We investors see this all the time. An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. When asked (as we always do) the response is, “This is new. We have no competition.” Niet! No! Unh unh. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. That statement has killed more […]
Pitching
Prospects Want to Hear Your Story Before They Hear Your Pitch
I’m not an independent television producer, but I would wager that right now the holy grail among TV people is to produce a show that turns into a binge-watching sensation on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or one of the other up-and-coming video streaming services. To me, the binge-watching phenomenon puts an exclamation mark on a recent […]
Pitch Perfect: The 9 Questions Every Successful Pitch Answers
Many curious co-workers and friends have asked me, “How did you manage to convince your company to let you work part-time, anywhere in the world, in a role you built for yourself?” I typically answer it was a combination of hard work and luck—being in the right place, at the right time, with the right […]
Avoid Competitor Bashing in Your Pitch to Investors
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. There is no perfect answer to the […]
The UPS Store and Inc. Magazine Salute Small Businesses with a National Pitch Off Contest
SAN DIEGO, April 3, 2018 –The UPS Store, Inc. together with Inc. Magazine, invite entrepreneurs and small business owners from across the country to enter the Small Biz Salute Pitch Off, a contest that will reward one small business owner with $25,000 and an editorial feature in Inc. Magazine. To enter the contest, eligible owners […]
Top 10 Pitch Fails
I was asked recently for a list of things that annoy me in angel investment pitches from startups. I’ve done this before, so there will be some duplication here. But here is my top 10 pitch fails list. Profits. Talk of profits, overestimated profits, the failure to understand that investors make money on growth, not […]
What are the Normal Steps for Angel Investment?
Question: What are the normal steps for angel investment? What’s involved in submitting a business plan? I decided to answer this question here because I see it so often in email and in question and answer sites on the web, especially Quora, which is where I first saw it and answered it. Yes you do need […]
Want Your Sales Pitch to Stand Out? Follow These 4 Tips
As a busy entrepreneur, I receive dozens of emails in my inbox daily, mostly from people who are trying to pitch me on their products or services. I move the majority of them into the trash without even giving them a second glance. But every once in a while, I get a gem of an […]
How to Sell Your Idea for an App
There are 1,000+ stories about self-made app millionaires like Nick D’Aloisio (Summly) and Sergey Gonchar (MSQRD), who sold their apps to IT tycoons floating around the Internet. Perhaps too many of them. It’s no wonder every Tom, Dick and Harry believes he can easily pitch his app idea to Google and drawn in cash. What […]
7 Tips for Raising Capital as a Solo Founder
I’ve played a role in founding three startups, but I’d never tackled the trials of fundraising until Roomi. Within a year, I raised $2 million. Convincing someone to invest in your brainchild is one of the biggest challenges a founder faces, and solo founders are often perceived by investors as an unsafe bet. In theory, […]
