Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

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. Be upbeat and respectful. Daydreams and “the idea of the moment” won’t get much respect.

Technical Review 273

Technical Review Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 273

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

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

This message, usually called your elevator pitch, should be a short and compelling description of your your startup, that can be delivered with conviction in the time it takes to ride up an elevator with a potential investor or partner. Develop and practice your business vision and story.

Entrepreneur 261

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Incubator 261

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

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. Be upbeat and respectful. Daydreams and “the idea of the moment” won’t get much respect.

Technical Review 266

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Startup 266

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

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

DECEMBER 20, 2011

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. Be upbeat and respectful. Daydreams and “the idea of the moment” won’t get much respect.

Early Stage 247

Early Stage Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 247

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

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

are eliminated during due diligence. They must amplify your “elevator pitch” to investors, as well as key points from the business plan and the financial model. A good start is taking an active role in relevant technology groups, trade associations, university activities, and local business groups.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

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. Be upbeat and respectful. Daydreams and “the idea of the moment” won’t get much respect.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Angel Investor 233

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

are eliminated during due diligence. They must amplify your “elevator pitch” to investors, as well as key points from the business plan and the financial model. A good start is taking an active role in relevant technology groups, trade associations, university activities, and local business groups.

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

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

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

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

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

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. Able to communicate on every level.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Startup 152

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

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

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

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

The newly formed teams then work for the entire weekend, with the help of some experienced mentors from the industry, who volunteer their time to share advice on product, technology, legal, PR and other issues. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology." " Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patented technology.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Technical Review 120

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

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 20, 2010

12 Point Elevator Pitch Strategy – [link]. FEDTALKS: How To Improve Government With Technology – [link]. Don’t Give Cash Performance Bonuses in a Loss-Making Company – [link]. How Much Are You Worth? – [link]. 10 web start-ups (all mine) … and why they failed – [link].

Social Media 91

Social Media Small Business Design Media 91

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

Pin down your elevator pitch. Everyone knows what an elevator pitch is, but many underestimate the importance of investing the time and energy into getting it right. You could include customer testimonials on your website or ask customers to leave reviews on relevant sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, Facebook or TripAdvisor.

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 74

Africa Ethiopia Elevator Pitch Technical Review 74

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. Further down the financing path, VCs will ask for additional information, known as due diligence materials.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence 100

Hearpreneur

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

Ultimately, we went with On Site because we wanted to give a clear indication of what made us different – kind of a micro elevator pitch in our name. And this kept me by her side for the next ten years as she struggled daily with the negative health consequences due to this grievous mistake. 3) My penchant for wordplay.

Naming 157

Naming CPA Entrepreneur Software Review 157

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

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

You’ve paid your dues. Computer/technology consulting. Take time to develop and rehearse your “elevator pitch” until you can deliver it comfortably and confidently. Check out MindTools’ guide to Crafting an Elevator Pitch. Information Technology Association of America.

Small Business Administration 86

Small Business Administration Small Business Social Media Elevator Pitch 86

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I have a personal diligence rule that when speaking to people at large companies, the facts that they tell you are very useful but their opinions about startup ideas no more valuable than any other smart person’s opinions). Darnell – If a back-end tech guy can copy it, you probably need to build the business idea more.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. Reply Week 2 – Customer Discovery & Listening « Iain’s Chips & Tech , on November 6, 2009 at 9:44 am Said: [.] Thanks and keep up the good work!

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Lesson learned, review how each action [.] elevator pitch and follow it up with a substantive presentation is the difference between a funded entrepreneur and those having coffee complaining that they’re out of cash. Reply Customer Development, GeekStack Style : GeekStack Blog , on November 25, 2009 at 9:15 am Said: [.]

Venture Capital 245

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 245

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” Let me check my plan.”

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Up and Running

MARCH 31, 2021

In fact, right now there are three crucial areas of business that are capable of withstanding that first elevator pitch: healthcare, technology, and education. They need small businesses to make a buck, and they potentially lost hundreds to thousands of companies due to recent closures. Why not start now? Get started.

Small Business 116

Small Business Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 116