All Annotations of How to Present to Investors[Preview]

saved by13 people, first byPer Hakansson on 2006-08-07, last byMatt Musgrave on 2008-08-06

• If you only have a few minutes, spend them explaining what your
  product does and why it's great. Second order issues like competitors
  or resumes should be single slides you go through quickly at the
  end.
• Investors' main question when judging a very early startup is whether
  you've made a compelling product. Before they can judge whether
  you've built a good x, they have to understand what kind of x you've
  built
• On Angel Day each startup will
  only get ten minutes, so we encourage them to focus on just two
  goals: (a) explain what you're doing, and (b) explain why users
  will want it.
• "We're Jeff and Bob and we've built an easy to use web-based
  database. Now we'll show it to you and explain why people need
  this."
• the problem
  you're trying to solve and why it's important.
• The problem is, as you approach (in the calculus sense) a description
  of something that could be anything, the content of your description
  approaches zero.
• Don't go into detail about your business model, because (a) that's
  not what smart investors care about in a brief presentation, and
  (b) any business model you have at this point is probably wrong
  anyway.
• If you're solving an important problem, you're going to sound a lot
  smarter talking about that than the business model.
• Smart investors can see past such superficial flaws. They're
  not looking for finished, smooth presentations. They're looking
  for raw talent. All you need to convince them of is that you're
  smart and that you're onto something good.
• Greg Mcadoo said one thing Sequoia looks for is the "proxy for
  demand." What are people doing now, using inadequate tools, that
  shows they need what you're making?
• Viaweb's was "the Microsoft Word of ecommerce."
• A demo explains what you've made more effectively than any verbal
  description. The only thing worth talking about first is the problem
  you're trying to solve and why it's important. But don't spend
  more than a tenth of your time on that. Then demo.
• Your primary goal is not to describe everything your system might
  one day become, but simply to convince investors you're worth talking
  to further. So approach this like an algorithm that gets the right
  answer by successive approximations. Begin with a description
  that's gripping but perhaps overly narrow, then flesh it out to the
  extent you can. It's the same principle as incremental development:
  start with a simple prototype, then add features, but at every point
  have working code. In this case, "working code" means a working
  description in the investor's head.
• f you only have a few minutes, spend them explaining what your
  product does and why it's great. Second order issues like competitors
  or resumes should be single slides you go through quickly at the
  end. If you have impressive resumes, just flash them on the screen
  for 15 seconds and say a few words. For competitors, list the top
  3 and explain in one sentence each what they lack
  that you have. And put this kind of thing at the end, after you've
  made it clear what you've built.
• Err on the side of speaking slowly. At Demo Day, one of the founders
  mentioned a rule actors use: if you feel you're speaking too slowly,
  you're speaking at about the right speed
• single biggest piece of evidence,
  initially, will be your own confidence in it. You have
  to show you're impressed with what you've made.
• The biggest fear of investors looking at early stage startups is
  that you've built something based on your own a priori theories of
  what the world needs, but that no one will actually want. So it's
  good if you can talk about problems specific users have and how you
  solve them.
• The best stories about user needs are about your own. A remarkable
  number of famous startups grew out of some need the founders had:
  Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google. Experienced investors know that,
  so stories of this type will get their attention. The next best
  thing is to talk about the needs of people you know personally,
  like your friends or siblings.