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Month: February 2020

The Pitch Deck: What Investors Are Really Looking For

The Pitch Deck: What Investors Are Really Looking For

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

It’s been a while since we discussed pitch decks, and it seems that it may be time for a refresher course/reminder.

We all know that there are a few points to cover. Again, in no particular order:

  1. Vision and Value
  2. Problem
  3. Market/Opportunity
  4. Solution
  5. Business/Revenue Model
  6. Competiton
  7. Traction/Road Map to Traction (aka Go To Market Strategy)
  8. Marketing and Sales Strategy
  9. Team
  10. Financial
  11. Ask/Use of Funds

If this is the latest project from a team of very successful serial entrepreneurs, you’re going to move that ‘team’ slide up. Investors want to know that if this startup’s founders are, say, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Read More...

Dudes, just dudin’ it up: Softbank and the Bro Culture

Dudes, just dudin’ it up: Softbank and the Bro Culture

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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The Softbank Vision Fund hasn’t had an easy time of it and we use this as an example of the bro-cul (bro-culture) focus that might have contributed to some of their current woes.

They’re not alone. Simply more heavily tracked by the tech media.

First, there was WeWork, which very publicly and unceremoniously came crashing down (time will tell if new CEO Sandeep Mathrani, who comes from the real estate sector and has a successful turnaround history, according to the Bloomberg News, will save the company), despite CEO Masayoshi Son’s abundant/blind faith in ousted founder/tech-bro Adam Neumann (we are aware that WeWork is not nor was it ever a tech company, but Neumann did manage to spin it that way). Read More...

Does There Have to Be an App for That? The Votes Aren’t All In Yet

Does There Have to Be an App for That? The Votes Aren’t All In Yet

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Despite the fact that it is ubiquitous, software is never easy to build and/or scale. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, or from the various virulent viruses and flus that are going around, the Democratic Iowa caucus decided to go the tech route to capture and tabulate their voting results last week, and why not? We all have apps on our phones. Which we use seemingly constantly, if the numbers are any indication (Americans check their cell phones 150 times a day) and since we’re all so cell phone-enabled, why not a voting app? The tech community has been advocating for this for quite some time. Although, given the number of hacks we’ve seen and/or experienced and the tech community’s seeming unwilling to address security flaws (Google discovered several iPhone security flaws, and Apple still hasn’t patched one), what could possibly go wrong?

Enter the Iowa caucus debacle, where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

But this isn’t about what went wrong: since this is an election year, rife with contentious candidates and no shortage of social media platforms, this is a heads up to entrepreneurs who wish to step into the fray with their own tech offerings and we know that you’re out there. Read More...