Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology." " Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patented technology.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is a full tutorial on your new disruptive technology. Then match your pace to cover all the material.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is an extended pitch on your new disruptive technology.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 237

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

This SaaS company, one of 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2020 , enables global organizations to analyze and resolve pay gaps due to gender or race and stay in compliance over time. Syndio has over 60 enterprise customers including Nordstrom, Match Group, Target, Adobe and PagerDuty and already more than 1.3 Pretty much in that order.

Technical Review 62

Technical Review Seattle Elevator Pitch Equity 62

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

So even if my own mother asked me to meet with you, and you were pitching me a biotech opportunity for a $10 million investment at a $90 million valuation, I might take the meeting, but it wouldn’t be particularly useful for either of us. In this case, it’s not a lack of interest, just a lack of time and efficiency.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

The reality is, the vast majority of real startups are driven by people who know their market from experience and who are ready to bet the farm on it! ” Students and newbies need market research, while the vast majority of real startups are driven by people who know their market from experience and are ready to bet the farm on it.

Elevator Pitch 60

Elevator Pitch Startup Balance Sheet Forecast 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

The best new idea for any entrepreneur should first be based on their own personal interests, skills, and lifestyle, rather than the characteristics of a given market or technology. Don’t pick a technology idea that someone else believes will make you rich and famous, or a business area you are not intimately familiar with.

Elevator Pitch 195

Elevator Pitch Startup Matching Entrepreneur 195

The Next Web

JANUARY 23, 2014

Pitch the hell out of it, to friends and family, angels, journalists, random people you meet on the streets, and just about anyone who will lend you an ear. Because as you pitch it, you’ll start to see patterns in people’s responses to the idea. Do their eyes light up after the first sentence of your elevator pitch?

Product 147

Product Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley Vertical 147

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

A great elevator speech will spark interest in your business and hopefully lead to a deeper conversation. Elevator speeches are a great opportunity for entrepreneurs. What’s the difference between an elevator pitch and an elevator speech? An elevator speech is always delivered verbally—it is a speech, after all.

Elevator Pitch 118

Elevator Pitch Audience Matching Conversion 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2016

The best new idea for any entrepreneur should first be based on their own personal interests, skills, and lifestyle, rather than the characteristics of a given market or technology. Don’t pick a technology idea that someone else believes will make you rich and famous, or a business area you are not intimately familiar with.

Entrepreneur 155

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Matching Business Model 155

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Many startups and businesses dream of landing funding from angel investors and venture capital. There are a lot of guides that can help you get started , but the key here is to find an area that matches your skillset. Having a great elevator pitch can help articulate that vision to others.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Finance Vermont Elevator Pitch 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

The best new idea for any entrepreneur should first be based on their own personal interests, skills, and lifestyle, rather than the characteristics of a given market or technology. Don’t pick a technology idea that someone else believes will make you rich and famous, or a business area you are not intimately familiar with.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Matching Entrepreneur Business Model 120

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short – maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2010

The average length of a funding pitch to investors is ten minutes. I was recently a judge at a local event where the time limit for each startup was two minutes. Yet a big complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often waste their time and forget to get to the point. Start with the problem and your solution.

Elevator Pitch 142

Elevator Pitch Matching Audience Founder 142

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 25, 2011

bre.ad , a new startup launching whose founder has perfected the art of the conference pitch. The guy leans in and says, "Hey Charlie, sorry to interrupt, my name is Alan, I'm with bre.ad, I'm going to follow up with an e-mail to you about our startup. Just wanted you to match the name to a face." No pitch, nothing more.

Elevator Pitch 113

Elevator Pitch Lean Mobile Naming 113

ReadWriteStart

MAY 4, 2012

As a startup, “if you cannot nail a presentation, you’re done.” 13 TechStars companies went on stage to pitch their products to investors, and every single pitch passed with flying colors. Getting the pitch right is one of the most important parts of a startup's life cycle. That works for Mok and his product.

Startup 117

Startup Boston Elevator Pitch Database 117

mashable.com

MARCH 24, 2011

He’s the founder of four companies, most recently WPEngine , and blogs weekly about startups and geekery. I’ve reviewed hundreds of startup pitches and I can tell you that everyone makes the same types of errors. Because every one can be matched or surpassed by any competitor, today or tomorrow, in very little time.

Programming 86

Programming Startup Technical Review Software Review 86

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And therein lies the problem in finding co-founders for that startup you’re dying to launch. It’s most comfortable to hang out with people like ourselves, but those are exactly the folks you probably don’t want to co-found a startup with. In Silicon Valley, rock climbing’s a current hot spot for startup folks.

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

Up and Running

MARCH 31, 2015

See Also The 7 Key Components of a Perfect Elevator Pitch [with Infographic]. Your body language and your pitch. When pitching your business to potential investors, it is incredibly important to make it memorable and engaging. See Also Do You Know How to Pitch Your Startup in Social Situations?

Elevator Pitch 60

Elevator Pitch Audience Matching Stock 60