00:00um what I really wanted to do was break
00:02down and demystifying the process of
00:03creating a pitch because I think what
00:05happens too often when I see companies
00:07come to talk to me is that they don't
00:08know how to Simply explain what they do
00:11and then ask for money and that's
00:12basically what you have to do as a
00:13Founder so we're going to go over four
00:15things uh the first is what your 30
00:16second Pitch is this you need to be
00:18armed with constantly this is basically
00:20how you talk about your company this is
00:21Magic um whether you're talking to
00:23people who want to give you money who
00:24don't want to give you money you're
00:25talking to your parents this is your
00:27go-to the second is your two-minute
00:29pitch this is for people who are more
00:31interested this is people who you might
00:32want to raise money from or people who
00:34you might want to get to work for you or
00:35people who actually kind of need to get
00:37a little bit deeper um notice that's
00:39where I stop a lot of people practice 10
00:4130 minute pitches hour pitches I think
00:43that's all garbage I think you can get
00:44everything you need done in two minutes
00:46and one thing I like to tell Founders is
00:48the more you talk the more your
00:49opportunity to say something that people
00:51don't like so just talk less and it'll
00:53probably be better so then I want to
00:55tell you about when to fund raise
00:56because I think a lot of companies get
00:58this a little bit wrong and then quickly
01:00how to set up investor meetings so 30
01:03second Pitch this is so simple it's
01:04three sentences um you can take your
01:06time you can breathe when you do this
01:08you don't have to get that much
01:09information out the first is one
01:11sentence on what does your company do
01:13everyone I meet for the first time
01:15screws this up you have to be able to do
01:18it in a way that is simple and
01:20straightforward that requires no
01:22pre-information on my part you have to
01:24assume I know nothing literally nothing
01:26about anything um this is how you make
01:29it super simple so you know usually what
01:30we tell people is apply the mom test if
01:32in one sentence you cannot tell your mom
01:34what you do then rework the sentence um
01:37there is a one sentence explanation that
01:39your mom or your dad is going to
01:40understand so really really start there
01:42and it's okay if you use really basic
01:43language it's okay if you're saying hey
01:45we're arbnb and we allow you to rent out
01:47the extra room in your house that's
01:49simple right you don't have to say we're
01:51Airbnb and we're a Marketplace for space
01:54I don't know what that is that's going
01:55to require more time so use Simple
01:57language very very important the second
01:59is how big is your Market um it makes
02:02sense to do a couple hours of research
02:05figure out what General Industry your
02:06product is in figure out how big it is
02:08investors like to hear that you're in a
02:10multi-billion dollar market it's pretty
02:12simple to do this you know Airbnb might
02:14say how big is the hotel Market how big
02:16is the vacation rental market how big is
02:18the online hotel booking Market these
02:19are simple numbers to look up on Google
02:21and it makes an investor understand oh
02:23wait if we're big if we really blow this
02:26company up it can be worth billions of
02:27dollars don't skip this up second
02:29sentence how big as your Market third
02:31sentence how much traction do you have
02:33ideally this sentence is saying
02:34something on the order of we launched in
02:36January and we're growing 30% month over
02:38month we have this number of sales this
02:40amount of Revenue this number of users
02:42very simple if you can't speak to
02:45Traction in terms of pre-launch you need
02:47to convince the investor that you're
02:48moving extremely quickly so the team
02:51started working in January by March we
02:53launched a beta by April we launched our
02:55product right convince the investors
02:58that you guys are moving fast that this
03:00isn't some long SLO that you guys aren't
03:01thinking about this like a big
03:02Corporation you're thinking about it
03:04like a startup where you can move fast
03:05and make mistakes that's all you have to
03:06do in 30 seconds three sentences from
03:09that basis you should be able to start a
03:10conversation about your company from
03:12that basis I understand exactly what you
03:13do you have no you have no idea how
03:16valuable it is to be able to explain to
03:17someone what you do in 30 seconds so
03:19really internalize that like if you take
03:20nothing else away that's going to help
03:22you okay two-minute pitch now you've got
03:24someone who actually have to convince of
03:26something um maybe even someone you have
03:28to ask for money so I like to add four
03:31additional components um and these also
03:33go by very quick the first is unique
03:35Insight now if you talk to a VCS they'll
03:38say stuff like what's your secret sauce
03:40what's your competitive Advantage what's
03:42your unique Insight it's all the same
03:44thing um when I think about unique
03:46Insight what I think about is here's
03:47your opportunity to tell me something
03:48that I don't know here's your
03:50opportunity to tell me something that
03:52the biggest players in the market you're
03:54trying to enter don't understand or
03:56don't do well this is the aha moment and
03:58you better have it down in two sentences
04:00the aha moment so you got to crystallize
04:02all of the reasons why you guys are
04:04going to kill the competitors or the
04:06really intelligent thought that got this
04:08business started in two sentences and I
04:10need to Aha you can see whether it's
04:12happening when you're saying it that's
04:14why I like two sentences so you get in
04:15and out fast so if I look at you and I'm
04:17like H then it's okay you nailed it if I
04:19look at you and I'm like I already knew
04:20that then you didn't nail it if I looked
04:22at you and I just don't understand what
04:23you're talking about you definitely
04:24didn't nail it so practice that unique
04:26Insight in your two-minute pitch that's
04:28all you're only going to get two senten
04:29to get that out there so it can't be
04:31complicated and that's basically the
04:32theme of this whole thing right it
04:33cannot be complicated next how do you
04:36make money you know your business model
04:37I see so many Founders run away from
04:39this question because they think things
04:40like if I say advertising people are
04:42going to be like oh that's stupid just
04:44say it don't run away if it's
04:46advertising say advertising Facebook's a
04:48massive advertising business so is
04:49Google if it's direct sales it's direct
04:51sales if it's uh you know a game and
04:54you're selling inapp uh um inapp adups
04:57like that's fine just say it don't run
04:59away from from this sentence it only has
05:00to be one sentence long where Founders
05:02get tricked on how will you make money
05:04is they say well we're going to run
05:06advertising maybe some virtual Goods
05:08we're going to figure out how to do this
05:09and maybe this and maybe this well now
05:11you're saying nothing now you've told me
05:13you have no idea how you want to
05:14monetize this this was a check mark that
05:16I just wanted to write oh they know how
05:17they're going to monetize instead I'm
05:18writing a big question mark so do the
05:21thing that everyone else in your
05:22industry does to monetize 95% of the
05:24time say it and move on like it's
05:26totally okay no one's going to hold your
05:28feet to the fire and say three years
05:29later you didn't monetize this way but
05:31it's much better to be clear and concise
05:32than it is to start spouting out every s
05:34single way your company can make money
05:36the next one is team um I think that
05:39this answer is actually really clear I
05:41think you're trying to do um two things
05:44if your team has done something
05:46particularly impressive you need to call
05:48that out uh we were the founders of
05:50PayPal probably want to say that um we
05:53were the founders of Amazon probably
05:54want to say that so if you guys have
05:55done something that has made investors
05:57money you want to say that if not then
05:59please don't go on about the awards your
06:01team has won or the phds or the I don't
06:03care I don't care what we want to hear
06:05is how many Founders hopefully between
06:07two and four we want to hear is how many
06:09of them are technical how many Engineers
06:11versus business people hopefully it's
06:1250/50 or more Engineers we want to hear
06:15is that how long have you guys known
06:16each other we don't want to hear you
06:17guys met at a Founders dating event
06:19three days ago um ideally you've known
06:22each other either personally
06:23professionally for at least six months
06:25we want to hear is that you're all
06:25working full-time it's really helpful
06:27we're all committed to this business
06:29and what we want to hear is um how you
06:32met that's it you can get in out of that
06:34two sentences very easy your only way to
06:38build credentials is if you've
06:40accomplished something and with an
06:42investor typically it's if you've
06:43accomplished something that's made
06:44someone some money so don't try to
06:46overinflate yourself if you don't have
06:47that stat on your resume move on the
06:49more you talk about a bad thing the
06:51worse it looks so the last one is the
06:54big ask um when it comes to this and you
06:57have to figure out whether this is a
06:58conversation involves fundraising or not
07:00what I tell people is like this is the
07:01time where you kind of have to know what
07:02you're talking about um this is the time
07:04where you have to know are you raising
07:06on a convertible note are you raising on
07:07a safe you have to know what the cap of
07:09that safe is you have to know how much
07:11money you're raising um you have to know
07:13uh what the minimum check size is these
07:14are things where if you don't know these
07:16these things investors going to be like
07:18oh these guys aren't serious or they
07:19haven't done their homework so whereas
07:21in the rest of this whole thing you
07:22shouldn't use any jargon in this part
07:24you shouldn't just be like oh we're just
07:26raising some money like now is time to
07:28actually use a little bit of that jargon
07:29if don't know that jargon Google search
07:30it like it's real simple uh you guys
07:32learn it fast so that's it by the way
07:35that's two that's all your pitch
