Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Investors look for certain things in the pitch to decide whether or not to pursue.

In pitching VCs, make sure you cover the following points:

Say what your company does in 10 words or less.

This provides context so the investor knows how to understand the rest of the pitch.

Show how your team is great.  

Give examples demonstrating how sharp they are, how fast they execute, and how they learn from mistakes.

Mention the size of the market and include not only the total available market and serviceable market but also the beachhead market.

The beachhead market is the first 20 customers you will pursue.

This shows you know where you are going to start with your go-to-market plans.

Discuss the monetization model.

If you have recurring revenue, highlight that aspect as that will appeal to them the most. 

Show recent milestones accomplished such as a product launched, or a customer closed.

Discuss current traction.

Forecasts must rest on top of historical numbers.

Investors will look for where you are today in order to understand your forecast.

Show how much funding you have so far.

Have one fundraise target, not several, as investors can’t manage multiple scenarios in the initial meeting.

Know what you are going to accomplish with the fundraise. 

Again, focus on clear milestones and avoid multiple scenarios.

In the end, it’s one team, one product, one business model, one fundraise, and one outcome. 


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
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Music courtesy of Bensound

In this our 600th episode, Hall welcomes Paul Glover, Author of “WorkQuake” and Executive Coach at Paul Glover Coaching.

Paul is the “no BS work performance coach”, a "recovering trial lawyer", an ex-felon, an unabashed Starbucks addict, a Chicago Bears fanatic, the author of WorkQuake, a speaker on business and leadership topics, and a member of the Forbes Coaching Council.

In 2001, based on his personal experiences as a federal court trial lawyer and a set-back survivor, Paul created a unique coaching program, recognizing the primary reason why convincing successful leaders to engage in the hard work necessary to improve their leadership skillset was so difficult was that leaders seldom know the truth about the weaknesses in their leadership skill set. This lack of knowledge exists because of the inherent nature of positional authority which eliminates the psychological safety necessary for others in the organization to tell leaders the unfiltered truth. This lack of truthfulness about their leadership skill set restrains both the leader and their organization from reaching their full potential. For the last 20 years, he has used a coaching program based on a measurable improvement process that holds leaders accountable for eliminating the filters and stuff that surrounds them. But, more importantly, it also requires leaders to discover their blind spots and their propensity for producing self-inflicted injuries which constrain their organizations and themselves from realizing their full potential. And, finally, it requires that they take the corrective action necessary to eliminate those constraints.  

Paul discusses the inspiration behind his book, the primary audience, what surprised him the most whilst writing it, and the most important takeaway.

You can visit Paul at his website www.paulglovercoaching.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/paulglovercoaching/, via Twitter at www.twitter.com/paulglovercoach, and via email at paul@paulglovercoaching.com.  

You can purchase his book from his website or from Amazon, at ww.amazon.com/Work-Quake.

Music courtesy of Bensound.