While I was writing @atlas' guide to pitching ( https://stripe.com/atlas/guide/pitching … ) I reviewed the ~100 pitches we reviewed early this year. Thoughts:
-
-
But if software people can't imagine themselves using the software, or visualize what UX of it is, then that is probably a nonstarter.
Show this thread -
The feedback I personally hated to give the most is "This is plausibly a great business but you should know it is not likely investable."
Show this thread -
I love teeny software shops on the Internet, but investors have institutional imperatives that can't get met w/o getting to huge markets.
Show this thread -
"Niche" markets are only interesting to the extent they unlock other, better markets. You can write Altair Basic iff you follow w/ Windows.
Show this thread -
Have you ever seen Silicon Valley? I promise you, after sitting through a firehose of startup pitches, it starts to sound like a documentary
Show this thread -
It's refreshing to get stories from entrepreneurs; they help to break up a lot of people trying guess the password to money.
Show this thread -
Consistently best stories qua stories, and also qua remembering pitches, where on "Why this?" and "What's best thing you've done before?"
Show this thread -
A lot of the stories were obviously raw and unedited. Totally fine. Some of them were a little naughty, in an investor-friendly fashion.
Show this thread -
Some, though, were a poorly calibrated sort of naughty. Automating your performance at a boring job or class is a celebrated type of naughty
Show this thread -
Describing, let me make up an example, how one conducted insider trading when working at a broker dealer? That's not a great idea?
Show this thread -
There's at least 2 levels on which you're reading the application: what does this say and what does it say about a person who'd write this.
Show this thread -
Imposter syndrome, which I have a deep appreciation for, is a thing that runs wide and deep among entrepreneurs.
Show this thread -
You wouldn't think half of pitches would be improved by "Brag More; You've Earned It" but that appears to be true.
Show this thread -
I don't think entrepreneurs understand the crushing volume of pitches that pitchable people get. It's like Harvard and applications.
Show this thread -
It is objectively unfair and unreasonable to evaluate someone's life in five minutes or their company in two. But that is what world does.
Show this thread -
Given that you only have two minutes of someone's attention, you'd rigorously cut that to be only things which provide positive signal.
Show this thread -
A specific genre of thing that needs to be cut: product demos / prototypes. I guarantee you, yours is not an investable login form.
Show this thread -
I'm not joking on that two minute thing, at all, so forcing ~10 seconds of it to get spent on copy/pasting something into the login form bad
Show this thread -
I was surprised by the depth of e.g. pitches by academics about commercializing their research. This was sometimes difficult to review.
Show this thread -
I once met a researcher whose focus was the formation of microbubbles under electrophoresis. Most software people can't guess field for that
Show this thread -
If you're pitching Better Electrophoresis you probably want to start the pitch with "Steel smelting: you care about it more than you know."
Show this thread -
There is a time and place to critique the prevailing ethos and institutions of Silicon Valley. I would question whether one's pitch is it.
Show this thread -
An old chestnut but a true chestnut: if you tell me you have no competitors, that either suggests a poor market or poor due diligence.
Show this thread -
"Going viral" is not an adoption plan. Neither is "SEO / content strategy / AdWords." I would almost prefer "No idea at present at all."
Show this thread -
If you have a 2-sided asymmetric marketplace, you should probably say which side you're attacking first and what the plan is to fake other.
Show this thread -
I was remarkably intrigued by companies which had a pitch that was "Remember $NOTORIOUS_FAILURE? It's time to try it again; here's why."
Show this thread -
The "Here's why" part of that pitch is really, really important.
Show this thread -
If you have more awards than you have customers, that is almost never a positive signal.
Show this thread -
The company won a pitch competition? I, too, enjoy fantasy roleplaying. Do we also share a mutual interest in running businesses IRL?
Show this thread -
A lot of pitches include far more detail on how the company is positioned vs $COMPANY_NO_ONE_USES versus how it plans to get anyone to care.
Show this thread - 2 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.