Hi everyone
What a week!!
That market collapse was quite scary. We’re now seeing some recovery but the overall downward trend continues. So how does this impact on raising equity investment?
Venture capital companies raise parcels of money from the pension/superannuation funds. So those VCs who have a fund in place will continue to invest in the entrepreneurial [...]

Hi all,
Wow, what a great holiday break. Lots of good company, good food and that lovely red stuff to drink. I hope that you are as refreshed as I am.
How many of you have a strong value proposition?
I don’t see many in all the plans I read. It’s as if most entrepreneurs have not heard [...]

Hi
On Tuesday I received a business plan for a startup entrepreneur with a fantastic product. I could see that this product had lots of potential. In was in the ‘green’ space and in demand.
He wanted me to help him raise the money.
The entrepreneur, Joe, wants to raise about $4.5 million to get moving. He had [...]

Hi
I’ve been talking to Bill Reichert from Garage Technology Ventures in Silicon Valley. He and Guy Kawasaki invest in technology based businesses.
He made a very interesting point about what you need to do when pitching to investors and I quote:
“The reality is that raising venture capital is about getting investors to fall in love with [...]

I love this job. So many interesting situations!
Yet again I saw a company that was going for capital but, after some basic analysis, they didn’t need the money.
Anyone who invests in your business will charge top dollar. What I mean by that is that they will take a big chunk of your shares and they [...]

Hi Everyone
Earlier in the week I was talking to an entrepreneur who wanted help to raise about $1.2 million. After a few qualifying questions about marketing and the financials he passed the first screening. He sounded credible on the phone. I asked him to send me his plan.
Then it all fell apart. His idea of [...]

You’ve heard of ‘death by powerpoint’ well, ‘death by technology’ is even deadlier! It’s the Black Mamba in the world of pitching.
Yet too many entrepreneurs keep sticking their hands into the Black Mamba cage and they keep getting bitten - most don’t survive.
I made a presentation at the AusFirst Angel Conference last weekend. I spent [...]

Hi
I’ve just interviewed Bob Christiansen from Southern Cross Venture Partners. Bob and his partners have a fund of about $300million and they invest in early stage technology companies.
Bob has been in the game a long time. He’s heard thousands of pitches.
The biggest mistake according to Bob…
The biggest mistake is to talk too much about the [...]

Wow, what a week. We had 14 international investors looking for deals. Things were really buzzing.
I worked with 11 companies to get their pitches just right. It was a bit of a mixed bag to start with. Over about 3 weeks before the big day we re-structured and revamped the presentations. Lots of work there!
It [...]

I found this video of what NOT to do when you’re pitching a movie idea, but it’s also relevant for entrepreneurs pitching to investors.