Startup Pirates @ Porto Pitching: science and psychology Fred Oliveira

1. Pitching: science and psychology
Startup Pirates Porto
Fred Oliveira / Webreakstuff / 500 Startups

2. Who the hell are you, why should I pay attention?

3. Meeting Tim Draper
(of Draper Fisher Jurvetson)
“You be the engineer. They’ll love you.”

4. Act 1. The Science

5. The science:
1) elevator pitch
2) the problem
3) the solution
4) market
5) the business model
6) technology
7) competitors
8) marketing plan
9) team
10) milestones / $

6. Slide 1: The Elevator Pitch
the idea, explained in 30 seconds
keep it simple, stupid
#protip: “Alien will be like Jaws in space”
#protip: extra points for confidence
#protip: don’t assume the investor knows things

7. Slide 2: The Problem
what problem are you solving?
who’s hurting?
#protip: the investor is (probably) a human.
Humans have problems. If he knows what you’re
talking about, you’ll connect.

8. Slide 3: The Solution
How does your solution solve the problem you identified?
Does it do it better than everyone else? How?
#protip: Google is Altavista done right.

9. Intermission: Demo
now that the investor knows about the
problem and knows about the solution,
it’s time to show some magic.
#protip: don’t pitch me (or anyone) without an MVP
#protip: demos fail, be prepared (remember Steve Jobs)

10. Slide 4: The Market
size does matter if you are a venture capitalist
#protip: niches are fine, if valuable

11. Slide 5: Business Model
how do you make money?
describe your revenue sources, prioritized by potential
direct: sales, subscriptions, goods
indirect: ads, leads, affiliate programs
#protip: not everyone can “worry about revenue later”
#protip: Andrew Chen’s: The internet wants to be free,
but you need to get paid: bit.ly/revenuemodel

12. Slide 6: Technology
do you have a technological advantage?
is your team made of superstars?
#protip: investors love big tech advantages
#protip: have a secret sauce

13. Slide 7: Competition
who are they? current and potential.
how do you stack up against them?
be real and realistic.
#protip: main differences: complexity,
price point, open vs proprietary

14. Slide 8: Marketing
how does your promotion chain work?
how will you promote your product?
what channels are you going to use?
(pr/email/tv/seo/viral/affil/widgets)
#protip: channel volume, cost, conversion
are 3 key metrics to determine the best
promotion channels.

15. Slide 9: Team
more important than the product itself (see YC)
important: experience, potential, background
#protip: past success matters.
repeat success is easier.

16. Slide 10: Milestones/$
how much do you need?
how will you use this money?
when are you using it?
what are some of the key dates in the project?
#protip: “get real”

17. Well done.
You now have a degree in pitching.
Now for how not to suck at it.

18. Act 2. The Psychology

19. Tip 1: tell a story
every rule about the 10 slides should be broken
(if you know how to do it)

20. Tip 2: don’t waste time
ever wondered why TED talks are exactly 18 minutes?
or maybe why pomodoro technique aims for 25 minutes?

21. Tip 3: set the agenda
remember, 20 minutes of attention.

22. Tip 4: don’t you dare be boring
boring once, lost forever.

23. Tip 5: investors are people and
people look for patterns
don’t give them a chance to find one

24. Tip 6: you’re the prize
the capital is the commodity.

25. Tip 7: you are pitching, not selling
sales and pitching are two very different things

26. Tip 8: don’t be needy
neediness isn’t exciting

27. Tip 9: no need to be the good guy
push vs pull & attraction theory

29. Tip 10: it’s all about attention
chemistry lesson: examine the impact of dopamine

30. Bottom line: don’t suck.
don’t be pure science, don’t be pure brain.

31. Now ask me anything you want.
email: fred@helloform.com
twitter: @f