I was having lunch with a woman recently who I’ll call “Dior.” Dior has been a senior executive in a number of large media corporations and is now starting her own company and thinking about outside funding. We’d been having a lively conversation on different startup...
I was recently at the ‘s Pitch for $1,000 event, and that old saying, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice” came to mind. The set-up was simple. Anyone who wanted to was given the opportunity to pitch to a panel of well-known angel...
I was speaking to a founder who had gotten a meeting with a prominent VC recently. Let’s call her “Red Shoes.” “Well, what did he say?” I asked. “He said he didn’t think it would work,” she said, clearly disappointed. “And?” “And what?” “And what else did he say?”...
I was working with a young entrepreneur recently with a very promising company which sells a very niche nutrition drink. Let’s call him “Sheik.” Sheik’s made real headway with his company, securing regional distribution and growing sales and revenue. He’s looking to...
I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a Minute Pitch competition run by FundingPost.com. For those of you who don’t know, a Minute Pitch (or “Elevator Pitch”) competition gives a series of candidates each exactly 60 seconds to pitch their company to a panel of...
I was working with a founder on her pitch deck recently. Let’s call her “Violet.” Violet and I had been introduced through a mutual friend. We had spoken a few times previously about her very promising start-up, and we had finally set up time to review a...
