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.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 271

TechCrunch

JULY 4, 2022

A lot of pitch decks I review have a slide that really shouldn’t be there: the exit strategy slide. As an early-stage startup, it’s downright nonsensical, and it shouldn’t be part of your pitch deck at all. TechCrunch+ is having an Independence Day sale! Save 50% on an annual subscription here.

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pitching strategy opportunity founder 97

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 19, 2013

You have one less investor who didn''t see the same vision you did bothering you with distracting e-mails and discussions about strategies you don''t agree with. I had someone pitch me recently who started their e-mail out with an indication of how fast the round was going. Venture Capital & Technology'

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pitching venture capital strategy innovation 279

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 5, 2022

MyEO DX attracts EO members who are looking to transform or reinvent their business strategies or overall engagement with entrepreneurship. Some MyEO DX members are angel investors and serial entrepreneurs with deep knowledge about the process and strategy behind buying and selling companies. Who is the ideal attendee for DX22?

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accelerator networking pitching real estate 273

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

With the author staying close as an advisor, they build a real, cashflow positive business and start to think about where they could go with some outside capital. The first pitch I got was from someone who didn''t intend on staying with the business as an employee. Venture Capital & Technology' How is that story being told?

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pitching consulting VC venture capital 348

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. Venture Capital & Technology'

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VC pitching networking venture capital 417

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

When people tell you how and why they raised capital or what drove their app to success, they often attribute success to planning or neat little explainable reasons when they might simply have no clue what happened. Venture capital is kind of like a knuckleball. you could very easily increase your chance of failing.

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advice startup VC strategy 416

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Based on my experience, here’s how to avoid making the most common mistakes deep tech founders make when pitching investors: Work on your storytelling. Make your pitch tailored to what excites venture capital investors and avoid what does not. Investor pitch meetings are not dissertation defenses.

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strategy founder pitching venture capital 130

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 exit strategy”. A pitch deck is a tool to show VCs why your idea merits investment.

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pitching VC strategy leadership 113

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 21, 2025

Held at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, the 2025 Good Soil Forum continues to serve as a transformative platform that offers not just ideas, but real tools, capital, and community for entrepreneursespecially those from historically underserved backgrounds. Jakes, Chairman of the T.D. Jakes Group and Founder of the Good Soil Movement.

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entrepreneurs mentorship entrepreneurial ecosystem pitching 74

Startup Blogpost

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

20 Tips for Pitching New Business Ideas to Potential Investors To provide you with the best advice on pitching new business ideas to investors, we asked twenty CEOs, Founders, and other professionals for their top tips. You should highlight the potential future earnings while pitching your proposal.

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pitching strategy investing investment 105

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 19, 2024

Instead, it began with 15 years of hands-on learning in capital markets, working closely with entrepreneurs, investors, and bankers. This experience allowed me to identify a critical void in financing companies: building healthy capital stacks and navigating the public offering process. I also did not have a business partner.

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financing finance entrepreneurship mentorship 255

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

If you’re not taking this zone-out down time I’ll bet you’re not having enough strategic reflection on your job, your company, your strategy. Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital? Board Meetings. Conferences.

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creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Revolution

AUGUST 2, 2022

Rise of the Rest Senior Associate, James Barlia , and Senior Director of Strategy, Jamie Rodota , also headed to the Palmetto State to meet with local investors and judge the College of Charleston Founders Club’s pitch competition.

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economic growth innovation communities startup ecosystem 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

On investment strategies I have “ Deflationary Economics ” 6. He came to me months ago asking about a “strategic round” of capital for his startup at a high price. I am VERY careful in board meetings and in startup pitches to tell entrepreneurs, “I feel very strongly about my opinion on this topic.

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

His strategy for selling in 2009 is relevant to any economic downturn. Luckily, the strategy can be broken down into 3 steps. Analysts on the marketing team must gain a deep understanding of industry-level issues and how to capitalize on them during the sales process.

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pitching strategy advice board 221

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Nothing seems to apply--you're not a tech company, you bootstrapped your way to millions in revenues before taking on capital, and you sell mostly through brick and mortar. Would we pitch Series A players? Adam Struck brought on significant additional capital from his network. Did that seed make this round our Series A?

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pitching VC strategy investing 234

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. For starters I’d try to raise my initial capital locally.

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VC board communities pitching 365

TechCrunch

JULY 2, 2021

Founder of Unicorn Capital and Minimal Capital, Evan Fisher 's pitching and investor strategy has helped startups raise more than $2.5 The biggest lie in venture capital is: “Yes, I read through your deck.” According to DocSend, the average pitch deck review time over the last 20 weeks is less than three minutes.

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pitching VC venture capital capital 122

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. Just saying your product is AI-driven will not cut it.

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pitching incubation board opportunity 98

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

DECEMBER 4, 2019

There is an array of capital sources that entrepreneurs can approach to finance the growth of their companies, including crowdfunding, government grants, and pitch competitions, which typically would not require giving up any ownership (equity) of their business. Where can startups find money to launch their businesses?

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advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs networking 240

TechCrunch

JULY 16, 2021

Yet, that is what Spanish marketing expert and entrepreneur Alex Barrera often ends up doing with startup founders who hire him to help improve their pitch. “Growth companies need to be careful about the potential fallouts of pursuing such strategies. . What do people often misunderstand about pitch training?

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pitching startup consulting collaboration 107

TechCrunch

AUGUST 17, 2022

At TechCrunch, it often seems as if every other startup story is about yet another fun company raising satchels full of venture capital. One truth is that successfully raising capital from a VC firm is a huge milestone in the life of a startup. In fact, there are significant downsides to raising money from VCs. I have two day jobs.

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venture capital startup founder capital ventures 102

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. Demo Day pitch.

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pitching SaaS mix-use media 110

Ecosystem Builder Hub

APRIL 2, 2021

But in too many communities entrepreneurship is an underutilized and underleveraged strategy for economic growth. In my role as an ecosystem builder in Sacramento, I’m doubling down on my efforts to raise awareness about entrepreneurship and ecosystem building as an economic development strategy to civic and business leaders in our region.

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economic development entrepreneurship strategy development 102

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 26, 2022

We crafted digital strategies for brands and built apps, games, marketing campaigns, and story-driven experiences long before it was popular in the region. As a firm, we pitched campaign ideas and strategies to huge, internationally recognized brands, going up against big network agencies.

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real estate creativity entrepreneurs culture 238

Dream It

APRIL 21, 2020

When pitching investors, remember that your ask is like porridge; it follows the goldilocks ratio and has to be just right. Add 3-6 additional months of capital to your total funding requested. If you want to dive deeper into terminology and how it impacts fundraising strategy, here’s a relevant Hackernoon article.

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ventures pitching frameworks founder 351

TechCrunch

MARCH 17, 2023

It’s too early to determine whether SVB’s downfall heralds a new era for venture capital, but based on anecdotal evidence, off-the-record discussions and chats with co-workers, it seems like we’re back to business as usual as far as pre-revenue startup fundraising is concerned. There’s plenty of tactical advice here, and much more to come.

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pitching frameworks advice strategy 92

Tomasz Tunguz

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

A decade ago, most startup pitches ended with a calculation justifying the amount they sought to raise. But for the most sought after companies, the raise amount is disjointed from the capital needs of the business - instead it’s driven by the fundraising auction. Companies with a lower cost of capital have a strategic advantage.

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capital pitching venture capital board 47

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.

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TechCrunch

OCTOBER 1, 2022

We have an outstanding cohort of VCs ready to hear their pitches and follow up with tough Q&As — and we’re thrilled to add three more to the slate. Prior to joining Sequoia, Chen worked at Emergence Capital and McKinsey. Lo Toney, the founding managing partner at Plexo Capital.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 29, 2022

We also discussed several specific tactics and strategies that can help move organizations towards PMF, including effective ways to capture and share user data, and developing customer personas that will help everyone understand the company’s mission and purpose. Pitch deck teardown: Minut. Pitch Deck Teardown: Minut.

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pitching transportation accelerator consulting 84

TechCrunch

APRIL 10, 2023

Reach Capital, one of the first venture firms to focus exclusively on edtech, closed its last investment vehicle during an unprecedented boom within tech. So, has edtech’s venture pitch changed? “I I think the fact that edtech may not be in the news so much anymore, it’s a good thing,” says Esteban Sosnik, partner at Reach Capital.

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capital education pitching collaboration 92

TechCrunch

APRIL 1, 2022

For decades, there were several blocks where angels and VC partners camped out at café tables, taking pitches between lattes. Not a complete deck, but an embellished elevator pitch meant to whet investors’ appetites before you serve them the full meal. How to make a teaser trailer for your startup pitch. Start here.

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pitching energy VC founder 91

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?

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pitching VC entrepreneurship leadership 75

StartupNation

JUNE 7, 2021

It may seem counterintuitive to think of your exit strategy in the early stages of starting and running your business, as there is much to do as a young company — product development, go-to market strategy, hiring, etc. Your exit strategy is one of the first things a potential equity investor will ask about.

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strategy real estate entrepreneurs investment 105

TechCrunch

JANUARY 14, 2023

It took me a while, but I’m realizing that my startup love language is discussing any attempts to standardize the opaque and often informal world of venture capital. Or, as I covered this week, a tool for startups that lets companies simultaneously blast out the same application — or pitch — to multiple angel and pre-seed investors.

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