Meet the Team

Lisa Tsou, Founder of The Winning Pitch, has been helping technology and new media startups raise money since she graduated from law school in 1997. Since then, she’s spent time on Wall Street working on financings for companies like DoubleClick, TheKnot.com, and Mapquest and done numerous acquisitions of websites like ApartmentRatings.com, DoItYourself.com and BBOnline.com. The list of funds and institutions she has worked with includes Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock, Silicon Valley Bank, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, and Hambrecht & Quist, to name just a few.

Now, she enjoys spending her time guiding startups through the fundraising process and coaching founders and entrepreneurs on how to present themselves to investors and raise the money they need to take their businesses to the next level.

She co-founded and co-organizes Los Angeles Women’s Entrepreneurs Meetup (LAWEM). She is also a popular speaker at events like Wordcamp and Bruin Entrepreneurs, coaches students on pitching at USC’s Blackstone Launchpad and its LavaLab Student Accelerator, and teaches workshops on pitching investors at General Assembly. She also serves as a pitch coach and mentor to women’s entrepreneurs groups including SoGal Summit, the Vinetta Project and the Women’s Founders Network.

She also sits on the Board of Project ECHO, a non-profit that provides at-risk students with a dynamic alternative education to help them acquire useful vocational skills and entrepreneurship training and experience.
Lisa is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, received her MBA from the Marshall School of Business at USC with Beta Gamma Sigma honors, and is a member of both the New York State and California bars.

Liz Adelman is a communications specialist focusing on the unique challenges that face startup entrepreneurs: pitching and presenting themselves, their products, and companies. She provides private training sessions and group workshops, cultivating the voices of her clients and empowering them to have memorable and effective delivery, relationships, and impressions with investors, customers, and co-workers.

Her personal feedback, proven exercises, creative design, and efficient rehearsals have transformed her clients into confident communicators; free of fear and packed with power. Liz is a mentor at the gaming accelerator program YetiZen, The Silicon Valley Accelerator Center, Santa Monica New Tech, and she is currently an instructor at General Assembly in Los Angeles.

Liz has independently consulted with many companies including: Clinton Global, The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Electronic Arts, Zynga, Capcom, Laundry Locker, Brag Art, Glass And Water Consulting, Tagged, and Open mHealth. No stranger to the stage and presenting herself, Liz bases much of her training on her experience as an improv actress, director, and producer having performed with Leela Theater, Weeping Willows, and The Show to name a few. She has provided spokesperson and hosting talent for NBC, Verizon Wireless, Nissan, SF Weekly, IM Magazine, VidSF, ArtWorkSF,Swagg, AirBnB, and others. She is passionate about working with entrepreneurs to design impactful solutions and help them overcome their personal obstacles to create meaningful communications in the future.

Barbara Yeh is a creative director and brand strategist with over 20 years of experience building brands, developing brand strategies and integrating existing brand strategies into new business initiatives. Barbara brings her strong sense of design and visual communication skills to take the most important pieces of your story and turn it in to a winning pitch presentation deck.

You only have one shot with investors and there is definitely an art to designing a winning pitch deck. Successful investor pitch decks typically have dramatic and highly visual slides in the beginning to explain the problem and your solution, and more conservative slides towards the back to discuss the team, the milestones, and the financial projections. You can build your own presentation deck – we just don’t recommend it.

Barbara designs pitch presentation slides that seamlessly support your presentation and visually highlight the most important pieces of your story. She then uses simple, bold language and custom graphics in order to capture the imagination of the investor and tell your unique story. The goal is to excite your audience enough so they want to find out more. Together, let’s articulate your strategy and refine your presentation into the perfect winning pitch!