the time to act is always now

I liked this post about “why to start a startup in a bad economy“. People is what matters and the entrepreneural team is the most influencer indicator of a startup sucess, not the general economy. Difficult to raise money? Difficult to sale? Difficult to find another job if the startup fails? This post talks about all of this and I really liked and believe this arguments. And yes, to the extent to act.

crossing the chasm

by Geoffrey A. Moore

My tutor recommended it when I was working on the Business Plan of a technology product. I was in a point when I had discovered that marketing strategy is key for any business. However, during my business studies I had’t paid much atention to marketing. I had the preconceived idea that marketing = advertising strategy. It didn’t sound attractive to advertise someone else’s product and so I chose finance major.

Anyway, Crossing the Chasm is a good book about marketing in new technologies. It talks about:

• the product life cycle 
• the kind of consumers for each part of this cycle
• the strategy to follow in each phase
• the difficulty of passing from the early to the mainstreem market
• what “product” really means and everything it includes
• criteria on how to evaluate your segments

It was interesting and useful, but I’m not going to lie to you, it’s also a really dense book. It took me nearly 3 months to finish it and I have to recognize that towards the end I was reading diagonally ;-)

how to pitch to a VC

Great video every entrepreneur should watch before pitching to any investor. He says things we have herd many times but all together, fast and organized. Good way to check if we have everything. 

(From TED: “Ideas worth spreading”)

Single most important thing the VC is going to be investing in: YOU  

You need to prove:
- Integrity
- Passion
- Experience
- Knowledge
- Skill
- Leadership
- Commitment
- Vision
- Realism
- Coachable     

How to structure the pitch:
Do’s:
- Logical progression
- Things I know or understand (examples)
- Validations (somebody else says this make sense)
Dont’s:
- Things that are no true
- Things I don’t understand
- Thinks that make me think
- Internal consistence
- Typos, errors

Look at our betters: Steve Jobs
- Good: short, short bullet points
- Better: just headline
- Best: only images   

Include:
- Company logo
- Quick business overview, 1 sentence
- Management team
- Market
- Product
- Business model
- Strategic relationships
- Competition
- Barriers of entry
- Financial overview
- Use of procedures
- Capital & valuation
- Final pitch   

5 + tips:
- Use presentation mode
- Use remote control
- Hand outs are not your presentation
- Don’t read
- Never look at the screen