Developing the Perfect Startup Pitch

@seobrien
Storytelling
Perfecting your Pitch
Marketing

@seobrien
Austin Ventures, No Longer
a Texas Giant, Wrestles With
Its Future
Austin's biggest VC firm
formally shies away from
early-stage startups

@seobrien
Why?
1. We can't grow scalable companies
2. We lack a later stage ecosystem
3. We don't yet have the experience in Austin
4. We're too Lean
5. We're supportive not collaborative
6. We lack the work ethic of The Valley; too “lifestyle”
7. Our low cost of doing business is a disadvantage
8. We're a young startup ecosystem
9. We can't depend on media to cover startups capably

@seobrien
Why?
We waste investors' time
1. We can't grow scalable companies
2. We lack a later stage ecosystem
3. We don't yet have the experience in Austin
4. We're too Lean
5. We're supportive not collaborative
6. We lack the work ethic of The Valley; too “lifestyle”
7. Our low cost of doing business is a disadvantage
8. We're a young startup ecosystem
9. We can't depend on media to cover startups capably

@seobrien
We don't know how
and WHY to talk to
investors

@seobrien
Paul O'Brien
You have 30 seconds to grab the
attention of an investor such that you will
retain that attention as you stumble
through an explanation of your passion.
Something with which they may not see
eye to eye but in which an opportunity
lies. I help you convey why anyone
should care.

@seobrien
Not a VC
I'm a marketer from Yahoo, HP, and a string of acquired
companies.
Not a consultant
I don't work for you, I work for the money.
Not a broker
I don't get paid to get companies financed.
I get companies funded
Over $360MM raised

@seobrien
“The quality of your
presentation is inversely
proportional to the quality
of the content.”
What matters is the content
and your words.

@seobrien
Innovation is about
conveying your
imagination to someone
else.
whurley
Chaotic Moon / Honest Dollar

@seobrien
If you're creative, you have
to keep innovating bigger!
whurley
Chaotic Moon / Honest Dollar

@seobrien
The best way to predict the future is to create it
Plans are only good intentions unless they
immediately degenerate into hard work
The purpose of a business is to create a customer
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing
the right things
If you want something new you have to stop doing
something old
Successful innovators use the left and right side of
their brains

@seobrien
The only things
that matter

@seobrien
Because the purpose of business is to
create a customer, the business
enterprise has two–and only two–
basic functions: marketing and
innovation.
Marketing and innovation
produce results; all the rest are costs.
Marketing is the distinguishing, unique
function of the business

@seobrien
Innovation
and
Marketing

@seobrien
And yet...
1. Finance
2. Sales
3. Production
4. Management
5. Legal
6. People

@seobrien
There's hope
1. Finance
2. Sales
3. Production
4. Management
5. Legal
6. People
Successful Startup
Priorities
1. Talking to customers
2. Improving account metrics
3. Understanding the market
4. Content marketing
5. Acquisition
- Activation
- Retention
- Referral
- Revenue
Steve Blank and Dave McClure

@seobrien
Fundraising Priorities
1. Know What's In the Box
2. Marcom Foundation
3. Culture Over Strategy
4. Understand Investors

@seobrien
In the box
Everything has an adoption curve

@seobrien
Know what's in the box
Business Owner Comfortable Living
Product / Market Change the World

@seobrien
Know what's in the box
Business Owner Comfortable Living
Innovator
Marketer

@seobrien
It defines your future

@seobrien
Product / Market
Seed MVP Monetize Scale Pivot

@seobrien
Change the World
Friends & Family Seed (Angel) Scale (Series A) Monetize (Series B)

@seobrien
The aim of Marketing
is to make selling
superfluous

@seobrien
Marcom Foundation
* Business Intelligence & Analytics
* User Experience & Design
* Website Architecture
* Content Marketing
* Optimization & Capture

@seobrien
Culture & PR
Engagement & Synergy
Performance &
Intelligence

@seobrien
Engagement
Acquisition, Activation,
Retention, Referral,
Revenue

@seobrien
Culture Over Strategy

@seobrien
Passion, purpose, story,
branding... Marketing
Culture defines your approach to
attracting and retaining:
1. Employees
2. Partners
3. Customers
4. Investors

@seobrien
Understand Investors

@seobrien
Investors aren't right

@seobrien
Nor wrong

@seobrien
Not about what
you're doing nor your
exit, but what comes
after that

@seobrien
Abandon
Product/Market fit
Problem/Solution

@seobrien
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
Hi, I'm Paul, founder of SloMoCo.io
We're building a social, local, mobile
app that connects out of work veterans
with with employers by tracking where
hiring managers get coffee in the
morning.

@seobrien
We're raising $500k to iterate our MVP
to a product ready for market and to
spend $250k on customer acquisition.

@seobrien
Um.... No.

@seobrien
Um.... No.
I don't understand it
I don't anything about that
I don't agree that that's a problem
No idea how to invest my money
No validation
No experience

@seobrien
I think it's a really great idea but it
might be a bit early for us. Encourage
you to get a few more customers,
validate the market, and come talk to
us then.

@seobrien
WHY
WHO
WHAT
WHEN
WHERE
HOW

@seobrien
3 possible directions
Because we need capital for the
following reasons
Because we’ll achieve the return you’re
seeking
Because this is going to happen and
we’re the people that will make it so

@seobrien
Why: Purpose & Passion

@seobrien
Our founder's ONE passion in high school was
computers.
This led him to develop ONE skill
computer programming.
In high school, he got ONE job in the computer
programing field.
Which led to him eventually starting ONE company

@seobrien
Microsoft focused on ONE thing -- the development and
sale of BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
Then Windows. Then Office.
One company lead to Bill being the ONE richest man in
the world for 15 years in a row.

@seobrien
Unless your WHY aligns with the
expectations of the investor, you’re
done. Investors are NOT looking for
lean startups, unicorns, nor customers.
Investors won’t invest in the
entrepreneur who doesn’t know and
care why they are in business.

@seobrien
Banks and revenue based financing sources are
seeking a clear and measurable return.
Angel investors (true angel investors), should be
comfortable with the entrepreneur who is changing
the world, as they themselves have been in their
shoes and aspire to continue fostering innovation.
Venture Capital typically aligns with clear needs,
investments, and while returns are not guaranteed,
clear, quantifiable milestones, and progress are
expected.

@seobrien
SloMoCo.io
Candidates who know hiring managers
and HR professionals are 18x more
likely to land a job. Returning
Veterans, having spent 4 years
overseas, don't have those connections.
“Coordinated collisions” result in the
best new relationships*

@seobrien
The only thing that matters
in their consideration is the
team: Who’s involved.

@seobrien
Paul was a Sales engineer at Yahoo
before working as a fractional CMO
for various startups in Silicon Valley.

@seobrien
Paul helped launch a successful local search
technology and was featured in the book
Online Marketing Heroes as a result of his
work with Yahoo and HP. Subsequently he
was involved in securing over $360MM in
venture capital; a result of his track record in
growth and ensuring that the ventures with
which he is engaged secure market share, and
not just a few customers.

@seobrien
Paul helped launch a
successful local search
technology and was
featured in the book
Online Marketing Heroes
as a result of his work with
Yahoo and HP.
Subsequently he was involved in securing over
$360MM in venture capital; a result of his track
record in growth and ensuring that the ventures
with which he is engaged secure market share,
and not just a few customers.

@seobrien
A well known convention for
explaining what you are doing is
“Like X for Y”
That can work but it presumes that
people know X and Y.
If you’re FourSquare for Indeed
and your audience doesn’t know
what that means, you’ve lost them.

@seobrien
SloMoCo.io
We’ve created a free mobile app
which automatically tracks the
location of HR professionals and
hiring managers. Vets get buzzed
when an ideal connection is nearby.

@seobrien
When matters. Why Now?
The market dynamics that make the investment
ideal.
Why hasn’t this been successful before?
What’s evolving today that gives you a competitive
advantage?
What’s coming that will result in your having a first
mover advantage?

@seobrien
Why now?
With the standard adoption of location based
tracking via phone, Facebook, Foursquare to
identify hiring managers, only today can we query
where they are.
We have the team uniquely capable of scaling the
adoption of this innovation within our market.

@seobrien
But no one else is doing this??

@seobrien
Yes, we actually do everything! And our
competitors (those morons) are overlooking
something obvious.
Okay, truth be told, we haven’t done any in depth
research and we’re just giving you the cursory us vs.
them slide.
We haven’t planned strategically about where to
prioritize and invest our resources.

@seobrien
An in-depth competitive
analysis shows that the
team understands the
market and the advantages
that will be required to win
Now.
because

@seobrien
Philosophies, of the people around whom you live
and work, define the culture in which you engage.
That culture creates communities.
Communities create businesses.
Businesses, with shared philosophies, foster
industries and industries blend to drive economies.
Thus the economy in which you work, wherein you
are raising capital and building your business, is the
result of the shared philosophies and culture there.

@seobrien
SloMoCo.io
There is no better place than Austin.
Our proximity to San Antonio gives us
unparalleled access to returning Vets,
Austin has the highest per capita
mobile dev workforce in the world,
and The Bunker is here.

@seobrien
SloMoCo.io
Ready to go on Android (because of the
larger market share), the app tracks
professionals based on jobs posted to
Indeed and Facebook /Foursquare
tracking. Alerts are automatic based on
GPS and we have a predictive analytics
database that we're selling to cities that
shows WHERE Vets are landing jobs.

@seobrien
No Marketing = No Money
You must explain
HOW you are going
to market!

@seobrien
NOT your marketing budget or that you
intend to acquire customers through
SEO and social marketing
Go home
What is the market? What are the
trends therein? How are you going to
be relevant? With whom are you trying
to partner? Why should the media and
public care?

@seobrien
Elevator Pitch (30 sec)
2 minute follow up
Cold email
Short deck: 6 slides
Long form
Elevator Pitch (30 sec)
2 minute follow up
Cold email
Short deck: 6 slides
Long form

@seobrien
St ar t up
St udi o
INCUVATORINCUVATOR

Developing the Perfect Startup Pitch

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