spin rate, and just about every other aspect of playing baseball are highly quantifiable in real-time. You throw a pitch and you don’t find out the speed for a year or even longer. That pitch you threw a year ago, that was 92. Actually, it’s even worse than that.

pitching 243

pitching peer-to-peer board VC 243

TechCrunch

MARCH 29, 2022

Around May 2020, nearly everything moved online, and investment pitches were among the first to do so. However, a majority of VC firms only used an offline approach. It’s impossible for founders to “read the room” when pitching online, which puts them at a severe disadvantage. Why is a teaser so important?

pitching 91

pitching startup VC capital 91

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. 1) Your school.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

APRIL 1, 2022

Perfect pitch, a singer’s ability to produce any given musical note without a reference tone, is a rare phenomenon — only 1-5 people out of every 10,000 have it. While your odds of creating a perfect pitch deck that captures coveted VC interest aren’t quite that dire, they’re not exactly in your favor, either.

pitching 89

pitching VC construction venture capital 89

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

I got three calls from another big name, big check VC. I work on relationships for years and wait patiently for the opportunity to potentially work together. I read the pitch they had sent my friend. I got an email recently from a VC who had invested in a company a small amount in a seed round. Why am I so lucky?

advice 333

advice VC pitching investing 333

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 28, 2011

There's nothing that used to make me feel more like a pompous VC than when I would respond to an entrepreneur by saying their idea isn't big enough--that a success for them would likely be too small for what our firm was looking for. There is plenty of opportunity to be entrepreneurial in a bigger company or even a small local business.

incubation 351

incubation entrepreneurs pitching opportunity 351

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

And, because Disrupt is highly interactive, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to engage, ask questions and receive answers. Admit one: Buy your TC Disrupt 2021 pass — for less than $100 — and go find or create the opportunities that can help you move your business forward. Soak up the pitch deck teardowns and the VC presentations.

disruption 85

disruption opportunity pitching advice 85

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

He sent me a pitch and I didn't quite understand the issue, so I passed. That's important for a VC. You don't want to be able to be smarter than your founder about a pitch after an hour of Googling around. Undeterred, they kept plugging away, working on the brand and the message.

pitching 266

pitching disruption VC opportunity 266

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

Non VC Growth Rounds. The other major trend of 2012–2015 was the entrance of “non VCs” into late-stages of venture capital , which mostly consisted of hedge funds, mutual funds, corporate investors, sovereign wealth funds and even LPs doing direct deals. The fact that I still see it referred to in pitch decks is farcical.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2024

If you wanted to interview me somewhere for an open audience, I’d say yes to just about every opportunity. It’s easy for a VC to just stick within your own networks and filter bubbles—and hard to scale being “open” without opening the floodgates.

communities 339

communities consulting creativity advice 339

Jason Malki

MARCH 9, 2023

A self-described operator turned investor, Karen began angel investing 3 years ago and, ever since then, has dedicated much of her time to uncovering opportunities in unlikely places. Then, I stumbled upon PE/VC after chatting with a good college buddy of mine. How did you break into tech investing? This was very insightful.

VC 98

VC ventures angel investing venture capital 98

StartupNation

JANUARY 6, 2022

There are fantastic rewards to be had for those who know how to exploit the new opportunities for business funding that arise in times like these. Venture capital or VC. Taking a look at an investor’s portfolio in search of companies that are somehow similar to yours will make it easier to craft a good, eye-catching pitch.

VC 110

VC incubation business incubator angel investing 110

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Who was willing to jump on a plan on a Sunday morning with a hang-over to make sure they were there the night before an important biz dev pitch on a Monday morning. Stuart is well worth following on Twitter & now that’s he’s a VC he is likely to share his wisdom more freely. Writing a book will be fun.

board 320

board VC construction opportunity 320

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 16, 2021

Use these resources to understand how your company will look when you pitch a VC or angel. EO offers great opportunity, education and tools to facilitate this, and create Instimacy (=instant intimacy) in business conversations. . and see how your company compares. Seek existing middleware tools.

SaaS 294

SaaS leadership accelerator entrepreneurs 294