Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2019

I have found it to be more productive and effective to lead with the model that no meetings will take an hour, and may be done in as little as five minutes. I have personally used this approach in leading startups as well as large organizations, in highly technical roles as well as business development and marketing. Marty Zwilling.

Elevator Pitch 312

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Dividend Leadership 312

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Can concisely explain the unique, compelling value of the proposed venture in written terms and in oral presentations (elevator pitch), recognizing that some investors rely more on one than the other. Allows sufficient time to find capital, including due diligence time for investors. Listens before answering questions.

Angel Investor 241

Angel Investor Technical Review Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 241

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Practice your “elevator pitch,” and end it by asking for the order. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Technical Review 273

Technical Review Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 273

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Practice your “elevator pitch,” and end it by asking for the order. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Technical Review 266

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Startup 266

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Turn existing connections into productive relationships. By helping others, and participating in online debates and industry events, you will find that productive relationships emerge naturally with peers. If your strength is technology, find a partner who can complement you with marketing and financial skills.

Entrepreneur 261

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Incubator 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2013

Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is an extended pitch on your new disruptive technology. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business, rather than your technology.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch Matching 256

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2011

You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Practice your “elevator pitch,” and end it by asking for the order. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Early Stage 247

Early Stage Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 247

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

The impact of a memorable story was highlighted for me recently as I reviewed the classic book, “ Sell With A Story ,” by Paul Smith, who is an expert trainer on increasing business results through storytelling. Place where it happened. A memorable story needs to start with location specifics to make it real.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

are eliminated during due diligence. Build a prototype product. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2012

Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is an extended pitch on your new disruptive technology. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business, rather than your technology.

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 243

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Practice your “elevator pitch,” and end it by asking for the order. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Angel Investor 233

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is an extended pitch on your new disruptive technology. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business, rather than your technology.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 237

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

are eliminated during due diligence. Build a prototype product. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable entrepreneur in each that predicts failure, allowing them to discard it like another piece of junk mail. Asking him to check out your website first and comment is equally bad.

Elevator Pitch 244

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Business Plan .Net 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Yet 2013 is still projected by The Fiscal Times as a difficult IPO opportunity for startups, due to choppy markets, continuing fiscal uncertainty, and the Facebook fiasco. Practice every step, including the elevator pitch to get the first meeting. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5

Venture Capital 252

Venture Capital IPO Elevator Pitch Initial Public Offering 252

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable entrepreneur in each that predicts failure, allowing them to discard it like another piece of junk mail. Asking him to check out your website first and comment is equally bad.

Business Plan 242

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Technical Review .Net 242

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Some dreams sound great, but may not yet be viable or proven with today’s technology. Present at trade shows and network with your ten-slide pitch to build your following.

Intellectual Property 235

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Harvest Technical Review 235

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2018

The impact of a memorable story was highlighted for me recently as I reviewed the classic book, “ Sell With A Story ,” by Paul Smith, who is an expert trainer on increasing business results through storytelling. Place where it happened. A memorable story needs to start with location specifics to make it real.

Elevator Pitch 211

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Even if your product is a technological marvel, I look for balanced strength on the team in finance, marketing and operations. It starts with having a vision and an ability to get the message across in your elevator pitch, in a written business plan and one-on-one with potential investors.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2015

I have found it to be more productive and effective to lead with the model that no meetings will take an hour, and may be done in as little as five minutes. I have personally used this approach in leading startups as well as large organizations, in highly technical roles as well as business development and marketing.

Founder 120

Founder Product Elevator Pitch Startup 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 6, 2017

You need to begin with an overall impression of your vision, followed by your “elevator pitch” – a no nonsense, bare essentials version of what you’re planning to do and why it is so important. This is arguably the most essential element that your startup pitch deck must have to be successful.

Elevator Pitch 113

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Startup Due Diligence 113

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

So even if my own mother asked me to meet with you, and you were pitching me a biotech opportunity for a $10 million investment at a $90 million valuation, I might take the meeting, but it wouldn’t be particularly useful for either of us. Now comes the really tricky part: getting me to review all that stuff you just neatly uploaded.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 11, 2013

The first two were prohibitive due to timezone difficulties. By process of elimination & in small part due to my Israeli heritage, Tel Aviv won the day. Tel Avivians are extraordinarily open minded, and if you are in tech, expect to be invited for dinners & tiyulim ( short trips). What could be better than that?

Israel 145

Israel San Francisco Technical Review Venezuela 145

Up and Running

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Market research is important because it will help you figure out whether or not there is demand for the service you’re offering or the product you’re selling. See what people are paying, how they’re rating products/services. Day 8: Write a one page pitch. Go shopping – do both online and offline shopping or ‘research’.

Elevator Pitch 166

Elevator Pitch Software Review SBA Angel Investor 166

Up and Running

APRIL 11, 2012

He defines the elevator pitch, video pitch, executive summary, PowerPoint presentation, and business plan as different forms. Investors who wish to pursue investment will ask for a copy of your business plan and enter a stage called “due diligence,” spending lots of time with you validating the investment opportunity.

Business Plan 85

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Technical Review Due Diligence 85

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is a full tutorial on your new disruptive technology. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business, rather than your technology.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Startup Angel Investor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. If you start by pitching your extended life story, that’s the wrong point. Equally bad is a full tutorial on your new disruptive technology. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business, rather than your technology.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 120

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Launch48 is a new kind of micro-incubator taking place over the course of a weekend, which enables entrepreneurs to pitch their concept in one minute, in order to find team mates who are interested in pursuing the idea. For example, you may point out that there is a company with similar technology, but different application/market.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

I know what it’s like to pitch to investors—both angels and venture capitalists. I’ve raised close to $1 million from angel investors for my previous technology startups. Sometimes you only get 10 minutes to pitch your business opportunity to the investors (or less in some cases). Best of luck pitching your business!

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Simple fonts, graphic minimalism, and technical optimization rule the day, while texts are pared back to communicate the greatest amount of information in the fewest words. Kristy Campbell, COO of Rev1 Ventures, describes your first website as a “step beyond your elevator pitch.” Step Back From Social.

Web 113

Web Design Elevator Pitch Entrepreneur 113

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 20, 2010

Product or Service Features Are Rarely A Competitive Advantage – [link]. 12 Point Elevator Pitch Strategy – [link]. Product or Service Features Are Rarely A Competitive Advantage – [link]. Amazon’s Approach to Product Development – [link]. How Much Are You Worth? – [link].

Social Media 91

Social Media Small Business Design Media 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

As a model, think high-quality marketing collateral, with text and graphics in columns and sidebars, but focused on the value of your business, rather than selling your product. I see too many executive summaries that are simply heavy-duty customer pitches, or lightweight visions of the future.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Technical Review 120

VC Cafe

MARCH 4, 2024

All of this is in addition to the macro challenges that Israeli startups had to deal with in 2023 even before October 7th, including international investor unease due to the proposed judicial reform (that has since been taken off the table), Ukraine war, global venture slowdown ( US VC investments were down 60% in 2023 ), etc.

Israel 78

Israel Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital 78

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Take full advantage of your most productive times. Reflect on what your most productive hours in the day are, and set yourself up for success within those hours. Pin down your elevator pitch. For Craig, the owner of Dent Tech of Lexington , being available for quality family time is the priority.

Elevator Pitch 100

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Affiliate Global 100

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 18, 2017

FinTech players are increasingly becoming an important part of the fabric of Africa’s financial services ecosystem and the leading banks on the continent are now more urgently seeking to harness technology innovations, collaborate with FinTech start‐ups, and create a platform to scale much faster – to make digital financial services pay.

Africa 81

Africa Ethiopia Elevator Pitch Technical Review 81

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

You’ll need a few paragraphs that you can email — often called the elevator pitch — meaning you should be able to give it during a brief elevator ride up to your investor’s office. This is a one- to three-page description of your idea, product, team, and business. An executive summary. Most VCs love demos.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence 100

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

This SaaS company, one of 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2020 , enables global organizations to analyze and resolve pay gaps due to gender or race and stay in compliance over time. All SXSW Pitch events take place at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Coffee, tech, mountains, and saltwater. million employees on the platform.

Technical Review 62

Technical Review Seattle Elevator Pitch Equity 62