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e-Challenge Workshop "The Entrepreneurial Pitch" Venture Pitch 101 rohit sharma Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) www.mdv.com rsharma@mdv.com

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todayWhat are (early stage) VCs looking for?Typical pitch content | guidelines vs. rulesDesignQ/A 2

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venture process Meeting Meeting w/ Pitch Meeting w/ Pitch More Meetings w/ Pitchall about assessing risk & opportunity 3

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the risk curve$/risk Valuation iterate Risk (likely) Risk (ideal) time Seed A B 4

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risk Market Team StrategyTechnology/Product Financing 5

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the risk trajectory (hurricane tracks) objective money time 6

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the risk trajectory objectivemoney time 7

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market riskSize of marketCharacteristics of the marketCustomer development plan?Customer behavior change ?Cost of customer acquisitionCompetitive landscape 8

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technology/product riskTechnology creationProduct creationProduct 2.0?Triangulate people  time moneyOther (support, maintenance, upgrades,…) 9

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team riskCurrent skill-set (to address market/product dev)Required skills, people – fearless leader  – bold visionary, evangelist  – grumpy ass-kicker  – customer advocate Hiring (Geography, sources, time, effort)Will this team raise the next round? 10

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financing riskHow much $$ to subsequent financingsFinancing sources, typeDoes market permit (large) company creation? 11

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strategy?Is there strategy risk?(Un)Expected behavior of competitors, companies in adjacent market spaces?Do ‘receptors’ exist in customers?Identify: – Early adopters? – Risk-takers? – Market-makers? 12

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the un-definables(this is what we are *really* looking for) 13

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but, that’s not how you organize *your* powerpointIntroduction (team)Problem & Non-obvious insight 3-5 Minute drillMarketProduct development, customer developmentCustomers: identify, acquire, retain,… (Market construction)Competition?State the plan, financial modelEnd bits (plan? summary? insight?) – Single most significant factoid about you or venture – Recap 5-minute drill in 1 minute 14

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designAll design is choice (Edward Tufte)Powerpoint is a very challenging method of effective communication (worst S/N ratio of any method?)Can you write your ‘pitch’ in report format? In ‘Word’? 15

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Edward Tufte | www.tufte.com$40 $48 $7 16

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build a picture worth ten slides 17

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powerpoint guidelines 18