Post on 14-May-2015
description
!Alexander Jarvis - Partner
DTAC Accelerator - 8th August, 2014
• Partner at Jungle Ventures • Invest and support companies across APAC !
• Helped build some big companies: !!!
• Succeeded in learning a lot by failing and being poor: !!!
• Also used to be a banker in another life (where I learnt a lot but definitely wasn’t poor)
Me (Alexander Jarvis)
Stuff you didn't hear about
Follow and connect with me
• @ADJBlog !
!• https://angel.co/alexander-jarvis !
!
!• sg.linkedin.com/in/alexanderdjarvis/
• You can find this presentation here: !
http://www.slideshare.net/AlexanderJarvis/ !
• This is written as both a presentation and reading material
• Do not think this is best practice for your deck! • I talk fast and cover a lot of material to put info
into your brain • You will start dreaming of an IPO and stop paying
attention, I know that, so read it after
Relevant notes
• Objective of ‘Demo Day’ • Your deck • Presentation preparation • During presentation • Preparation for after the pitch • At event • After demo day • Secrets
We are going to cover (fast)
Objective of “DemoDay”
Get the investor to…
But wait, you totally have it twisted
• This is not your pitch, this is to get a meeting • Only need to show investors enough that they
want to meet you to learn more • Do not force a meeting, it doesn't lead anywhere..
Get a meeting, not $
• This means: • Will make $: Big market. Have
a business model (not a business plan) !
• People will buy: Real pain !
• It is useful: Solution is going to solve the pain !
• Able to write cheque: Asking for money for amount they write and category they will cover
Give enough to get investors to meet you
JUST GET THE MEETING, THAT IS IT
Key learning
• It only feels like it is important as it is a milestone !
• If you can say you have already started raising your round it is impressive !
• Some people have closed round before demoday…. !
• This isn’t a big deal so get over it
Demoday is a huge letdown
Your Deck
• Be the star • Focus has to be on you, you don’t want them staring
at screen • Investors invest in YOU not the deck
• Keep it simple • Do not have multiple bullets per slide, have a header
and a picture • If people are reading you are failing
Slides support the story… YOU are telling
• You could do the presentation without a deck (but better to have one)!
• What - We are uber for carrots (Put company in a box)
• Vision - We have a big vision to revolutionalise carrots by x
• Problem - Vegetarians have a huge problem with carrots. I couldn't make my son eat them
• Solution - We have listened to the people and made a unique app to make them love carrots. Our tie up with the national grocers creates barrier to entry
Key parts (1 of 2)
• Market size - There are 230m vegetarians in our 4 targeted markets that spend lots of cash. Our focus is on 5% of these
• Team - We are the best possible team for the job because we have done it before etc
• Traction - What this team has executed so far, key milestones (We get things done)
• Product/tech - Our product is beautiful and it works, have a try! (Quality UI/X matters now)
• The ask - We want $521k to get to these milestones when we will raise S-A in 13 months. We want investors who have regional expertise and focused on healthcare
Key parts (2 of 2)
• For market size I want stats, and referenced (other wise, yawn)
• These must actually make sense. If they are BS you lose credibility
• Put a footnote of where the support for market size numbers come from • Many VCs were bankers and this is an inside credibility
thing only bankers get • I don’t trust you, and whilst I don’t trust Euromonitor, I
trust them more. The fact you found them also says something positive
Market size means stats and reference
Source: Some really important company, year
This is a source
• Almost no one goes viral and it is simply bloody luck
• How you ‘scale’ is absolutely key • Even if it is through boring ways, that’s better than
saying something dumb like a make a viral video • Read my presentation on this topic
• http://www.slideshare.net/AlexanderJarvis/growth-hacking-conference-presentation-how-to-get-creative-with-marketing-when-paid-channels-are-too-expensive-or-customers-arent-looking-for-you
How you will grow matters, do not say viral
• You are not 12 • Keep it simple
NO transitions and animations
Presentation preparation
• Jobs was great because he made it look simple, but was obsessive about rehearsing • Compare Apple to Microsoft…
• Get a camera and record yourself (everyone selfies these days anyway) • I am not joking. Get your camera
and a friend to do this now • Get people who don’t like you to
review your performance • Better now than later
Practice till perfect
• Have a backup on USB • Have printouts
• These can potentially be more detailed and ideally unique and engaging
• Bring your own laptop and ensure you have connectors for AVG and HDMI
• Someone else on the team as an understudy • If the speaker gets ill, someone
else has to step up
Be prepared for the fact things go wrong
• I like and hate stories, many go too far and don’t get to the point
• Stories help investors relate • Stories help people relate to real issues they have and your
solution, or to problems they don’t have but ideally lots of people do
• You want to spark an emotional connection to what you are doing so people relate to the size of the problem
• Keep to the point! Make it a short story • These can work if the stories are light AND apply to your
business model • Sometimes they are bedtime stories and put me to sleep
• A good ~story is “My dad was using this software for work and use to swear how much he hated it. Lot’s of other people hated it too, so one day I fixed it”
Be careful with ‘stories’
• I care about product and results • Show me product, demo it or screenshot • It shows you actually build stuff even if it sucks
• Put yourself in a box, because I will and its faster if you do it first • Once I get what you are doing I can spend time
listening, so you being ‘uber for carrots’ helps • State your enemy, who are you going to make
angry (Do not say you don’t have competition) • Nothing is new under the sun, everyone has
competition • Who is your goliath and why are you going to slay
them?
Other tips: results, box, enemy!
During Presentation
• Relax and be confident • Smile! • Have energy and passion • Look respectful, but don’t wear a suit
(i’m not) • Know what you are saying, don’t have
notes • It is better to be talked about than not
at all, so be bold and take (moderate) risks
• Have a sense of humor, particularly when things go wrong • Roll with the punches. You get respect
for dealing with adversity well
Be the kind of person girls like to talk to
• Nothing is personal, have think skin • Never get annoyed at questions. Everything is a data
point • This is a game. You need to ‘pick up a girl at a bar’
• The stage is your first impression, your ‘entrance’ • This is also a numbers game. If she says no you find
another • Ask for what you want
• If you want money ask for it • You don’t get what you don’t ask for
• Dont talk her to death! Keep to your [6] minutes • Give a next step
• “Meet us outside. We are wearing pink t-shirts”
Be the kind of guy that is actually successful
• Speak English - I need to understand! • Better to have non-ceo speak if English is
bad • Start by specifically saying what you do
• I have given ‘feedback’ that “I have no idea what it is that you do after your whole pitch!”
• Keep to the point and be succinct • You do not need to give details • High level, leave ‘em wanting more
• Don’t run out of time, you don’t need all the time you think you need • Running over time means you are
unprepared • Don’t write essays on slides, just
headline and picture
How to not fail (Hygene factors)
Preparation for after the pitch
• Have business cards • Hustle and get a group discount together! • No excuse. Can get the next day • Don’t buy fancy ones, don’t get cheap
crap ones • Keep simple (I use evernote to photo them
with OCR) • Get the attendee list before the event
• Ask for the list • Know who you are pitching to. Research
what they invest in- not everyone is interested. Why are they your ideal investor?
• Make a check list to prioritise who you want to talk
Get business cards and the attendance list
• Know what your objective is and be clear about where you are • Do you want to raise money? How much and
when? You will be asked so you need a clear answer
• If you don’t need money do you want intros or advise? Who specifically? What advise on what?
• Do you know your key milestones? If you are live do you know your numbers
• Be ready 2 days before the event • Sleep the night before well and work out so you
have energy • You will fail if you are tired and not passionate • This is more important than messing with slides • Day before should be spent working not
preparing pitching, you are still building and traction matters more than powerpoint
Know thy self and be ready 2 days before
At Event
• You only have limited time, people leave • Spend enough time to build a ‘friend’. Contacts are
people in linkedin. A friend will actually reply to your email and help
• Leave them wanting more • Try get a definite ‘next step’ • Do not spend too much time, that you miss other
people • Bring your whole team
• Everyone has cards, everyone’s job is to raise money • The more people you have creating ops the more ops
you have • Your geeky dev needs to suck it up and contribute
Divide and conquer
• Be the energizer bunny • Passion sells. If you aren’t excited
no one else will be. Your energy can be infectious
• Work the room don’t be a wallflower • This is awesome opportunity to
meet people, so don’t miss out • Meet everyone, you know them
now. That will help you get to meet other people
Be a social butterfly
• Check off who you talk to • When you talk to the investor knowledge is power
• Have something I want to talk about, like my portfolio companies
• Ask for one of my portfolio companies to talk to (again more network building)
• Try give value before you take it. Pay it forward. People don’t do that enough and you will be notable
• Make notes of the discussion • Write on the back of the card
• Date met • Key takeaway
Use your checklist and your research
• Smile and shake hand (firmly) • Put index finger on their pulse
• Get their name and use it 3 times • People love their own name, so “Say my
name, say my name..” • Make friends not contacts • Exchange cards
• Get email if they don’t have (or ran out of cards)
• Ask if ok to add them to your update list • to periodically send updates on your
traction • Ask if this is something they can or
would invest in • If not why (Do NOT be defensive)
Key things to do when meeting people
No suit though
After demo day
• Follow up before the sun sets • Read how to win friends and influence
people • Send a simple email with your deck
referencing your chat. No essay! • Can use a dropbox link to aid download
speed • Use evernote for business cards, photo
and dispose (auto add to linkedin) • http://blog.evernote.com/blog/2014/05/07/
evernote-linkedin-perfect-business-card/ • Get feedback, if no, get a meeting if
you didn’t already • Follow up… nicely. People are busy
Use your contacts!
Secrets
• VCs are more interested in the person sitting next to them than you • They like to talk to each other and have fun • You are NOT important until you are • If you don’t get attention you lose it
• Will not pay attention if your hygiene factors are fails
• Personality sells more than anything else, particularly if everyone else sucks • I gave a prize to someone because he was
funny and his idea was crazy big • Also, we didn’t like everyone else… • He made the whole audience laugh so
much everyone loved him. Popularity matters
Get attention, investors don’t care about you
Investors on phones
• I will look for you if you are good • You only look for me if I am not interested
• If you look for me and are eager for feedback I am more interested • Genuine interest in learning is hallmark of great founder • Ask real questions to learn to get better and will get
feedback • Do not take things personally
• What gets people excited? 1. Traction, exponentially rising metrics 2. Revenue 3. Product awesomeness 4. Technology – unique and defensible 5. Design excellence
Get excitement and interest up
• Make contacts, don’t ignore those who say no (now) • Your network makes the world go round. Make friends with
everyone… be cool • Don’t waste time with people that clearly aren’t interested
• Some people wont be interested for many reasons • Be polite and move on
• I don’t want to get into the details now • If you meet me just give me the key points and get a meeting if I
am interested • Lots of people are talking and I am not going to remember
everything • You also need to spend your time working the room to get more
meetings and feedback • If you say “I know it’s crazy now and it’s not the best time to get
into details”, I will have more respect for you, you seem to ‘get it’
Make friends, network , act like you are in the know
• We don’t know who you are • We have done no research • There are only ever 1-3
extroverts that will ask questions in the audience
• Often people ask questions because no one else will and we want to make you feel good • If no one asks you are either
very good or irrelevant, normally it is the latter
VCs do not prepare for events
Remember this is hard, go to war!