Comments on: A Tale of Two Pitches

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:09:25 +0000

Of course you used the most radical examples out of all your experience but the truth is that both of them are possible. Long story short, you should prepare in time for a pitch and you should not rely on technology so much, a live presentation ar a conversation with the pottential investor is more personal and impressive. Check out startup reviews here http://www.vcgate.com/Startup_Companies_Reviews...

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Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:58:57 +0000

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By: msuster

msuster — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:06:00 +0000

Thanks, Mike. As you'll remember our meeting was highly interactive. We all walked away impressed. We hope you're on to something really big. Thanks for the feedback. Mark

By: msuster

msuster — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:05:09 +0000

To some extent I agree. I have already written a post on this topic but haven't edited and published yet. I think you need to be ready for a “triple play.” You need to have a PowerPoint deck ready to present. 8/10 times that's what the VC will guide you to do. Maybe 9/10. Second, you need to be prepared to demo you're product. 7/10 times you'll be asked for this. Last, you do need to be prepared to lead a discussion with no deck but still cover all of the salient points. That is what happened in meeting #1.

Thanks for helping me to clarify. I'll publish soon.

By: Mike Alfred

Mike Alfred — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:20:23 +0000

Another excellent post with actual examples of what do to and what not to do. 10/10. I hope when we came in to talk with you we were more like Example 1 than Example 2!

By: anthony

anthony — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:03:29 +0000

I don't agree that pitch #1 is preferred. In more cases than not, if you asked a VC to set up a meeting to discuss ideas, you would never get a meeting. Secondly, half the VCs of the world would look at you as not knowing what you are doing. If you don't know what the business plan is, the VC certainly doesn't have time to help you figure it out.

By: Wil Schroter

Wil Schroter — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:58:22 +0000

It's the job, not the option, of a VC to prep every entrepreneur that comes through the door about what they expect out of a pitch meeting.

A simple Web site link to what you expect to see would suffice.

If the entrepreneur doesn't take the time to read it, that should be your first clue that they aren't prepared.

By: msuster

msuster — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:14:00 +0000

I can't say that a good portion of exits necessarily originate from Pitch #1 but certainly fundings.

By: edwardshen

edwardshen — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:02:00 +0000

I like it when you wrote, “A VC is never looking for you to have all of the right answers and the best VC’s know that we don’t either. ” It explains more to me why you'd take pitches as “discussions” rather than “sales”. As VC's and entrepreneurs get to know each other's personalities, theses, passion, etc, more deeply during such discussions, I suppose a big portion of successful exits originate from something like Pitch #1?

By: links for 2009-09-09 « Blarney Fellow

links for 2009-09-09 « Blarney Fellow — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:13:18 +0000

[...] A Tale of Two Pitches (tags: vc presentations startup presuation) [...]