Venture Hacks

John Manoogian sent me this great trailer for The Player, a satire of the movie making system in Hollywood:

(Link: The Player)

Silicon Valley is the Hollywood of startups.

Business plans are scripts, entrepreneurs are writers, engineers are talent, VCs are studios, angels are independent financiers, recruiters are casting agents, lawyers are lawyers, advisors are agents, points are [...]

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I want to give Pinch Media a shout-out for mentioning our post on high concept pitches in their funding announcement. Their pitch is,
“FeedBurner for iPhone developers.”
Can they shorten it even further? “FeedBurner for iPhones”?
I wonder if they used our other hacks too when they negotiated their deal with Union Square Ventures and First Round Capital. [...]

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Anthony Stevens read our article on high concept pitches and decided to write a high concept pitch for his startup:
“So, let’s see: my startup is Crowdify, a tool for brand and reputation managers to discover new insights into consumers’ attitudes about their subjects and make better decisions about marketing and public relations strategy. We [...]

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“For investors, the product is nothing.”
– Marc Hedlund
Summary: A high concept pitch distills a startup’s vision into a single sentence. It’s the perfect tool for fans and investors who are spreading the word about your company.
Hollywood has perfected the art of the high concept pitch:
“Its Jaws in space!” (Alien)
“A bus with a bomb!” (Guess.)
“Snakes on [...]

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“I know plenty of VCs that behave the way I do and plenty that don’t.”
— Brad Feld, on keeping decks to himself
Summary: A deck can help you get a meeting but it can also get in the hands of the competition. Whether you send a deck depends on who wants the meeting most. If you [...]

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Summary: Don’t send long business plans to investors. Don’t ask for NDAs. Don’t share information that must remain confidential. Understand that investors care about traction over everything else.
In Parts 1 and 2 of ‘What should I send investors?’, we covered the elevator pitch and deck. In this article, we present a few dos and don’ts [...]

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“PowerPoint plans greatly increase your chance of getting a term sheet, or at least the dignity of a quick no.”
— David Cowan, Bessemer Venture Partners
Summary: An introduction and elevator pitch are critical to getting a meeting. You can also provide a “ten-slide” deck that tells a compelling story about your team, product, traction, and plans.
A [...]

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“Summarize the company’s business on the back of a business card.”
— Sequoia Capital
Summary: An introduction captures an investor’s attention, but a great elevator pitch gets a meeting. The major components of the pitch are traction, product, and team.
If you’re building an interesting company, people will offer to introduce you to investors—it makes them looks good. [...]

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