Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams (Evan Baehr, 2015)

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  • If you want advice for your startup, ask for money - and vice versa. To succeed you need both
  • Elevator pitch - use analogy, talk about what it does for your customer, pick a fight, tell your vision
  • Problems - a big problem in the market, deep understanding, specific person
  • Solution - Beauty, surprise, repeatable and scalable, solving pain point, team excellence
  • Market segmentation - profiling, clearly defined market, revenue (total addressable market vs served addressable market)
  • Financial model - assumptions (customer acquisition costs, revenue growth), projections (income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet), critical insights (cash flow, burn rate, profit margin, break even, pricing)
  • Team - brevity, domain expertise, passion intensity and a good team culture
  • Extra slides - frequently asked questions, history, products, market, patents, people you are learning from, executive summary, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, investment highlights, milestones achieved, branding, product road map, mission, vision, pictures, supply chain, how it works, risks, differentiation chart, locations, geographic growth plans, screenshots, sales funnel, customer acquisition strategy, customer lifetime value, designs/blueprints, history and background, unique value proposition, competitive or unfair advantage, pipeline, strategic partnerships, customer quotes, comparable companies, go-to-market strategy, case study, organisation chart, exit strategy, exits example, conclusion, technology, valuation
  • Storytelling: 1. Limited awareness of a problem (ordinary world), 2. Increased awareness (call to adventure), 3. Reluctance to change (refusal of the call), 4. Overcoming reluctance (meeting with the mentor), 5. Committing to change (crossing the threshold), 6. Experimenting with first change (tests, allies and enemies), 7. Preparing for a big change (approach the innermost cave), 8. Attempting a big change (ordeal), 9. Consequences of the attempt (reward), 10. Rededication to change (road block), 11. Final attempt at a big change (resurrection), 12. Final mastery of the problem (return with the elixir)
  • Original story: products or services with high social benefits, taps into audience’s desire for meaning
  • Customer story: complex products or services, customer with dramatic transformation stories, explains your value
  • Industry story: disruptive products or services, shows you know what you’re talking about and the idea is huge
  • Venture story: venture with immediate traction, feels like you’re on a train that’s headed somewhere big
  • Style: no bullet points, visualised data, consistent colour scheme, no metaphor, a short word, cut words out, active words (was saved vs saved), no jargon
  • Before meeting investors: google their name, follow them on angellist, follow them on twitter & linkedin, use newsletter., read their blog
  • Plan your opening: it is now always about money, complete the transfer of trust, show confidence, put them at ease, make it about them, how gratitude
  • Ask great questions and listen: tell me about the first company you invest in, what gets you really excited about a company, what is something you see in an early startup most people don’t?
  • Handling objections: where are the gaps in our team, what do we lack in experience knowledge or relationships, what are our greatest risk
  • Type of investment ask:is this something you will be interested when area ready to raise funds, you are exactly the partner we are looking for so will you join us, I like you guys and can we do something amazing together, will you invest $1m , we have already succeeded in raising much funds we need and there is a spot left so can I count you in for the $1m?


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