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The Perfect VC Pitch

The Perfect VC Pitch

May 10, 2012
by
Mike Hirshland

Ok, sure, there obviously is no such thing as a perfect pitch, I'm just trying to get better at using titles that actually attract readers (I'm gonna do a summer internship at Business Insider to really master the art).But I just received a pitch deck that was so clearly a really good pitch that I wanted to share what I found so effective. So here goes a slide-by-slide narrative of why the deck worked for me.SLIDE 1: WHAT WE'RE DOING. Two sentences, 22 words, plain english. One buzzword, but used appropriately. Immediately conveys the idea. Check.SLIDE 2: TEAM. Yup, that is exactly what I want to see next.SLIDE 3: THE PROBLEM. Plain english describes the problem and why current solutions are a pain in the ass.SLIDE 4: THE SOLUTION. Clear description of what this app would allow me to do. Concise but makes it intuitively obvious why this solution would offer real value.SLIDES 5-8: 2 EXAMPLE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS. Very discrete and understandable real world illustrations of how I might experience the problem in the course of my life and how the app would solve it. If it were an actual meeting and not just a deck this is where the demo would be. But in the absence of a demo, the slides do a really good job of describing how the app works and why I would like it. This is where he got me. I am often kinda slow on the uptake, but I really, really need an entrepreneur to give me really concrete and clear examples of how their product actually works. My advice: if you can't give really discrete examples of how your product works that a very average user will understand, you aren't ready for VC pitches. SLIDE 9: MARKET. Ideally it is big, right?SLIDE 10: BUSINESS MODEL. You don't always need this for seed stage pitches. But it helps.SLIDE 11: INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. Duh.SLIDE 12: USE OF PROCEEDS. Don't forget to include how long this amount of capital will last you without revenue. (This guy gets a ding here. But 11 out of 12 is pretty good).If you are going to send or give me a pitch and happen to follow this format, extra brownie points ;-)

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