Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. I recommend it.

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VC advice pitching venture capital 238

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

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VC venture capital networking innovation 255

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. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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VC pitching advice venture capital 309

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. The following are some tips for the debate style VC meeting. Tips in a debate led VC Meeting.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. They want you to attend demo days. I’ll go as long as it’s not on a demo day. Lines, Not Dots.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

In case you're curious what the deal funnel means for my time, I did that, too: Seeing an opportunity could mean an e-mail, a calendar request, a pitch at a demo day, a news item, a LinkedIn position change--really anything that makes me conscious that a new startup might exist.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

If you demo your product (which is always great) then tell us part of the story while you’re demo’ing. I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences. Where you planning to demo? NEVER lead with features.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

VC 332

VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

meet with tons of companies every week, work hard for their portfolio companies, and are on planes flying around to the important confereneces and demo days". Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC. An experienced entrepreneur who has raised money multiple times can be a great board member as well.

VC 274

VC board venture capital ventures 274

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 2, 2015

One time, I spoke at a meetup that was divided into my talk and demos--and the organizer assumed I wanted to go on before the demos. I didn''t understand why it would matter, but she told me that most of the investors like going before so they could skip out after the demos and not get bombared at the end of the event.

pitching 368

pitching peer-to-peer venture capital creativity 368

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund). Demo’d to death. We’ve all been demo-day’d to death. Yeah, he was LA, baby! Quality endures.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

What's worse is that this end of the market is even affecting early stage VC mindset. If you're a VC and you think for a second that whether or not Square pricing at $2.9 billion or $6 billion has anything to do with that Series A you're about to do, please pick up your marbles and go home. Congrats on your huge disappointment.

angel investing 408

angel investing venture capital VC media 408

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

We feel pressure to hit milestones for a variety of reasons: Investor presentations, conference demos, customer sales meetings, competitive pressures, a need to drive revenue, business development commitments – whatever. There is nothing that will focus the mind more than not wanting to be on stage with a demo that bombs.

creativity 344

creativity leadership board energy 344

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. Before I tell you my reasons for never doing a deal that a banker intro’d I have to preface by where I think bankers are enormously helpful on VC deals.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

So what attracted Howard Morgan, the VC with the hottest hand in NYC as of late ( Turntable.fm , Fab.com ), to bring the investment back to First Round? Joe and Mary Bureaucrat who don't even use the internet because Smalltown, USA blocks it as the decisionmakers. Ugh, right? Except that its working. how many salespeople do you have?

real estate 356

real estate leadership SaaS education 356

TechCrunch

MARCH 29, 2022

Startup accelerators are increasingly putting the brakes on demo days. But demo day isn’t a good use of founders’ or investors’ time. Many VCs who sign deals with the top startups from YC actually do so before demo day. Demo day dilutes investor engagement. Demo days are performative.

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mentorship pitching startup accelerator board 85

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Can we do a really quick run through your deck so that we save tons of time for a product demo & questions at the end?&#. And because as a VC or as a CEO or senior exec you get presented to all the time we’re extra sensitive to it. 25% of VCs are expressives, like you. Can I make a small suggestion?

VC 358

VC entrepreneurs creativity leadership 358

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2010

However, the innovation community seems to be in love with this format, so you can’t be a VC without watching a bunch of them. That's why, when you're giving a live presentation, you should pretty much assume the technology will fail—whether it’s your technology in a demo or the A/V in the room.

pitching 327

pitching VC technology communities 327

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. We are experiencing a frenetic time. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. For investors life is no different. Year in, year out.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

500

JUNE 9, 2020

As a VC firm, we’ve had to adapt many aspects of our business as well. From taking all aspects of our accelerators digital (including our Demo Day) to rethinking the opportunities of the future, we’ve taken this moment to analyze what innovations can come from this time and new opportunities that arise from our changing environment.

frameworks 202

frameworks investing investment disruption 202

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

2 weeks later and we may never have raised any more VC. Quick aside: how can VC’s invest in online businesses, digital media, social networks or mobile applications if they don’t actually use the products actively themselves? I did almost every VC meeting myself save for when one of my co-founders, Tim Barker, was in town.

startup founder 299

startup founder founder startup VC 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

I avoid Demo Days like the plague and have publicly said so. By the time it’s hit demo day I’m too late. Fred Wilson said it best in his post about loss ratios in VC. I think the VC industry tends to pressure new entrants to feel like strategy consultants did. VCs don’t need to be perfect.

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VC consulting strategy entrepreneurs 337

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Demo days at startup accelerators are a pretty big deal around here. These events aren’t just a chance to review the latest cohort of hopeful entrepreneurs — they also showcase the technology, products and services that will compete for VC and consumer attention over the next few years. That startup was DoorDash, by the way.

SaaS 113

SaaS startup pitching education 113

TechCrunch

APRIL 7, 2023

Y Combinator’s Demo Day took place this week , and although the event itself was virtual-only, 86% of the founders in YC’s winter 2023 batch lived in SF while participating. Last year, VCs flowed approximately $6 billion to resale platforms, according to Brian Schwarzbach, an investor with Cathay Innovation.

pitching 98

pitching frameworks VC ventures 98

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. They demoed the electricity transfer with a physical device that looked like something that would never be allowed on an airplane. When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24. But it seemed to work.

VC 418

VC ventures leadership board 418

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 17, 2013

Today, at Demo, SocialSignIn launched to "solve the problem of businesses knowing more about their online visitors than those standing in their physical location." And they''re not alone. Nomi just raised $3mm to help retailers understand their customers--the ones that are actually in the store, by using analytics around their mobile devices.

venture capital 330

venture capital enablement creativity networking 330

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

Along with detail orientation I have a strong bias for “doers.&# When I ask for a quick demo and the CEO tells me that he’ll schedule a follow-on meeting with his sales rep because, “I’m not a demo guy. years as a VC, “You don’t want to raise money from me. Then I’d fire the CEO.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs advice pitching VC 286

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

TechCrunch

MARCH 26, 2021

Pre-seed round funding is under scrutiny: Is VC pandemic posturing here to stay? Pre-seed round funding is under scrutiny: Is VC pandemic posturing here to stay? Our favorite companies from Y Combinator’s W21 Demo Day. Our favorite companies from Y Combinator’s W21 Demo Day: Part 1.

VC 94

VC real estate venture capital pitching 94

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2010

There was one other VC in the room, Charlie O'Donnell, who makes it a practice to be everywhere something is interesting happening. And I saw a bunch of demos of beta services spliced in between the talks.” You probably didn’t hear about Brooklyn Beta before Fred wrote about it : “This is my kind of conference.

creativity 240

creativity communities venture capital innovation 240

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Twitter Space: A Gen Z VC speaks up. According to Andrew Chan, a senior associate at Builders VC, GenZ investors “are still a bunch of kids, myself included.” ” According to Andrew Chan, a senior associate at Builders VC, GenZ investors "are still a bunch of kids, myself included." — Clever Canadian.

VC 86

VC pitching founder startup 86

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

Marco Zappacosta served up an cogent, business focused and nicely demo’d pitch of their product. would acknowledge – they needed to get to the demo more quickly. Jason let them run over their time slot by a long time – the demo was worth seeing and he obviously knew this. As I’m sure Pip.io

education 254

education pitching VC media 254

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. And VC’s are tough customers. I’ve talked before about how to build long-term relationships with VCs.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

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. 8% of VC partnerships, for example). With 8% of partners at VC firms being female?—?we

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer VC mentorship 256

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&#. I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. I hope that when you’re presenting to a VC this will give you some sense of what might be going on in our minds. Both presenters are anonymized.

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pitching VC advice strategy 288