Praise for the First Edition of Presenting to Win
“I’ve taken the training. If you pay attention to what Jerry Weissman tells you (and it’s hard not to), you’ll be a measurably better public speaker. And that leads directly to success.”
Stewart Alsop, (former) Fortune columnist, and Venture Partner, New Enterprise Associates
“Building a great company takes many years. Ruining its prospects can take less than an hour. Presenting to Win will let you tell the story right.”
Alex Balkanski, General Partner, Benchmark Capital
“Read this book and get a master’s degree in effective communications in one afternoon. The executive teams that we have invested with have used Weissman’s communication techniques to dramatically improve team productivity and shareholder value.”
David F. Bellet, Retired Chairman, Crown Advisors International, Ltd.
“Clear, concise, and high-impact communications are necessary for every business executive in today’s high-speed world. Jerry Weissman provides leaders with simple tools they can draw on quickly in order to maximize the return on all of their communications efforts.”
Sue Bostrom, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Global Policy and Government Affairs, Cisco Systems, Inc.
“Jerry Weissman is an expert in helping leading technology executives improve the clarity and substance of their communication. Jerry does an excellent job of giving sound recommendations that will lead to better communications and leadership.”
James W. Breyer, General Partner, Accel Partners
“Jerry transformed my presentation skills by helping me think of the WIIFY and Aha! factor, and this helped me take my company public in 1998. Today, through this book, you can acquire the same skills on ‘how to present to win’ for a fraction of what it cost us to learn from Jerry. It is a must for professional success.”
K. B. Chandrasekhar, Founder, Exodus Communications, and CEO, Jamcracker, Inc
“Jerry Weissman’s approach is light years ahead of the rest of the world. My guess is that Presenting to Win will become a classic within its genre. Great job!”
Thomas M. Claflin II, Chairman, Claflin Capital Management, a Boston-based venture capital firm
“Inspiring leaders must possess great communication skills. They are one of the essential ingredients used to mobilize followers and move nations and markets. This book tells readers how to develop those skills.”
Bill Davidow, Founding Partner, Mohr, Davidow Ventures, and author of Marketing High Technology, Total Customer Service, and The Virtual Corporation
“During one of the most important periods of my career, Jerry used the concepts in Presenting to Win to prepare me and my team for the EarthLink IPO road show. He helped us hone our message so that it could be crisply communicated to our audience, and in the process, we gained a better understanding of our own strategy than ever before. Jerry teaches you how to tell a story, which is more critical to success than most people think.”
Sky Dayton, Founder, EarthLink and Boingo Wireless, and CEO of Helio
“Jerry’s classic is the definitive encapsulation of a true ‘maestro’ playing his ‘A’ game. His techniques were an absolutely critical success factor in Luminous raising $80mm in one of the toughest market environments I’ve ever seen. There isn’t a successful entrepreneur I know who won’t benefit from leveraging his persuasive, maximum-impact presentation principles.”
Dixon R. Doll, Founder and Managing General Partner, Doll Capital Management
“Young entrepreneurs with deep domain knowledge are frequently unable to organize and present their vision, or their company’s story, in an orderly, crisp, and compelling fashion. Jerry Weissman has armed a succession of evolving executives with those critical skills. This seminal book cogently describes how he does it. Presenting to Win is an essential read for any CEO who intends to raise capital, wishes to elevate the visibility of his/her company in the financial community, or aspires to more credible communication with the company’s employees.”
Irwin Federman, General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners
“Practical and sound advice on how to communicate effectively. Critical for effective managers. This advice is powerful whether you are selling a project or a company.”
Allan Ferguson, Retired Senior Partner, 3i Group PLC
“For many years, I have witnessed Jerry’s magic as he helped our portfolio companies to formulate and communicate their unique selling propositions in a style that optimized the appeal to investors. It was not until I read his book that I started to see how valuable it would be to apply his methods personally in presentations that I make regularly to my partners and to our investors. I would think that everyone who does business presentations could benefit from this easy-to-read, easy-to-apply book.”
Flip Gianos, General Partner, Interwest Partners
“It was a pleasure to read Presenting to Win. Jerry has been a master for so many of our CEOs from Alpha Partner days to current AVI. His book should provide excellent background and conditioning to any executive in need of clear and persuasive communication skills. It carries the reader from ‘point A’ to ‘point B’ in a coherent and thoughtful manner. I should hope that any reader will feel capable and compelled to adopt the methodology in their next presentation to win!”
Brian J. Grossi, General Partner, AVI Capital, L.P.
“The perfect presentation has the potential to impact the most important events in your company’s life: financings, mergers, partnerships. Despite this, most executives and entrepreneurs continually fall short when it comes to delivering a crisp, clear message in a compelling and concrete fashion. Luckily for them, the master, Jerry Weissman, has decided to share his secrets in Presenting to Win.”
Bill Gurley, General Partner, Benchmark Capital
“Compelling, no-nonsense script to clear, winning communication! A must-have.”
Grant Heidrich, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund
“Learn from the master on how to craft and deliver an effective, winning presentation. I have made over a thousand presentations over the past decade and have found Jerry’s methodology and tips, which he outlines in his book, of tremendous value.”
Jos Henkens, (former) Managing Director, Advanced Technology Ventures
“Jerry Weissman’s presentation coaching is world class. A person contemplating a presentation without utilizing his expertise is like a soldier going to battle without weapons.”
Jay C. Hoag, Founding General Partner, Technology Crossover Ventures
“Perception is often as, if not more, important than reality. Great presentation is more important than great substance in creating that perception. I don’t know anybody who has more experience than Jerry in creating great perceptions.”
Vinod Khosla, Affiliated Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Founder, Khosla Ventures
“Jerry’s help has been of enormous value to many of my companies over the years (at Venrock). Jerry has a unique ability to guide management teams to clearly identify and convey their key messages in a manner best suited to obtain the desired impact on their target audience. The transformation can be magical at times, and we have found that not only does the management team appreciate his advice, but the target audience also, as they are able to understand the key issues faster and more clearly than otherwise possible.”
Patrick Latterell, Founder and General Partner, Latterell Venture Partners
“I read Jerry’s book with great interest. The content is both interesting and informative, and the writing is easy to understand and read. Jerry is a pro’s pro. If there were a MBA in Power Presentations, Jerry’s book would be the bible!”
Mel Lavitt, (former) Vice Chairman, C.E. Unterberg Towbin
“An absolute necessity in your arsenal to gain an edge in the capital-raising battle.”
Andrew J. Malik, Chairman, Needham & Company, LLC
“Jerry Weissman has had an enormous impact on the companies that I’ve managed: First Tuesday and now Ariadne Capital. Through his sessions and techniques, he’s helped me to bring everyone onto the same page with a clear statement of what we’re trying to achieve and to get credit for what we’re doing by telling a better story. His latest book is testament to the fact that ‘Form is Content.’”
Julie Meyer, CEO, Ariadne Capital, European venture capital group
“Jerry’s book Presenting to Win is, like his consulting practice, totally on-point and practical. Jerry has worked with many of the companies I took public as an investment banker or invested in as a venture capitalist. He made a huge difference in each and every situation. The best evidence is that even the most polished CEOs in the valley made dramatically more effective presentations with his expert guidance. Since Jerry can’t work with everyone individually, it is terrific to have his approach and thoughts available in Presenting to Win.”
J. Sanford Miller, General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners, and Director, Vonage Holdings Corporation
“Jerry’s methods in Presenting to Win helped us raise our own first venture fund with twice the commitments we needed in half the time. Those same methods then helped many of our portfolio companies not just in their presentations, but had a significant impact in the marketing of their products.”
Andy Rachleff, Partner, Benchmark Capital
“Presenting to Win should be required reading for any business executive who will be presenting to any group of internal or external constituents. Having been a technology investment banker for nearly 15 years, I’ve seen thousands of road show and company presentations, and many of them failed to incorporate the tips and techniques outlined in Presenting to Win. I’ve sent dozens of clients to Jerry over the years, and they have always emerged with crisper, clearer, and more effective presentations.”
Michael J. Richter, (former) Managing Director, Investment Banking CIBC World Markets
“Weissman’s organization of a CEO’s thoughts and presentation usually created 15-25% more value to the company from institutional investors.”
Sanford Robertson, Founder and Partner, Francisco Partners
“Jerry Weissman always knew how to get the best out of a presentation. This book is the next best thing to hiring him as an advisor, and a lot less expensive.”
Dick Spalding, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and former client
“Jerry helps you focus on the substance of your presentation rather than just its form. He forces you to think clearly and succinctly. As a result, not only does your audience understand your business better, you do too.”
Christopher Spray, Senior Partner, Atlas Venture
“Jerry’s concepts on visual presentation techniques are simple and yet extremely powerful. They make the difference in getting the message across in a constrained time limit. A must-read for all high-tech managers.”
Anthony Sun, Managing General Partner, Venrock Associates
“After you spend years building your startup, there’s a fleeting moment in time where perception meets reality in the creation of the market value around it. There’s not a person in the Valley that has coaxed more multiple points out of the market at that point than Jerry. His coaching on how to really efficiently organize and explain ANY subject matter is proven, and shows in his book.”
Bill Tai, General Partner, Charles River Ventures
“Many people don’t know who Jerry Weissman is or why he’s known as ‘The Wizard of Aaahs.’ However, for those of us who’ve had a chance to work with him or be coached by him, he is revered as ‘the professor of effective presentations.’ Presenting to Win identifies the simple rules of a master and communicates those rules in a refreshing way. Jerry shares personal experiences with industry icons that help the reader see the practical side of the process. You’ll quickly conclude that you’d really like to have Jerry on your team for your next big presentation!”
T. Peter Thomas, Cofounder and Managing Director, ATA Ventures
“Value simply cannot be realized unless it is communicated. Untold wealth has died on the vine because it was not effectively presented to key constituents in the value chain. In this respect, Mr. Weissman and his methods are responsible for the realization of tremendous value in the American economy over the past 15 years. Nobody teaches the art and science of business presentations better than Mr. Weissman. He is more than the best in his class . . . he created the class. I have recommended him to dozens of companies. With his help, they have dramatically improved the effectiveness of their internal and external presentations. In Presenting to Win, he makes his powerful techniques accessible to every person who cares about truly realizing value in their business presentations.”
David M. Traversi, Managing Director, 2020 Growth Partners, LLC
“There are those rare people who can stand up in front of an audience and deliver an impromptu, high-impact message. For the rest of us, there is Jerry Weissman, who helps us create a high-impact presentation. His methodology lets you go beyond the jargon of any profession and develop a presentation that will be meaningful to your audience. Miraculously, your confidence will soar. He helped me and many others in business . . . and I am glad to see that he wrote a book. Beyond the logic of preparing presentations using his methods, the book is full of little nuggets that I will want to refer to over and over again. And so will you.”
Les Vadasz, (former) Executive Vice President, Intel Corporation
“We pay big bucks to get Jerry to coach our company CEOs on how to tell their story, and it’s worth every penny. Now everyone can learn about Jerry’s secret sauce for the price of a few lattés.”
Barry Weinman, General Partner, Associated Venture Investors, and Cofounder of Allegis Capital
“This is a practical guide to creating persuasive presentations, a skill required of most contemporary business professionals. Jerry makes it easy to learn how to craft the message and deliver the punch that gets the audience to agree with the premise: getting to Point B. More powerful than features to benefits, understanding the audience’s WIIFY (what’s in it for you) is a vital part of winning presentations. Should be read and used as a reference guide for those who seek success as a result of doing their homework and building a presentation that works. Jerry has trained a number of the AVI portfolio company CEOs and CFOs prior to their IPO road shows. His methodology works extremely well.”
Peter L. Wolken, General Partner, AVI Management Partners, Special Limited Partner, Diamondhead Ventures