T-M-I from T-I-M

Why try stand up comedy?

I gave stand up comedy a good try for about a year and had a blast doing it.  I met some awesome people, had tons of laughs and learned some awesome lessons.

Most people told me I had huge balls to go up on stage (which made me wonder what they say to women comics).  It doesn't seem that way to me but I learned a couple of great lessons by trying something creative out.

1. If you're gonna do it, really do it.  I took classes at the San Francisco Comedy College and went up at least once or twice a week.  Now that's not a bunch, but I definitely put the effort in.  It's real easy to justify "failure" if you don't really invest in it.
2. If you're gonna do it, you will succeed.  Nothing's better than being on stage killing a crowd.  It can be as small as one joke going really well and you're hooked.
3. If you're gonna do it, you will fail.  One of the greatest lessons I learned doing stand up was how to deal with failure.  Comedy has the unique dynamic of giving you immediate feedback on whether you're killing or not and it's sure hard to deal with silence, a great lesson.
4. If you're gonna do it, you'll meet different people.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have met most of the cats I met doing comedy in my regular life.  That's a blessing, embrace it and you're sure to broaden your perspective.

I also learned a few things about comics.

1. We're neurotic.  At least the good ones are.
2. We love the spotlight.  Even the bad ones.
3. We're resilient.  It's a frickin' grind but many of us keep at it.
4. We're not very realistic.  There are tons of us and we all (in the back of our minds) think there's an outside chance we'll make it.
5. We all love my jokes.  Not really, but I couldn't help myself.

I don't think stand up comedy is for everyone, but I do think creative endeavors of some sort are.  It will challenge you in ways that you can't even imagine. 

That's why I tried it.

What's your objective in an investor presentation?

You've started your business.  Perhaps you've built your product and maybe even have a few customers.  It's time to hit the investor circuit and give your investor presentation.

You've made it through the screening process and in your mind the objective is clear:  raise money. Agreed, but to raise money successfully (particularly from angels) it's critical to identify what your objective is for your presentation.  

When I work with entrepreneurs I tell them their objective should be that an investor sitting in the audience should think to themselves "This is interesting enough to go to due diligence". 

The nice thing about identifying that objective is that you now have a guide of sorts to what the content should be in your presentation.  You know the investors are only going to remember a few things so if you want them to go to due diligence make sure they get that:

1. There's a big problem
2. You have a unique solution
3. You are a team that can do it

This proves to be the cornerstone of a killer pitch because it allows you to throw out a lot of what doesn't belong (for example almost every technology stack or medical trial results slide ever created!).

If you stay objective oriented in your communication it's far more likely you will stay execution oriented in the financing process.

Are great new start-ups still being founded?

Yes.

One of the wonderful things about helping entrepreneurs pitch to investors is I get a regular stream of inspiring optimism from CEO's who've founded companies even now.  The economy still stinks and yet quality companies are started and succeeding.  The investing environment is still dry (although like the early 2000's, angels are still out there investing) and entrepreneurs still know they can do it.

It's the never ending optimism and ambition of a special kind of professional that is just inspiring to encounter.  I've helped 2 entrepreneurs in the last 3 days get ready to pitch at an upcoming investor meeting.  Both have excellent sustainable business models and have legitimate chances to succeed long term.

I suppose there's a Darwinian element to today's start-up environment where quality is rising to the top.  But I'll be darned if it doesn't take some serious brass balls to think that you can do it.

So tonight, I salute the winners who are still taking chances and I realize how lucky I am to meet them.  I see it every month, and I'm lucky.

Prepping Start-ups for Angel Investor Presentations

It's the time of the month again where I help a few companies that are getting ready to present to the Band of Angels.  I give them about 60 minutes of my time for free (a great value) to help them perhaps re-consider their pitch.

It takes me about 30 minutes of that time to get to the bottom of what the company does without fail.  The next 30 minutes are focused on the story.  After doing this every month for the last 7 years I thought I would share the top  issues that seem to come up every time.

1. 15 slides do not equal 10 minutes.  My job is to get them to see that they can do it in 6-8.  Trust me it can be done.
2. But this person told me to it this way, not your way.  A common occurrence and a fact of life being a presentation consultant.  The entrepreneur is always welcome to ignore my way but my way has been developed over 7 years specifically for the group.
3. For financials you only need that?  Yes, I say, 3-5 years of revenue is plenty for a slide.  Anything more and you end up talking about financials and not the business.  And the one thing we know for certain about financials is every number is wrong.
4. But we do so much more...  One of the hardest things to get is that you only really do 1 or 2 things REALLY differently.  The marginal benefit you bring beyond that is exponentially lower and usually not developed anyway!
5. I've got a great demo or we'll have two presenters.  These go together because I rarely see a demo or presentation hand off work well in a 10 minute pitch.  Leave the demo for Q&A or due diligence.

These are just a few of the ones that commonly come up.  And it makes me happy each month to help address them.