Pitching Workshop

Main Source:

INVESTORS DO NOT

EXIST TO GIVE YOU

PERMISSION

TO START ANYTHING

INVESTORS DO NOT

MAKE

YOUR

GOLD

CRAP

OUT OF

IDEAS

OR YOUR TEAM

AN INVESTMENT IS

A NEXT STEP AFTER

FIRST HAVING DONE

INTERESTINGON YOUR OWN

STARTUP PITCHFEST:

WHERE YOU ARE

YOU GOING TO GET

TRAINING, PRACTICE

& EXPOSURE?

NEVER MISTAKE

PITCH COMPETITIONS

FOR PITCHING

INVESTORS

FOR REAL - EVER

THE ONE THING

•Answer these two simple questions:

“What PROBLEM are you solving

offer?”& what SOLUTION do you

•You must be able to tell this in one or two short

sentences AT ALL TIMES (even in your sleep)

GUT CHECK

What PROBLEM do you solve

& HOW are you SOLVING it?

REALITY CHECKWhat is the VC investor looking for?

WHAT WE PITCH

Problem / Need, Solution, Market

Size, Goto Market, Team,

Competition, Financials, Ask,

BLA BLA BLA ETC

WHAT THE VC HEARS

made here? ·Is there money to be

·Are these the right people who will

make

·How

here?

me money?

much money can we make

REALITY CHECK

A VC WILL ONLY INVEST IF

- IF AND ONLY IF -

TEAM IS RIGHT +

TOTAL MARKET SIZE IS

BIG ENOUGH TO GROW IN

What are and how to use them

3 TYPES OF PITCHES

1.The

2.The

3.The

High-Concept Pitch

Elevator Pitch

Pitch Deck

HIGH“Summarize

CONCEPT PITCHthe company’s business on the

back of a business card” - Sequoia Capital

HIGH CONCEPT PITCH

·Distills a startup’s vision into a single

sentence

·The

·The

"We are the X for Y" pitch

140 characters or less "twitter pitch"

·Perfect tool for fans and investors to spread

the word about your company

HIGH CONCEPT PITCH

·Hollywood has perfected the art of the

high concept pitch:

"Its

·For

Jaws in space!" (Alien)

startups:

"Friendster for dogs" (Dogster)

"Flickr for video" (YouTube)

HIGH CONCEPT PITCH

·Be

·Be

brief: One short sentence

familiar: A 6 year old child should

understand the words and concepts

in your pitch

ELEVATOR PITCH

·The major components of the elevator pitch are:

TRACTION, PRODUCT, TEAM

& SOCIAL PROOF·"An introduction captures an investor’s

attention, a great elevator pitch gets a meeting."

ELEVATOR PITCH

A 30 second talk you can present a captive·audience (e.g. when riding in the elevator,

sharing an Uber or at a cocktail party)

OR a short e-mail that a middleman can·forward to someone with a recommendation

as an introduction for you

ELEVATOR PITCH

·Many investors will ignore your deck and

ONLY take a meeting if the introduction and

elevator pitch are good

·Without an introduction, an elevator pitch is

critical to a successful cold e-mail or getting

that meeting

ELEVATOR PITCH

Traction

Product

Team

1.

2.

3.

4. Social Proof

1. TRACTION

"A rolling stone gathers no moss"

Tell all the compelling facts, be it user or revenue

•

• growth, be it

publications or awards, advisors secured, event invite - whatever you

have achieved in the last period of time

Show momentumbeen fiddling with

"Use what you’ve

- no investor wants to waste timean idea for years and has nothing

got" and roll it into a compressed

on someone who’s

to show for it

story where the

•

•compelling facts are on an accelerating curve that goes up and to theright, hockey stick style

2. PRODUCT

What problem are you solving and how are•you solving it?

Where does your product live (web/•mobile/physical)?

What is the status of your product? (idea,•prototype/MVP, paying customers, etc?)

3. TEAM

BRAG!

Which

- Why are you guys so awesome? •

• relevant things have you done in the past

that makes it believable that you are the right

people to make this a success?

Convey the feeling that you have all the relevant•skills in your team to make this happen (do you?)

4. SOCIAL PROOF

The "I am not just another a crazy person with ideas" proof •

•

•

Show who and what else that you can vouch for you

Interviews, publications, patents, events, awards, user figures

or user testimonials, advisors or board members secured

Use what you’ve got to convince people you are not just

talking, that this is real and you’ve exposed it to the world

•

ELEVATOR PITCH

Traction

Product

Team

1.

2.

3.

4. Social Proof

PITCH PROGRESSION

SUMMARY

A high concept pitch gets people’s attention,1.an incentive to let you keep talking

An elevator pitch convinces investors to read2.your deck

A

A

deck sells investors on taking a meeting 3.

4. meeting will lead to a funding decision

THE

The

PITCH DECK

magic 13 slides

to a funding decision

BUT WAIT!

IS YOUR PITCH

A DATA PITCH OR

A CONCEPTPITCH?

DID YOU ALREADY

LAUNCH?

VISION VS FACTS

PRE-LAUNCH? SELL THE

VISION LIKE NO TOMORROW -

IT’S ALL YOU GOT!

POST-LAUNCH? BE PREPARED

PREPARE TO SHOW YOUR

REAL ACTUAL METRICS

THE PITCH DECK

An introduction and elevator pitch are criticalgetting a meeting

to·

And the pitch deck is what you send investors and

what you present in that meeting

The deck is NOT a Business Plan - SERIOUSLY

·

·

DECK6.

CONTENTS11.1.

COVER

2.

MISSION

3.

SUMMARY

4.

TEAM

5.

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

7.

TECH

8.

MARKETING

9.

SALES

10.

COMPETITION

MILESTONES

12.

CONCLUSION

13.

FINANCING

COVER:

“MEMORABLE”

COVER

LOGO

TAGLINE

CONTACT

·

·

·

·

DETAILS

30PT FONTS OR HIGHER

MISSION:

“WHATSTRIVING

YOU ARE

TO ACHIEVE:

THE WHY & HOW”

MISSION

· What you will do and how you will do it

· Also: What you will NOT do

· The thing you are striving to accomplish but have yet to complete

· Optionally: Fill white space with logos of customers and testimonials

· What will also guide decision making for you

· e.g. "Acme Gadgets will create and dominate a new network service

category that defends web applications from distributed-denial-of-service attacks."

SUMMARY:

“WE

HAVE DONE”

SUMMARY

Summarize the key, compelling facts of the·company

You can steal the content from your elevator·pitch

ONLY ONLY ONLY things you HAVE DONE,·not what you may or may not do in the future

TEAM:

“WHY WE

ARE SOAWESOME!”

TEAM

Highlight the past accomplishments of the team, BRAG

If your team has been successful before, investors may believe

it will be successful again (although a logical fallacy)

Do NOT include positions you intend to fill (save that for the

Milestones slide)

Tell a story about how your career has led to the discovery of

the…

Put yourself last in team if you must: it seems humble

•

•

•

•

•

PROBLEM:

“BE QUICK, BE

EMOTIONAL”

PROBLEM

Withoutservice,

yet getting into your product or•describe the nature of the problem

you address

Emphasize the pain level and the inability of•incumbents, the current established players,

to satisfy the customer need

SOLUTION:

“SHOW -

DON’T TELL”

SOLUTION

Introduce your product, and the benefits (which•should obviously address and fit the market

problem you just described like hand in glove)

SHOW DON’T TELL: Include a demo such as a•screencast, a link to working software, or pictures.

ONE SLIDE ONLY: This is not your product manual•

SOLUTION

GOD HELP YOU

IF YOU HAVE NOTHING

TO SHOW

TECHNOLOGY:

“HARD FACTS -

WHAT’S UNDER

THE BONNET”

TECHNOLOGY

Elaborate on the technology or methodology you•have developed to enable your

DIY?

unique approach

Open Source? Licensed? Are there hidden•costs and liabilities? Is the IP yours or someoneelse’s? Maintaining your own software is going tobe how costly vs using something else?

If appropriate, mention patent status•

MARKETING:

“QUANT -

NO

PROJECTIONS”

MARKETING

Include market size estimates here or in the•Problem

If you haven’t launched, discuss your plan to•acquire users or customers, show the expectedcost of customer acquisition

If you have launched, include CAC vs CLTV &•growth rate and activation rates, if appropriate

How to define market size

TAM•TAM - Total Available Market

Theoretical total market sizemass with problem today

• SAM - Serviceable Available

Theoretical total market size

or customer

Marketor customer SAMmass

likethat are able to use I purchase a solutionyours right now

• SOM - Serviceable Obtainable Market

(or TM - Target Market)Your target market cap or customer base

SOMwithin

the next 2-3 years, your credible ambition

How to find market data

Use Google, use Quora. Seriously, JGI: Just Google It

Find facts in reports from Gartner, Forester, BCG, etc to lend some

named sources to your numbers - You’ll be amazed by what you can

find online

TAMISAMISOM is an ART, not a SCIENCE - Don’t make it too

complicated.

Do NOT make facts and figures up, do not use questionable sources,

do not conflate markets - EVER

•

•

•

•

SALES:

“ACTUAL”

SALES

If you don’t have sales, discuss your business modeland prospective customers, use a Business ModelCanvas (BMC) to explain it all in one single slide

•

IGNORE the cost of customer acquisition UNLESS

have some insight into the issue

IF you have sales, show off early customer or

you•

•distribution progress: show numbers, logos, testimonials

COMPETITION:

“THE HONEST

TRUTH”

COMPETITIONDescribe why users or customers use your product instead of the

competition’s product

Describe any competitive advantages that remain after the competition

decides to copy you exactly, your UNFAIR ADVANTAGES

Competitive landscape. Be sure to anticipate competitive responses

(before the VC does and puts you in an embarrassing spot)

Never deny that you have competitors, no matter how unique you think

you are. It is OK to compete. Even against giants.

Are you in an existing market, a re-segmented market, a new market or

clone market? Figure it out.

•

•

•

•

a•

MILESTONES:

“WHEN,

WHY

WHAT &

- NO

PROJECTIONS”

SERIOUSLY:

NO

PROJECTIONS

MILESTONES

DO NOT build a detailed financial model if you don’t have past

earnings, a significant financial history, or real insights into the

issue - It’s a bullshit fantasy exercise wasting everybody’s time

Instead, include your current status and milestones for the next

1-3 quarters for product, team, marketing, sales with quarterly

and cumulative burn rates

How are you going to burn the investor’s money in the next

12-16 months and what experiments do that cover and what do

you expect to get out of (test & learn) those experiments?

•

•

•

Seed-Stage Milestone Tips:As you probably only have a vague problem-solution fit and most likely insignificant product-market fit

indications at this stage, think of raising money at this time to put the indications you have found so far

to the test, to put more money towards testing if what you have not proven so far can be proven and

what you found so far can be repeated and at scale

Think of the seed funding round as fuel for two or three of these critical experiments or milestones -

based however on actual stuff that you found so far, not on fantasy bullshit you might do in the future

The experiments or milestones should explain what you are going to test and which outcome you are

expecting and why you are going to test it and how much it is going to cost and what those costs

contain and when and for how long the experiments will run

These experiments should go towards proving your most critical hypotheses in your venture

Can we sell to businesses, acquire consumers, get high and predictable engagement, increase revenue,

boost growth, when we do X will Y consistently happen?, etc. i.e. can we acquire some quantified data

and evidence towards proving ourselves in a short period of time

The evidence, the outcome of these experiments will be proof for raising your next round - OR NOT - so

do not fool around with fake bullshit metrics, don’t lie to yourself and investors

•

•

•

•

•

•

CONCLUSION:

“RINSE, LATHER

& REPEAT”

CONCLUSION

This slide can be inspirational, a larger•VISION of what the company could do if

these current plans are realized, how

wonderful a place the world will be

Or just repeat another version of the•"Summary" slide

FINANCING:

“GIVE + ASK”

FINANCING

Dates, amounts, and sources of money raised to date

How much money you are raising in this round

How much of your company are you ready to sell in this round

DO NOT FORGET THE GIVE! If you are asking, tell what you are giving

Be careful about cementing a valuation - you might not want to lock it down in the deck:

"We believe we will create significantly more value with an investment of $X and we are

prepared to sell up to Y% of our company." will help you set the base of negotiation

Remember, you can give different ASK & GIVE to different investors (but assume

everybody talks to everybody) - Once your deck is out the door, you’ll be surprised

where it might end up.

•

•

•

•

•

•

PITCHING TRICKS

ABOVE ALL:

TELL A

STORY

AS YOU WOULD

YEARTO A 6

OLD CHILD

SLIDE TRICKS

Put IMAGES in the SLIDES and TEXT in the NOTES

Keep the slides simple, VISUAL, and minimal

•

•

•

• Put talking points, reasoning, and prose in theaccompany each slide

Don’t try to cram logical arguments into bullet

the slides

notes that

points on•

With 30 point OR LARGER font

REACH THE LIZARD BRAIN

FAST: Get to the point ASAP!

NOVEL: Don’t be boring, do something remarkable,

something TRULY unexpected

CONCRETE: Don’t beat around the bush!

VISUAL: Use photos, less text!

HIGH CONTRAST: Black or white, no shades of gray,

no nuances, 1 or Zero, no in-betweens, be absolute!

•

•

•

•

•

TO BE “STICKY”

Simple: KISS, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

Unexpected: Surprise & Delight

Concrete: No ifs & buts, DON’T MAKE ME

Credible: Build rapport, authority & trust

•

•

•

•

•

•

THINK

Emotional: Be personal, relate, emote, be visual

Stories: TELLA STORY!!!

MAKE PEOPLE SHARE IT

S

S

A

M

E

Story: Tell a story!

Simile: A figure of

•

• speech involving the comparison of one thing

with another thing of a different kind, used to make a descriptionmore emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox )

Analogy: a comparison between two things, typically on the basis

of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied

to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Examples: Use real-world, realistic, relatable examples

•

•

•

VOICE & EXPRESSION

What does people remember

•Words 7%

•Voice 38%

•Facial Expression 55%

and judge you by?

93% IS HOW YOU SAY IT -

NOT WHAT YOU SAY

SO SHOW SOME ENTHUSIASM!!!

BODY LANGUAGE

Be the Tree, feet solidly planted on

Hands to the side, never crossed -

Don’t swerve, stay put

Don’t be defensive - be assertive

the ground

EVER!

•

•

•

•

•

•

Step forwards - not backwards - lean into it

Look people in the eyes, stay focused, select a few people

left, right and center to focus on, distribute eye-time

STYLE

Don’t be apologetic - EVER! YOU ARE THEAWESOMEST!

Be positive and enthusiastic - you ROCK!, you NEVER suck!

Be concrete, crystal clear, short and to the point

Over-State, never ever understate

Careful with self-deprecation, irony, humor - leave it out

Use adjectives and superlatives, over and over (Think Apple

Keynotes)

•

•

•

•

•

•

TIMING

Practice your pitch until you nail the timing

PRACTICE!

•

•

•

NEVEREVERgo over the time limit,

Finish slightly before the time limit to leave

more room for the questions

Do NOT rush through - Make sure you dwell on•the important points (think: dramatic pauses)

Q&A SESSION

Be in control: Answer questions with whatever answer you like

Paraphrase the question as a question back to the judges to buy you

time, think while you reflect that you have understood Q

Lean forward into it, no defensive gestures, keep eye contact, keep your

presence, remain in control

•

•

•

Be honest, don’t

KEEP IT SHORT

understand, and

lie - "I don’t know, but I’ll find out" is the best answer•

• AND TO THE POINT: Answer like a 6 year old will

in ONE SENTENCE at best

PRACTICE ALL NASTY QUESTIONS UP FRONT - They willask!

•

NEVER

NEVER

LIE

EVER - FORGET IT

“I DON’T KNOW” IS THE

RIGHT

DON’T

ANSWER IF YOU

KNOW - SERIOUSLY

“I DON’T KNOW, BUT IF

YOU GIVE ME YOUR

BUSINESS CARD, I

BACKPROMISE TO GET

TO YOU WITH THE

ANSWER BY TOMORROW”

MORE TRICKS

Acknowledge the audience, own the presence before starting the pitch (see BillClinton)

At the end, keep in control and actively give the word to the jury for questions

instead of waiting for the moderator to do it for you

DO NOT USE A SCRIPT - EVER! Imagine your pitch as a journey instead and use

•

•

•keywords as guideposts to get you through

the script you are f*ed on stage while trying

a path you’ll be fine (and use cheat cards in

- because when you forget a line ofto remember it, and with keywords on

your hand if you need to - it’s OK!)

point where you can pitch

of other public speaking,

Above all: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE up tothein your sleep - literally - and practice by doing all sorts

•

because public speaking equals building your confidence

Thanks!