This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder. Fifteen had co-founders over 40. Five have LGBTQ+ founders. Three teams have African-American founders. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Three of the founding teams are married couples.

venture capital 413

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder. These are all of the things I heard from a founder that I recently backed. She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. So what about all of the above statements—things that founders widely hold to be true barriers to fundraising? This isn’t surprising.

advice 476

advice pitching venture capital VC 476

Revolution

JANUARY 27, 2025

Reflections on Georgetowns 2025 pitch competition from TedLeonsis Last week, Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business once again became a launchpad for the next generation of bold thinkers and doers. Chef, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and my friend Jos Andres put it well: investing in young entrepreneurs is investing in solutions.

entrepreneurship 100

entrepreneurship capital pitching startup ecosystem 100

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 22, 2020

One of the most difficult conversations I have with founders is when they haven’t quite given me enough of a story for me to make a proper evaluation. If I wind up asking for more info, it might result in a founder feeling like they’re getting the runaround, given what the founder believes to be an obviously good idea.

pitching 351

pitching VC peer-to-peer founder 351

Dream It

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Many of these new red flags that occur during virtual pitching are easy to fix. In this Dreamit Dose, Healthtech MD Adam Dakin provides 5 simple rules to avoid giving investors the wrong impression when pitching remotely. We hear startups pitch everyday and far too often founders end up joining the meeting late.

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pitching advice health founder 285

Dream It

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

Getting investors excited about your product is a critical part of raising capital. But founders are often so consumed with talking metrics, milestones achieved, or the capital they need that they sometimes forget to talk about their overarching vision for their startups. It’s not about the slide deck.

pitching 286

pitching incumbents transportation strategy 286

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 9, 2020

While I got some very kind words on my recent writings , I heard from some founders that didn't feel like they got treated fairly—specifically around feeling patronized or dismissed—and that I wasn't showing enough action to improve on that. Founders from communities of color are less likely to have personal wealth to fall back on.

founder 299

founder pitching VC opportunity 299

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

It just seemed like a fitting title for a company built around narrative by a founder who used to write stories for a living. I'm joined by Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, NucleasHG, the founders of Seamless, a host of extremely helpful angels, and a CircleUp syndicate led by my friend Tom Potter, co-founder of Brooklyn Brewery.

venture capital 378

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 378

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2023

That includes investing way earlier than they would normally, investing outside of scope, investing with their personal capital outside of the fund, etc. It’s your job as a founder to find out the specific risk associated with that attribute and to find out if the reason given is the only reason. Ok, I can accept that.

founder 368

founder VC board pitching 368

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 15, 2021

He has raised venture capital for his startups, helped hundreds of founders craft their pitch decks and fundraising strategy, and invested as a business angel. We asked him how founders can create the perfect pitch deck for their company. Today I am sharing my five quick steps to building the perfect pitch deck.

pitching 256

pitching entrepreneurs venture capital ventures 256

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

I’ll be the first to back up the notion that diverse founders have just as much ambition, drive, intellectual horsepower, creativity—you name it—than anyone else. There is, however, an advantage that some founders have over others that I hate to admit exists—but one that I would very much like to solve for.

ventures 435

ventures networking creativity entrepreneurship 435

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 5, 2024

Three finalists received training via workshops and coaching from business advisors, fine-tuning their business plans and pitches for the showcase and pitch competition. In addition to its classroom curriculum, NFTE hosts the Founders Forum Pitch Competition.

pitching 111

pitching founder entrepreneurship education 111

Dream It

JANUARY 8, 2020

In our most recent episode of DreamitLive , Managing Partner Steve Barsh spoke with Ron Gula , President and Co-Founder of Gula Tech Adventures. In the episode, Steve asked Ron about his “five slide pitch deck.” Many founders fail to open with the answer to this question. Will you be hiring developers or sales people?

pitching 195

pitching opportunity board founder 195

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 29, 2016

Oh, and make someone from your 25 person Moldova tech team your co-founder. Don't forget to tell all your founder friends about our ultra-pre-pre-seed program. Assuming they weren't unethical and they met your character standard, you went into a pitch with the goal of getting money from this person, and they didn't get there.

founder 244

founder pitching board investing 244

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. Female Founder Office Hours gives founders the mentorship and the role models to see that it is in not only possible but also to have a plan to make it a reality.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer VC mentorship 256

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

Seasoned founders have a particular way of answering this question. 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. This should be stated at both the beginning and end of the pitch.” Add some cushion.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. All of these people in my inbox who want to get into VC need to go raise $10mm of institutional capital to fund 10 VCs over the next two years in a VC accelorator program. Venture Capital & Technology'

accelerator 388

accelerator mentorship VC incubation 388

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

There was an explosion in number of startups both because it was cheap and there was tons of available capital. 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.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

Dream It

JULY 31, 2019

The product should be live if we hope to raise capital. 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. Don't get me wrong; the pitch deck is a crucial document (trust me, it's what we do).

startup 334

startup accelerator pitching venture capital 334

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

They''re new to the gig, super excited about all its potential, and getting out there selling founders hope for that one big gamechanging deal. That''s really all I have to give to the founders I back. Those kinds of requests feel desperate and not only undermine their pitch, but it''s still real time that adds up.

pitching 369

pitching financing finance incubation 369

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

It will also be my last venture capital deal. Venture capital is a pretty opaque industry and if I can shed some light on what it’s like to do this, or to decide to stop doing it, I’m happy to help. I’ve decided that this is long enough for me—especially given the fact that when you’re in venture capital, you don’t just stop.

ventures 545

ventures investing investment VC 545

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

With one company, a founder and his super inspirational, creative, and established buddy hatch a plan to build a very strong content brand that serves as a platform for a lot of diverse revenue streams--events, ecommerce, advertising. The second startup came to me from a founder of a company that I only found out later wasn''t fulltime.

pitching 375

pitching consulting VC venture capital 375

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

It''s also not the best way to create a helpful syndicate of investors that share the founder''s vision for the company. If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. Fear not, founders. The first thing I did was trace my sources.

VC 418

VC pitching networking venture capital 418

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2019

Just the immediate priorities seem to take up more than one person’s potential working hours—so it’s no surprise that when it comes to something like social media, many founders have trouble making it a priority. The consequences of failing to position a founder’s profile aren’t always obvious—and it’s usually all about missed opportunities.

media 284

media leadership founder opportunity 284

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 16, 2020

The venture capital community reacted to the racial reckoning the country experienced in June in ways I felt were pretty underwhelming—one-time pitch events for Black founders or promises to only meet with Black founders for a month. That’s what we want to change with these events.

communities 186

communities networking founder disruption 186

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 11, 2016

Unfortunately, one of the panelists, Skinny Girl vodka's Bethenny Frankel, told an African American founder in the audience that if she wanted to raise funding, that she should go out and hire a white guy to be the face of her business. I know that white males get a majority of the venture capital funding.

pitching 285

pitching financing finance entrepreneurship 285

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 24, 2018

If you’re going that route—here are a couple of things I would suggest: Have at least six months of personal expenses in the bank —and that’s only if you know you can at least get some angel capital based around your connections to investors, friends, family, etc. Build a following around what you’re doing.

pitching 358

pitching angel capital consulting enablement 358

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

Besides, there were a limited number of places where I could do my job in venture capital anyway—and while I might be a go to for a pitch from super early stage pre-seed and seed founders looking for quick answers and decisive term sheets in New York City, the reality is that I would be pretty far down the list in the Valley.

culture 390

culture VC communities education 390

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Since the beginning of modern venture capital investing — a relatively nascent asset class — the industry has been biased toward funding what it knows best: founders with familiar demographics (white, male) in familiar geographies (Silicon Valley). One event held by a few investors focused on Black founders is clearly not enough.

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2019

It’s not actually surprising that investors bought into it, considering that for a long time, VCs have focused on one particular archtype of leader as being more worthy of venture investment than others—the bold, confident visionary who will talk big in the pitch meeting. that same founder will give the most unequivocal, most confident “Yes!”

founder 170

founder pitching leadership culture 170

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2021

In June of 2019, I got a cold e-mail with a single link: “My name is Braeden Kelekona and I’m the founder of Kelekona, a drone service for passengers and cargo. Below is a link to the pitch video. There wasn’t any context around it—not exactly something I’d call a “pitch”. Who was the team? And then I disappeared.

pitching 243

pitching transportation consulting creativity 243

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 10, 2012

I texted the founder and got the following response: " Yeah. I was trying to help them get a top flight marketer and, as it turns out, the one I asked had already heard of them and wrote this back to me: "Funny cause I was one of the people who backed [their] kickstarter campaign and love the idea and what [the founder] has done.

pitching 378

pitching startup networking founder 378

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? So today I’m excited to announce that Upfront Ventures is leading an $8 million round with some amazing co-investors including Founder’s Fund, OATV, Lowercase, High Peaks, Collaborative Fund and many great angel investors.

real estate 380

real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 4, 2023

Video pitching. I see an uptick in pitching via pre-recorded video. We used Loom to pre-record our pitch and share it with potential investors. It’s a great way to personalize a pitch deck and share it with interested parties. Maureen Brown, EO Austin, co-founder and CEO, Mosie Baby. Stakeholder capitalism.

ecology 252

ecology entrepreneurship pitching entrepreneurs 252

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Sometimes it means establishing founder credibility over time to prospective future investors or to potential employees. 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 402

startup construction venture capital financing 402

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

We’ve all heard the anecdotes—the famous founder who pitched 1000 investors before any of them said yes. Most founders I know who are in this mode simply haven’t done enough homework and planning on the idea. 3) Have you pitched a critical mass of investors of the right stage and sector?

startup 293

startup pitching venture capital founder 293

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

How many founders have made hires, especially consultants, who were supposed to be great that didn't turn out to be? It was like someone gave him the instruction manual on how to pitch and no one else had it. Sure enough, the very next pitch sent a screamer his way. A lot of people have great stats. This next one is easy.

pitching 413

pitching consulting entrepreneurs communities 413