Dream It

JANUARY 8, 2020

In the episode, Steve asked Ron about his “five slide pitch deck.” Ron says, “The number one thing I am evaluating as a seed investor is: Will institutional investors be beating down our door to invest in this company at a higher price before these funds run out?” Read Ron’s article on his five slide pitch deck here.

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Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin presents his view on the right way to answer it after hearing hundreds, if not thousands, of founder pitches. Make the specific amount you are raising and corresponding milestones clear at the beginning of the pitch, and do not give a range. The amount you're raising is your ask.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

As a single GP (a firm with one investment decision making professional), I get asked a lot of questions about how I manage my time considering the number of investments I make. Out of those, I take about 150 new pitches a year--about 3 a week. There are weird parts, like board meetings being an hour a day.

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This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

Since there''s no way to both make yourself accessible and not get a fire hose of inbound, most of the pitches you''re going to have are from perfectly nice, smart people who have perfectly horrific, unworkable ideas. 2) People pitch you. Even the best and most active board members can still feel pretty helpless.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

In many cases, I got to know the entrepreneur before they were pitching or even had a deck. Because I''m in my market and in the flow of top teams and networked with the right folks, I''m never more than a character reference away through someone I trust and know well to just about all of the people I''ve backed.

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investing investment construction venture capital 335

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2013

Not only has the NYC ecosystem changed, but the whole ecosystem around early and seed investing has innovated. Secondly, it was easier for the entrepreneurs to pitch in front of a roomful of a lot of money than one at a time. Crunchbase and AngelList provide a ton of research on who has invested in what. What does that mean?

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

How many more investments could I do? These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. Was the fund enough to keep me going? How where things going? That''s also why I''m finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc. When you blog, tweet , Instagram , etc.,

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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).

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 5, 2022

The first two MyEO DealExchange conferences in 2018 and 2019 made a significant impact on the members who attended—including a 7-figure investment in Scott Mesh (EO New York)’s company. Each person gets 90 seconds to share the details of the investment opportunity or the “deal need” they’re presenting or seeking.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make. Tomorrow I’m meeting with a senior exec who is considering joining a company in which we’ve invested. Thus, a desire to invest more locally where I think I have a competitive advantage.

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American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Recognizing this, The Veteran Fund announced the winner of its $100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition and the recent closing of its inaugural oversubscribed investment Fund I. With one click of a smartphone’s camera, building owners and service providers gain much-needed insight in 50 to 80% less time and cash invested.

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leadership startup accelerator mentorship entrepreneurship 97

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 17, 2012

I am ecstatic to announce the creation of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures --my new seed investment fund. I got a term sheet out less than 100 days into the job and was lucky enough to get to work with my friend Rob May as a Board Member for my first investment, Backupify.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

When I meet other VCs I’m constantly asking how they decide which investments to make, when to pass, when to do follow-on rounds, when to sell a company vs. when to go long, etc. On investment strategies I have “ Deflationary Economics ” 6. I triangulate in nearly every important decision I make.

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

They originally pitched us with a hacked but super productive prototype they built in their fraternity room and a rendering of a beautiful bookshelf sized in-home growing system that they committed to building. The initial investment certainly wasn’t a consensus decision at Upfront, but that’s how we invest. We loved the idea.

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This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2023

A recurring theme in a lot of my BSList posts is that, if an investor thinks they can make a boatload of money with you, they’ll go to all sorts of lengths to invest. That includes investing way earlier than they would normally, investing outside of scope, investing with their personal capital outside of the fund, etc.

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founder VC board pitching 367

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 16, 2012

His story of overcoming child abuse, a missing arm ligament, a decade in the minors and going on to reinvent himself in his mid-30's using a pitch few have mastered is nothing short of inspirational. Oh, did I mention it turns out he's been pitching with a torn abdominal muscle all season?

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OnStartups

MARCH 24, 2021

An Odd Start To My Angel Investing. So I thought of an idea: Why not invest in startups? Angel investing is like having a niece or nephew. During the first week of that class, we all had to do a short pitch of a startup idea and convince our classmates to join our “startup”. Best laid plans and all that. Not so fast.

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angel investing investing investment pitching 125

TechCrunch

APRIL 25, 2023

But dealmaking is idiosyncratic: a few investors might be content to make a deal over coffee, but early-stage teams still need a sturdy pitch deck or memo they can leave behind. I’m going to save you some time: many (if not most) of you are not yet ready to pitch an investor. Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to respond!

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pitching incubation board opportunity 98

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I've only recently started leading investments a little over two years ago. My track record of leading deals consists of only seven investments, luckily no zeros (knock on wood) and one exit. Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. I mean, what do I know?

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advice startup VC strategy 416

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? and it forced me to spend some serious time thinking about what I really look for when I make investments. Conferences. Startups Are for Doers.

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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. As an investor, it’s easy to come into a board meeting asking probing questions, demanding information, and sharing your opinion without first having built up a base of trust.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 24, 2024

In her 20-year leadership tenure with the organization, Winnie has held volunteer positions ranging from Communications Chair to Global Board Director, and has been instrumental in EO’s progress. She currently serves as EO’s Senior Global Board Advisor for Leadership Communications and Brand.

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leadership board sustainability entrepreneurs 197

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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services. In Adam’s world, I’m rude. Scheduling a group call?—?as

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Board meetings at @amplehills are dangerous. What we found is that while most of the people turned down the invite, most of the people who showed up invested. Would we pitch Series A players? They may want a lower valuation as a kind of risk premium for investing in you. Did that seed make this round our Series A?

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pitching VC strategy investment 234

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

I was working for the GM pension fund, an institutional LP, as an analyst, doing a research project on consumer private equity and venture capital investing. Jerry was a great guy and his love of retail investing kind of stuck with me. Leading an investment into an ice cream chain, however, that's another beast.

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venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 359

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. And could we then compete?” ” type questions.

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real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

“This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. I rest my case. billion in returns.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner. This lesson on NINAs applies to VC pitches as well as any sale. These are the permanent members of a VC. Some people have authority (A).

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

So when you finally do get an offer to invest, the temptation to not question where it comes from is understandable. How about an investment from the Sackler family—the pharma family in the middle of the opioid crisis. The rest have to work super hard to create access for themselves, build trust and win investors over. Drug kingpin?

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

Some firms are trickier since they artificially call everybody “partner” but they’re not all “investment partners.” Find a portfolio company or two that they’ve invested in. How does the partnership typically make its final investment decisions? It’s pretty easy since nearly every VC lists its partners on the website.

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Revolution

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

What we did: Revolution Growth Partner, Fazeela Rashid , discussed investing in the future of food at October’s Reducetarian Summit. Catch insights from Steve and a recap of the pitch competition. Where we went: Denver, CO? Where we went: New York, New York? Check out scenes and soundbites from the event via NYSE Floor Talk.

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venture capital pitching board ventures 246

StartupNation

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

Interest was high, and I had a decision to make: would I go all-in on this new, potentially successful business venture, which would require quitting my job, leveraging every ounce of our family savings and investments, and taking on significant debt? Before I pitched my product on “Shark Tank,” I did a deep dive into previous episodes.

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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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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

If you’re lacking for track record as a firm, here’s three exercises you should walk through to help turn your pitch and due diligence meetings from guesswork into something more substantive. Taking board seats? How will you provide it across 30 investments? Want to only invest in diverse boards? For how long?

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ventures angel investing board advice 255

Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin reveals the right approach on how to answer the valuation question when pitching VCs. Valuation is not set by you, your team, your investors, or your board. I have co-founded several companies and served on many boards. Are we the kind of company you would consider investing in?

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