Index

Able Lending, 74–77

accelerators, 154, 157

Ackerson, Pete, 130

acquisition strategies, 36

active voice, 67

advisers, 167

in team decks, 32–33

Airbnb, 157, 223–224

Allis, Ryan, 82

ambiguity, 19, 212

analogies, in elevator pitches, 18

Andersen, Fred, 176

angel investors, 1, 10, 148, 154, 158–163

AngelList, 3, 159–161, 194, 221

Appio, Helen, 43–44

Arison, George, 118

Aristotle, 173

articles of incorporation, 220, 221

The Art of Game Design (Schell), 199

asks, 34, 209–222

closing, 220–222

how to make, 212

progress updates after, 215–218

scripting and practicing, 213

types of, 214

assumptions

articulating in pitch decks, 14

in financial models, 31

in industry stories, 47

testing/iterating critical, 11–12

traction slides on, 24

Avallon, Jeff, 165, 190

background profile template, 195

background slides, 37

The Back of the Napkin (Roam), 62

Baehr, Evan, 74, 180

balance sheets, 31, 35

Ballard, Jason, 130

Band, Zvi, 86

beachhead markets, 27

Beacon, 78–81

beaming review pitch, 138

Beekman, Jonathan, 110

Bieber, Justin, 47

binding, 72

biographies, 32

Blah, Blah, Blah (Roam), 62

Blakely, Dave, 167

Blank, Steve, 11

blueprints, 37

body language, 141, 192, 193, 214

boldness, 17

Bono, 167, 175–176

Boosted Boards, 204

bootstrapping, 146

borrowing money, 146

Borsje, Stefan, 106

branding slides, 35

breakeven points, 31

building relationships, 169, 170, 189–201

finding commonalities and, 197–198

first impressions in, 192–193

handling objections of, 201

homework for, 194–195

listening and asking questions in, 198–199

openings for, 195–197

perspective taking in, 192–193

play in, 199–200

bullet points, 22, 54, 55

burn rate, 31

Burt, Ronald S., 177

Business Model Canvas, 37

business models

improving by committing to paper, 14

in pitch decks, 10

slides on, 29–30

business plans, 11–12, 13

business processes, 28

bylaws, 221

Campbell, Joseph, 42, 43

capital, types of, 4

capital tables, 221

Cappaert, Tony, 86

Carbonella, Jeff, 86

case studies, 37

cash flow statements, 31, 35

Cassanego, Tony, 90

charity: water, 39–41

customer stories of, 43–45

industry story of, 45–47

origin story of, 40–43

venture growth story of, 47–49

charts, 62

Chegg, 179

Chi-Hua, Chien, 144

Christensen, Clayton, 27

CircleUp, 156

clarity

from good design, 54

in overview slides, 17

in text, 67

in use of funds slides, 34

Clarity.fm, 174, 190

close-ups, 60

closing, 220–222

clusters, in social graphs, 178

Coats, Emma, 137–138

coffee shop pitch, 140

color.adobe.com, 59

color use, 54, 55, 58–59

commonalities, finding, 170, 195, 197–198

competition slides, 28–29, 37

competitive advantages, 28, 29, 37

conclusion slides, 38

confidence

asks and, 211

industry stories and, 46

showing, 196

in teams, 32

Connect, 82–85

consistency, in financial projections, 30

Contactually, 18, 86–89

Contee, Caen, 82

context, 10, 30, 34, 224

for data visualizations, 61

writing style and, 66

contingencies, 213

controversy, 193, 200–201

cost breakdowns, 30

cover slides, 16

Cozzens, Cory, 78

crash points, 59

Creative Commons, 60–61

Creative Market, 61

Crowdfunder, 147, 156

crowdfunding, 10, 147, 154, 156

curiosity, 199–200

customers

acquisition stategy for, 36

costs to acquire, 30, 31

describing, 25

differentiating, 26

in elevator pitches, 18

financial projections on, 30

lifetime value of, 36–37

pitch decks for, 10

quotes by, 37

segmentation of, 26–27

solving problems of, 17, 18

storytelling about, 21, 43–45, 52

traction with, 23–24

use cases for, 22

customer slides, 25–27

Dastoor, Sanjay, 204

data visualizations, 54, 55, 61

Davis, Will, 74, 180

Death to the Stock Photo, 60–61

debt, 146

Delaware C corporations, 220

delighting investors, 171, 203–208

design, 53–63

color in, 54, 55, 58–59

data visualizations in, 54, 61

elements of, 54

format in, 68

images and photography in, 54, 59–61

importance of, 53–54

layout in, 54, 56

product design/blueprint slides, 37

typography in, 54, 57

what not to do in, 54

what to do in, 55

Diamandis, Peter, 167

differentiation

from competitors, 28, 29

of customers, 26

slides on, 36

Disney, 69, 199

DocSend, 90–93

docsend.com, 72

Dorsey, Jack, 47

Dos Equis, 196

Dropbox, 157, 180

drunk Hemingway pitch, 139

dry runs for pitches, 140–141

d.school pitch frameworks, 137–139

Duarte, Nancy, 50–51, 53, 56, 57, 61

due diligence, 12, 159, 160, 220–221

DuPont, 11

Eisner, Michael, 69

elevator pitches, 17, 18

e-mail scripts, 4

for building trust, 183

for following up after meetings, 206

for introductions, 184–186, 187

empathy, 21, 192

employees

recruiting, 10

training in PowerPoint, 12

entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

definition of, 224

difficulty of, 225

numbers of, 3

as problem solving, 21

serial versus first-time, 3–4

as storytelling, 39–52

equity, selling, 147

equity-based crowdfunding, 156

equity financing agreements, 149–151

establishing shots, 59–60

Everest, 167, 175–176, 210

executive summaries, 35

exit slides, 37

exit strategies, 37

Eyerly, Wade, 78

Facebook, 223–224

Farnsworth, Reed, 78

feedback, 4, 35, 156

e-mail script for, 183

handling objections and, 201

Feld, Brad, 149

figures of speech, 67, 68

Filament Labs, 216–218

financial history, 221

financial literacy, 30

financial models, 31, 221

financial projections, 29–30

First Opinion, 94–97

500 Startups, 157

Floodgate, 179, 190

flowcharts, 63

following up, 187, 206

fonts, 54, 57

format of text, 65, 68

founders, common mistakes by, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90, 94, 98, 102, 106, 110, 114, 118, 122, 126, 130

Freight Farms, 98–101

frequently asked questions (FAQs) slides, 34, 201

Friedman, Jonathan, 98

friends and family, funding from, 10, 155

friendship loop, 167–171, 177

friendships, 5

building with investors, 191

leapfrogging with, 184–187

social graph of, 175–178

fundraising, 5–6

from accelerators, 154, 157

from angel investors, 1, 10, 148, 154, 158–163

creating connections and, 45–47

crowdfunding, 10, 147, 154, 156

equity financing agreements and, 149–151

four ways of, 146–147

from friends and family, 10, 155

friendship loop in, 167–171

friendships in, 5

history of for startups, 10–13

introductions in, 173–187

learning skills for, 4–5

primer on startup, 145–152

questions to ask before, 166

rounds in, 148–149

snares in, 168

sources for, 153–171

through borrowing, 146

through donations, 147

through profits, 146

through selling equity, 147

types of capital in, 4

unexpected miracles in, 5

from venture capital firms, 10, 12, 148–149, 154, 164

Gaal, Robert, 106

gifts, 205, 207–208

GM, 11

Goldsmith, Jonathan, 196

Gong, Sam, 110

go-to-market strategy, 37

Graham, Kevin, 130

Graham, Paul, 12–13, 149, 174

gratitude, 196–197, 205

gridlines, 56

growth plans, 36

growth stage, 154

Gust, 221

haiku pitch, 139

hard charger asks, 219

Harrison, Scott, 39–41

customer stories of, 43–45

industry story of, 45–47

origin story of, 40–43

venture growth story of, 47–49

Haughey, Chris, 126

Haughey, Will, 126

Heath, Chip, 212

Heath, Dan, 212

Heddleston, Russ, 90

hero’s journey stories, 42, 43

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Campbell), 43

Hinge, 102–105

history slides, 34, 37

hockey-stick graphs, 24

Hopkins, Adam, 176

how it works slides, 36

hue, 58

iContact, 82

IdeaPaint, 165, 190

IDEO, 167

imagery, 67, 68

images and photography, 35–36, 54, 58, 59–61

as backgrounds, 61

charts, 62

five ways of showing, 62–63

flowcharts, 63

maps, 62

portraits, 62

resolution of, 61

stock, 60–61

timelines, 63

types of, 59–60

improvisation, 193

income statements, 31, 35

incorporation, 220

Indiegogo, 10, 147, 156

industry descriptions, 19–20

industry knowledge, 28

industry stories, 45–47, 52

Ingersoll, Minnie, 118

intellectual property, 28

interactive demonstrations, 22

introductions, 169, 170, 173–187

creating great, 187

e-mail scripts for, 183, 184–186, 187

following up after, 187, 206

knowledge/relationship gaps and, 180–181

leapfrogging, 184–187

luck surface area and, 179

social graphs and, 175–178

trust building in, 182

investment banking, 12, 146

investment highlight slides, 35

investors, 153–171

accelerators, 154, 157

angel, 1, 10, 148, 154, 158–163

asks to, 34

building relationships with, 169, 170, 189–201

controversy and, 193, 200–201

crowdfunding and, 10, 147, 154, 156

delighting, 171, 203–208

demonstrating traction to, 24

doing homework on, 194–195

due diligence on, 220–221

finding commonalities with, 170, 195, 197–198

friends and family, 10, 155

friendship loop and, 167–171

handling objections of, 201

importance of design to, 53–54

intriguing with elevator pitches, 18

introduction to, 173–187

listening to, 198–199

name and needs lists on, 180–181

openings with, 195–197

perspective taking by, 192–193

playing with, 199–200

risk aversion of, 11

in team decks, 32–33

venture capital, 10, 12, 148–149, 154, 164

invitation, in the friendship loop, 171, 209–222

closing on, 220–222

planning, 212

progress updates after, 215–218

scripting and practicing, 213

types of, 214, 219

irony, 18

jargon, 67

Jedi Mind Trick exercise, 136

JOBS Act of 2012, 10, 156

Johnson, Steven, 177

judgment, demonstrating sober, 29

Karma, 18, 106–109, 200

Keynote documents, 72

Kickstarter, 10, 147, 156

King, Greg, 2, 5

Knutson, Morgan, 118

Koslow, Dave, 90

Kristof, Nicholas, 46

LaunchPad, 137–139

LaVoy, Anima Sarah, 82

lawyers, 221

layout, 54, 56

Lean Canvas, 37

The Lean Startup (Ries), 11

leapfrogging, 184–187

learning, 35

Lee, Paul, 13

Leep, Tommy, 174, 179, 190

legal issues, 220–222

Levitt, Ted, 18

LinkedIn, 221

liquidation preference, 150

listening, 198–199

location slides, 36

logos, 16, 58–59

Loomis, Evan, 130, 191, 198, 205

luck surface area, 179

Lyft, 224

Man Crates, 110–113

Maples, Mike, 159

maps, 62

Marcyes, Jay, 94

margins, 54

markets

beachhead, 27

defining, 25

opportunity slides on, 19–20

problem slides on, 21

served addressable, 27

sizing, 26–27

total addressable, 26–27

market slides, 25–27, 34

Martell, Dan, 174, 190

McCandless, David, 55

McCloud, Scott, 53

McClure, Dave, 159

McDaniel, Michael, 114

McLeod, Justin, 102

McNamara, Brad, 98

medium shots, 60

meetings, 4

Melamed, Zachary, 82

Mendelson, Jason, 149

Mercy Ships, 41

metaphors, 67, 68

metrics, 24, 37–38, 78, 102, 122

milestones, 34, 35

mission statements, 35

momentum asks, 219

money transfers, 220, 222

Morley, Ryan, 78

networks, 28, 159–161. See also introductions

offering access to, 208

social graph of, 175–178

Newsle, 194

obituary pitch, 138

objections, handling, 201

Ohler, Christian, 118

opportunity analysis, 11–12, 26–27, 177

opportunity slides, 19–20

organization charts, 37, 221

origin stories, 40–43

Orwell, George, 67

Outbox, 158, 161, 180

overview slides, 17

Palantir, 223–224

paper quality, 72

partnerships, 4–5

asks, 219

as competitive advantage, 28

pitch decks for, 10

strategic, 37

passion clarifying, 13–14

origin stories and, 43

in overview slides, 17

in pitch decks, 10, 13–14

in storytelling, 50–51

in team slides, 32

passive voice, 67

patent slides, 35

PayPal, 223–224

PDFs, 72

Pedraza, Francis, 167, 175–176, 177, 210

perspective taking, 192–193

photography. See images and photography

picking a fight, 18

pictures. See images and photography

Pink, Daniel, 189

pipeline slides, 37

pitch decks, 4, 5

Able Lending, 74–77

Beacon, 78–81

benefits of, 12

building blocks of, 15–38

business model slides in, 29–30

common mistakes in, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90, 94, 98, 102, 106, 110, 114, 118, 122, 126, 130

competition slides in, 28–29

Connect, 82–85

Contactually, 86–89

cover slides in, 16

customer/market slides in, 25–27

definition of, 10

designing, 53–63

digital, 72

DocSend, 90–93

examples of, 73–133

extra slides in, 34–38

First Opinion, 94–97

Freight Farms, 98–101

Hinge, 102–105

history of, 10–13

how to start, 71–72

Karma, 106–109

Man Crates, 110–113

one-pagers, 72

opportunity slides in, 19–20

overview slides in, 17

presentation, 10, 66, 68

printing, 72

problem slides in, 20–21

as prototypes, 13–14

Reaction, Inc., 114–117

reading, 10, 12, 66, 68

rise of, 12–13

sending, 72

Shift, 118–121

SOLS Systems, 122–125

solution slides in, 22–23

storytelling in, 12

team slides in, 32–33

Tegu, 126–129

templates for, 4

text in, 65–72

traction slides in, 23–24

TreeHouse, 130–133

updates/versions of, 72

use of funds slides in, 33–34

pitches

beaming review, 138

drunk Hemingway, 139

dry runs for, 140–141

exercises on, 135–141

haiku, 139

obituary, 138

one-word, 137

Pixar, 137–138

proud grandparent, 138

storytelling in, 52

three-sentence, 139

with/without the deck, 140

Pixar pitch, 137–138

Playbutton, 174

playing, 199–200

“Politics and the English Language” (Orwell), 67

portraits, 62

post-money valuation, 150

PowerPoint, 12, 72

pre-money valuation, 150

presentation decks, 10, 66, 68. See also pitch decks

presentation software, 12

pricing, 31, 150

problems

customer pain from, 23

in customer stories, 43–45

demonstrating what your company will solve, 17, 18

personalization of, 21

slides on, 20–21

products

design/blueprint slides, 37

road maps on, 35

slides on, 34

profit margins, 31

profits, raising money through, 146

progress, demonstrating, 34

after asks, 215–218

scripts for updates on, 216–218

in venture growth stories, 49

prototypes and prototyping, pitch decks as, 13–14

proud grandparent pitch, 138

questions, asking, 198–199

Quora, 221

rapport building, 32

Ravikant, Naval, 159

Reaction, Inc., 114–117

reading decks, 10, 12, 66, 68. See also pitch decks

relationships. See friendship loop; friendships

repeatability, 23

Resonate (Duarte), 50–51

revenue, 25, 31, 146

rewards-based crowdfunding, 156

RGB numbers, 58, 59

Rhode, Joe, 69

Ries, Eric, 11

risk slides, 36

road show, 168

Roam, Dan, 53, 62–63

Roosevelt, Teddy, 225

Rothenberg, Mike, 190

rule of thirds, 59

sales funnel slides, 36

scalability, 23

Schell, Jesse, 199

Schouwenburg, Kegan, 122

screenshots, 36

scripts

for building trust, 183

for following up after meetings, 206

for introductions, 184–186, 187

for invitations, 213, 220–222

for progress updates, 216–218

scripts for openings, 197

Seats, Jason, 136, 210

Seedcamp, 157

seed stage, 148, 154, 155, 157, 158

senses

design and, 54

engaging in storytelling, 49–50

sentence structure, 67–68

served addressable markets (SAM), 27

Shift, 118–121

Shyp, 18

signatures, 220, 222

SilverCar, 18

simplicity, 28, 61

slide:ology (Duarte), 56, 61

Snyder, Blake, 18

social graph, 175–178, 182

SOLS Systems, 122–125

solution slides, 22–23

SpaceX, 223–224

sparklines, 50–51

spy dry runs, 141

Stanford University, 137–139

startup platforms, 4

stock photography, 60–61

Stocksy, 61

storytelling, 12, 39–52, 71

archetypes of, 40

arc of, 50–52

customer stories, 43–45

elements of great, 49–50

industry stories, 45–47

origin stories, 40–43

sparkline in, 50–51

venture growth stories, 47–49

structural holes, in social graphs, 178

super connectors, in social graphs, 178, 182

suppliers, pitch decks for, 10

supply chain slides, 36

Surf Air, 78

Suster, Mark, 194

swagger, 17

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (Heath & Heath), 212

team slides, 32–33

technology slides, 38

Techstars, 106, 157, 210, 213

Techstars Jedi Mind Trick exercise, 136

Tegu, 126–129

templates, 4, 195

term sheets, 220

testing the waters, 219

text, 65–72

creating visceral experiences beyond, 69–70

format of, 65, 68

Orwell’s rules for writing, 67

voice and tone in, 65, 67–68

Tevanian, Avie, 176

thank-you notes, 207

Thiel, Peter, 159, 223–224

Thomas, McKay, 94

thoroughness, 19

thoughtfulness, 205

three-sentence pitch, 139

Tichauer, Adam, 174

timelines, 63

Tisch, David, 106

titles, in cover slides, 16

tone of text, 65, 67–68

To Sell Is Human (Pink), 189

total addressable market (TM), 26–27

traction

slides, 23–24

storytelling on, 52

TreeHouse Home Improvement, 1–2, 5, 130–133, 158, 191, 198

elevator pitch of, 18

trends, 20

trust, 170, 182

building with investors, 191

e-mail script for building, 183

first impressions and, 192–193

transfers of, 170, 182, 196

Twitter, 71, 179, 194

typography, 54, 57. See also text

Unsplash, 60–61

US Department of Defense, 11

use cases, 22

use of funds slides, 33–34

valuation, pre-money/ post-money, 150

valuation slides, 38

value proposition, 37, 44, 82

van Wel, Steven, 106, 200–201

Varshavskaya, Deena, 4, 215

venture capital, 10, 12, 148–149, 154, 164

Venture Deals (Feld & Mendelson), 149

venture growth stories, 47–49, 52

vesting, 150

vision, 14, 18, 35, 223–224

voice in writing, 65, 67–68

Wall Street Journal, 13

Wanelo, 4, 215

Washington, Joel, 118

weak ties, in social graphs, 178

Where Good Ideas Come From (Johnson), 177

Williamson, Brian, 130

Winshall, Walt, 136

Wired magazine, 12–13

Wish, Joel, 122

word choice, 67

Word documents, 72

working with people you like, 219

writing style, 65–66

X Prize Foundation, 167

Yanosy, Paul, 130

Y Combinator, 12–13, 149, 157, 174

“Your Business Plan Isn’t a Fundraising Tool Anymore” (Lee), 13