Dream It

JANUARY 8, 2020

In the episode, Steve asked Ron about his “five slide pitch deck.” This is what each of the five slides may include: First Slide: The “What” The first slide answers the question that puts entrepreneurs in action: What problem does your solution solve? You can do so by providing a demo you did for a customer or a patent.

pitching 195

pitching opportunity board founder 195

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 19, 2013

Paul''s point is all about being upfront and honest, which is ironic, because Demo Days seem to be one giant dog and pony show where the flashiest, biggest talking companies seem to get the most attention. That''s why it''s so important for investors and entrepreneurs to spend time getting to know each other.

pitching 279

pitching venture capital strategy innovation 279

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. I spent time on college campuses.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

I refuse to go to demo days. Not just TechStars but any demo day, really. Well, I get nothing out of seeing how well a bunch of people can pitch their businesses on stage. So I promised the guys that I would come and hang out with companies well before their demo days. Entrepreneur Dinners. We’ll see.

pitching 319

pitching culture entrepreneurs mentorship 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. I spent time on college campuses.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 20, 2012

Most entrepreneurs aren't qualified for their jobs--including about 100% of the first timers. Sure, they had a demo or a prototype or something, but investors know the product will change. I was talking to an entrepreneur the other day, and I asked, "Do you feel like you have a good idea of how you should be spending your time?".

peer-to-peer 401

peer-to-peer pitching consulting creativity 401

Innovation 2 Enterprise

JANUARY 30, 2024

On Wednesday, January 24, the inaugural cohort of startups from i2E’s Bridge2 Pre-Accelerator program presented their groundbreaking innovations during the Bridge2 Demo Day at Sailor & The Dock in Oklahoma City. During Demo Day, attendees heard pitch presentations from five founders who participated in the initial Bridge2 cohort.

mentorship 96

mentorship SaaS accelerator pitching 96

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. In fact, that''s what I tend to do--at least, what I say that I do.

VC 417

VC pitching networking venture capital 417

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. And it’s true that I still take a whole lot of first meetings with entrepreneurs.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2012

Given the proliferation of accelerators and incubators that pre-vet entrepreneurs, roll up their sleeves to help companies, and dress them up for demo days, the best and brightest are being showcased to look better than ever. Are you waiting for them to pitch you? It's happening on their side, too.

VC 272

VC incubation construction networking 272

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

a really wide angle view of the tech industry since you see so many concepts / so many pitches and REAL data points on how startups perform financially. Great networking skills, which are critical when you want to be about to reference entrepreneurs & concepts and bounce your ideas off of other people in the industry.

investment 365

investment investing VC board 365

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Always be Pitching (line stolen from my favorite scene in one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s not required but I have seen this technique be used effectively by entrepreneurs.

VC 309

VC pitching advice venture capital 309

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

This annual gathering brings together a dynamic mix of entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists from the surrounding states, creating a fertile ground for innovation, networking, and investment opportunities. With a rigorous selection process, only the most promising tech-enabled companies get the chance to pitch.

entrepreneurs 98

entrepreneurs ventures pitching mentorship 98

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Contributed to EO by Steve Ferman, an EO New Jersey member, serial entrepreneur, and founder of 4 Pillar Coach. For more insights and inspiration from today’s leading entrepreneurs, check out EO on Inc. These groups are easy to find and fairly inexpensive to join. and more articles from the EO blog.

culture 260

culture incubation entrepreneurs media 260

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. No pitch, nothing more. You see, we hear a lot about elevator pitches, but to be honest, most short pitches really don't do your company justice. Can you really pitch a company in one sentence? No, not bread. fine, fine."

pitching 284

pitching disruption entrepreneurs enablement 284

TechCrunch

MARCH 8, 2023

Garin Hess, a tech entrepreneur based in Utah, experienced what he calls the “ demo bottleneck ” at a previous software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup while pitching to potential customers. Consensus lets engineering teams build a library of reusable, interactive video demos that sales teams can send out on demand.

SaaS 108

SaaS consulting pitching accelerator 108

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 10, 2011

On to of that, connected communities of entrepreneurs are better at incubating and supporting startups now than ever before. Experienced entrepreneurs and VCs share what they know on their blogs, and anyone can get thoughtful answers to tough questions on Quora. They each come with money and mentoring to help you get off the ground.

incubation 268

incubation peer-to-peer communities finance 268

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2013

In my post I noted the bias in his accent comments and also called b t on his statements that Demo Days are great because “the bad companies look good” and that VCs should compete to “pay the highest price & offer the best terms.” I did so before when he originally uttered the accents comment for the NY Times.

innovation 391

innovation culture advice education 391

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Give the “elevator pitch” for your startup. Offer to do a demo later, but don’t try to squeeze it in the presentation. The CEO should give the pitch, and prepare by playing “presidential debates” – asking your team to be the opponents, and check you on timing. Here are the ten slides you need: Problem and market need.

pitching 146

pitching sustainability strategy energy 146

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.

pitching 110

pitching SaaS mix-use media 110

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Demos – One of the things that most people are bad at and that are hard to standardize is the demo. I have written about how to do a demo before (even though this was in the context of a VC pitch much of it applies). A good demo tells a story. 80% of demos I see are features, functions & benefits.

advice 296

advice SaaS startup pitching 296

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “ Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”.

venture capital 288

venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Crypto entrepreneurs still have room to grow, but they would be well served to get on the good side of regulators, says Stephen Aschettino, U.S. Our 11 favorite companies from YC’s S22 Demo Day. ” Our 11 favorite companies from YC’s S22 Demo Day: Part 1. Our 10 favorite startups from YC’s S22 Demo Day: Part 2.

VC 86

VC pitching founder startup 86

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. I was interested in learning more.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

NZ Entrepreneur

MARCH 16, 2025

Read the interview: Richard Liew: For those who may not know who Ministry of Awesome is – let’s just assume there might be some – can you give us your elevator pitch? So we have entrepreneurs and residents working in Wellington, in Christchurch, and in Auckland. And today we are a national organisation.

startup ecosystem 52

startup ecosystem mix-use advice incubation 52

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. I attended the Facebook Fund Demo day about a month ago in Palo Alto and it blew me away the pace of innovation and the focus on monetization that came out of this group. Seems an obvious fit.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

TechCrunch

MAY 5, 2022

Momentum pulled off what every entrepreneur dreams of: Last year, it closed a lead investor for its seed round — which our own Ron Miller covered at the time — without even creating a pitch deck. Once a lead was secured, Momentum created a pitch deck to fill out the round. 17 — Placeholder for demo.

pitching 91

pitching collaboration founder entrepreneurs 91

TechCrunch

JANUARY 25, 2022

Alchemist Accelerator is back with another Demo Day — its 29th Demo Day overall, and the latest in the series to be entirely virtual. Alchemist’s Ravi Belani also shared plans to announce some news during today’s Demo Day, including that: They’ve raised $2 million from German chemistry company BASF.

accelerator 87

accelerator energy sustainability pitching 87

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. With #1 – #3 under your belt, you should start preparing the components you will use to support your pitch to outside investors. Understand your business.

investment 164

investment investing pitching mix-use 164

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

The GitHub Student Developer Pack offers more than $200k in developer tools/training for student entrepreneurs or any students. LawCloud offers free legal documents through the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Contestants pitch their legal product idea for a chance to win $5,000, tutoring, and more.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

SparkLabs Korea , a Seoul-based seed to early-stage accelerator, held a demo Day on Thursday for its 19th cohort of companies. The latest demo day marks its tenth year after SparkLabs launched its accelerator program in December 2012. Not all teams end up pitching at demo day. and Asia. .

accelerator 100

accelerator startup mentorship incubation 100

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

all together) combined with the culture of “demo days,” in-person gatherings where angels and professional investors collide with entrepreneurs. Yesterday, I tweeted this: I get emails from friends @ accelerators, asking me what kind of co’s I’m interested in, or to watch online demo day (no), etc.

accelerator 106

accelerator peer-to-peer pitching incubation 106

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 25, 2022

I get a lot of pitch deck submissions for this TechCrunch Pitch Deck Teardown series from people who are raising friend and family rounds, and I mostly pass on them. It was against that backdrop that I received the pitch deck for the Palau Project. Its founder, Jerome Cloetens, is a professional kite surfer (!) Problem slide.

pitching 88

pitching sustainability founder investing 88

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about the new career path to CEO, our favorite startups from Techstars Demo Day and the latest SPAC you should probably know about. A triple-hitter Demo Day. TechCrunch covered favorites from Techstars’ three Demo Days, which were focused on Chicago, Boston and workforce development.

startup 127

startup financing finance creativity 127

The Seraf Compass

JULY 23, 2020

If you want to help an entrepreneur get through a demo day or pick up a few seed investors, you can do it by covering the basics. But if you want to help an entrepreneur raise serious money, you are going to have to dig deeper into your bag of tricks and address some of the advanced issues.

pitching 291

pitching entrepreneurs 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. I think these deals are less exciting than the ones you proactive seek out.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer VC mentorship 256