Investors have a short attention span.
They will give you the most attention at the start of your pitch.
In the first 5 minutes be crystal clear about what you actually do.
Let's dive in:
Sequoia Capital has created over $3.3 trillion dollars in value.
Steal their pitch deck framework for free:
Investors have a short attention span.
They will give you the most attention at the start of your pitch.
In the first 5 minutes be crystal clear about what you actually do.
Let's dive in:
What is your mission?
Condense into a simple powerful sentence.
Don't list features– communicate your purpose.
Include a simple graphic that describes your business model.
Nobody cares what you can do. Everybody cares what you can do for them.
What challenges do you address and solve?
• Describe the pain of your customer (bigger the better)
• Explain how this is currently addressed
• Show why the current market offerings are inadequate
Don't build a solution that's looking for a problem.
What key points will communicate the most value?
• What was your 'aha' moment?
• Why is your value proposition unique and compelling?
• Are you building a competitive moat such as network effects?
• How big can this market grow?
Timing is everything.
The best companies have a clear why now.
• Why hasn't your solution been built before?
• What industry trends make this the perfect time to act?
A famous example is Netflix: high-speed internet made streaming services possible.
Can this be a really big opportunity?
• Total addressable market (TAM) = total market demand
• Serviceable available market (SAM) = portion of TAM served by the company
• Serviceable obtainable market (SOM) = percentage of SAM which is realistically achieved
Thiel said:
"All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition."
Who are your direct and indirect competitors?
Know your market– map these out on an x/y axis.
What's your plan to win & differentiate?
I recommend pre-recoding a demo with Loom.
You get to record your screen and camera whilst giving a clear explanation.
A picture is worth 1000 words, a movie is worth a million pictures.
Bring the solution alive.
How do you make money?
Typically it falls into a few buckets:
• Advertising
• Subscription
• Transactions
Include metrics around critical areas including:
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Life time value (LTV)
Your people are the most important factor that determine whether your startup succeeds or fails.
People recruit talent, garner attention and win deals.
Highlight special talents and experiences that make the individual suited to the business.
Don't get lost in the numbers– keep it simple.
I recommend highlighting key metrics and growth charts.
Show sources and uses (what you are raising and how you will spend it).
What are the key milestones?
Using a timeline will help demonstrate your runway.
1. Company Purpose
2. Problem
3. Solution
4. Why Now
5. Market Size
6. Competition
7. Product
8. Business Model
9. Team
10. Financials
If you liked this thread, you'll love the newsletter.
Subscribe here:
https://t.co/vlGCY549bQ
https://t.co/nIK8C3AFgL
10 startup metrics every business owner must know:
— Alex Banks (@thealexbanks) June 15, 2022
Sequoia Capital has created over $3.3 trillion dollars in value.
— Alex Banks (@thealexbanks) July 25, 2022
Steal their pitch deck framework for free:
More from Alex Banks
Accounting is the language of business.
10 threads that will teach you more about accounting than any accounting degree:
1/ Who: @10kdiver
What: Understand the balance
2/ Who: @SoulFairy3
What: Income statement
3/ Who: @BrianFeroldi
What: Income statement
4/ Who: @AliTheCFO
What: Profit vs cash
10 threads that will teach you more about accounting than any accounting degree:
1/ Who: @10kdiver
What: Understand the balance
1/
— 10-K Diver (@10kdiver) February 5, 2022
Get a cup of coffee.
In this thread, I'll show you how to read and understand a company's Balance Sheet.
As investors, we should be able to judge businesses by looking at their financial statements.
And the Balance Sheet, of course, is 1 of 3 key financial statements: pic.twitter.com/6D0HA0vmEN
2/ Who: @SoulFairy3
What: Income statement
Many new investors are scared of financial statements. I don't blame them. Us accountants complicate the simplest things to keep ourselves employed\U0001f602
— Soul \U0001f4da (@SoulFairy3) December 6, 2021
Let me show you guys the Income Statement first. You honestly just need 3 numbers. Trus bob\U0001f483
Short \U0001f9f5
3/ Who: @BrianFeroldi
What: Income statement
Accounting is the language of business.
— Brian Feroldi (\U0001f9e0,\U0001f4c8) (@BrianFeroldi) July 28, 2021
If you buy stocks, you MUST learn how to read an income statement
Here\u2019s everything you need to know:
4/ Who: @AliTheCFO
What: Profit vs cash
Most founders don\u2019t understand the difference between PROFIT and CASH FLOW
— Ali Ladha (@AliTheCFO) November 2, 2021
Not knowing this difference, could leave your business without cash and push you into bankruptcy
Here are the key differences between PROFIT and CASH FLOW
//A THREAD//
10 threads that will teach you more about business than any business degree:
1/ Who: @naval
What: Principles to wealth creation
Tweet:
2/ Who: @sweatystartup
What: Actions to wealth creation
Tweet:
3/ Who: @RomeenSheth
What: Early career
4/ Who: @heykahn
What: Career
1/ Who: @naval
What: Principles to wealth creation
Tweet:
How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):
— Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018
2/ Who: @sweatystartup
What: Actions to wealth creation
Tweet:
How to get rich without getting lucky:
— Nick Huber (@sweatystartup) September 28, 2020
Find a way to make $100 an hour doing something simple IN YOUR TOWN.
Do it until you have $10k+ in the bank and you\u2019re too busy to sell new customers.
Hire employee for $25 / hr to do what you do so you can sell new customers.
Repeat.
3/ Who: @RomeenSheth
What: Early career
Early career years are painful.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) February 8, 2022
You feel like an idiot 98% of the time - lost, confused and insecure.
I wish I had a cheat sheet of principles for my first job.
So I put one together.
Here are 20 things about building a career I wish I knew sooner:
4/ Who: @heykahn
What: Career
The first years of your career are brutal.
— Zain Kahn (@heykahn) January 25, 2022
You're on your own and you have no clue what you're doing.
I wish I had a guide back then \u2015 so I made my own.
And I went from 0 to VP in 3 years.
Here are 11 principles to accelerate your career now:
