A great night at the MIT100K Finals...

Posted by Prithvi Tanwar on May 13, 2010

Hats off to the organizers and the volunteers that helped put together the MIT 100K contest this year. It was evident at the finale that all of you had a great time pulling it together. 

For anyone that thinks otherwise: check these out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHgV6F6zvsE

and the remix…… http://www.youtube.com/user/jarrodphipps#p/a/u/0/_S8cZHrSMHA.

 

Paul Fireman, the man who took Reebok  from a small family run business that made a couple of thousand shoes a year to the worldwide megabrand that eventually sold to Adidas for close to $3.8 Billion dollars in 2005 was the keynote speaker. He had some great advice for start-ups and entrepreneurs that had me scrambling for a memo pad. This might not be exactly what he said, but you get the idea…

 

“A business plan is a ticket, it gets you in the game, but by no means does it guarantee success in the game”

 

“Communication is the key; putting all that fancy and cool technology to the side, you have to be able to explain the need that your product fulfills and the market that it is directed at”

“Communication inside is just as important outside, you and your team have to make sure that you are all headed in the same direction”

 

“You have to believe you are doing something special…in our case it was making the greatest running shoe…ever”

 

Kudos to all the participants and special congratulations to all the finalists. I was hoping that a certain team would win (you know who you are) but I think the quality of all the final presentations and business plans was superb.

 

For me though, the show stealer was the team from Couchange.org, these guys get up on stage to receive the Twitch award, and in their 5 minute acceptance speech: tell everyone about how great their product is; put up $500 of their own money to match the first $500 donated and; challenge Paul Fireman..or as they called him “Mr Billionaire” to give to their good cause…..the sheer audacity, you got to love it!! 

 

Apparently Paul loved them just as much and the company raised $20,000 last night….is that a great 5 minute pitch or what! 

More Pitch Tips

Posted by Dave Broadwin on January 23, 2009

On December 22 Startable posted its pitch tip number 5.  I find it noteworth because  a promising start up with a gold plated tech entreprenuer that I am working with seems reluctant to dwell on his credentials.  Here is part of the post:

One of the most important, if not THE most important, component of a startup is the team. Venture capitalists will want to know a ton about the people starting the business. This is pretty intuitive, since most VCs invest in ideas before they are real businesses. Thus, the founders/management team ARE the business!

Modesty, I suppose, has its place, and you do not want to sound boastful or egotistical.  Nevertheless, one VC said to me that he looks for some star power on the founding team.  His view is that quality attracts quality.  People want to work with and be associated with "the best."  In his view, it is easier to build a first class team if you start with one or more impressive founders. 

TheFunded.com tips on Pitches

Posted by Dave Broadwin on November 21, 2008

Tips on pitches are a popular subject for blogs. TheFunded.com has a post on this subject you might want to take a look at.

Startable's Tips on Pitches

Posted by Dave Broadwin on November 18, 2008

Startable, one of the blogs that I read, has started doing posts which they refer to as Quick VC Pitch Tips (see tip 1 and tip 2).  The suggestions in the posts and the suggestions in the comments all have merit.  While some of them may seem obvious, it is sometimes good to be reminded of the basics.  My posts on this subject are Making a Pitch and More on Pitches.

More on Pitches

Posted by Dave Broadwin on October 21, 2008

Sometimes you can't be all things to all people.  I often hear entrepreneurs say that they intend to alter very basic aspects of their business plans to appeal to what they imagine to be the appetite of a particular VC.  One example of this thinking is the often heard "I only need $2 million, but I am going to put together a plan that shows a need for $10 million because that is the only way to interest a VC." 

While it is undoubtedly true that there are many VCs who wont invest at "smaller" amounts, it probably means the entrepreneur should be approaching angels or so-called capital gap investors.  It is very hard to imagine that an investor will not notice that  you are asking for more than you need.

Aside from the awkwardness of asking for much more than is needed, this kind of request could suggest that the entrepreneur does not have a clear vision of what the business opportunity is.  I believe that investors want to know whether you are planning to build a cottage or a cathedral and that you have a vision of what the business will be.  This kind of request, targeted to the VC's interest rather than the needs of the company, assuming it is detected by the VC, might also suggest that the entrepreneur is more interested in acquiring an investor than in pursuing a particular plan.  It could also suggest that the entrepreneur may not deal forthrightly with his or her investors.  That is, they will take $10 million to execute on a plan that they really think only needs $2 million. 

It is more important to have a plan you are enthousiastic about and then go find the right investor than it is to have the right investor then go build a plan around the investor.

Making a Pitch

Posted by Dave Broadwin on September 09, 2008

Sometimes it's worth being reminded of the basics.  I recently had occasion to send a start-up client exec summary to a very prominent VC who then asked the company in for a pitch.  The exec summary is strong -- strong enough to get  three VCs from a major fund to attend an hour or longer meeting.  Keep in mind, VCs are inundated with business plans, and these meetings are hard to get.  So, you want to put your best foot forward.

Anyway, the fund took a pass and I got some feedback.  The problem wasn't the plan or the market or the management's credentials; the problem was the presentation.  Apparently, the pitch was disorganized.  No one led the conversation.  The three entrepreneurs kept interrupting each other and correcting each other.  The VC's questions were dismissed as the "wrong" questions and so on.  Basically, the pitch created the impression that the team was unlikely to be able to work effectively together or with others.

You must look like you have it, and in fact have it, together.  You need to practice your pitch.  You need to know who is talking to what slides and issues.  And, it doesn't much matter what question you are asked, if it is important to the potential investor --  it is important.

In another case, I am aware of, the entrepreneur took three weeks to respond to questions raised by an investor at an initial meeting.   I think it is OK not to be able to answer every question, but when you undertake to get back to a potential investor, you need to be timely.  If you are not, you risk raising questions about yourself.

I feel as though I am stating the obvious, but I mentioned these pitch issues to a couple of our attorneys, and they each had a similar story.  It seems as if this lack of good basics is more prevalent than one would think.  If you want to practice your pitch, there are lots of people who are likely to be willing to listen and be helpful -- not the least of them being your lawyer.