Bootup Labs Blog

Yesterday (November 5th, 2009) I presented to the 37 tech companies who were all vying for the 20 open slots to pitch various VCs and Angels at the upcoming 3rd annual Fusion Forum. Here is the presentation I gave, but click through to see the notes for context.

Get your ticket now to see the 20 finalists pitch to investors on Nov 12th.

The results of the day were posted late last night, and are listed here:

GAMES

1. Black Cherry
2. ClickToy
3. Ecobuddies Interactive
4. Old Skool Studios
5. Overinteractive

MOBILE

1. Aegis Mobility
2. AppSocial
3. Cell Map Inc
4. Mobify
5. Sound of Motion

WEB2.0/SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Arcalife
2. Muutu
3. My Wedding Match
4. Vibrant Software (Everystockphoto)
5. Wantsa

NEW PLATFORMS AND APPLICATIONS

1. Konductor Software
2. LayerBoom Systems
3. Mingleverse Labs
4. Moving Media Group
5. Unbounce Marketing

I attended this month’s VANTEC Angel Network meeting today.  I’ve attended many of Mike’s events in the past, but today’s was different for some reason.  I don’t know what it was. I just felt much more productive, professional. Maybe it’s because Mike has increased the cost to the investors from $10 per session to $50 per session (or $300 for the year).  It’s still not a lot of money, but only serious investors will pay.  Maybe Angels are feeling more confident about the economy.  I like to think my rant about inappropriate public comments about the presentation style has something to do with it, but honestly I highly doubt anyone in the room had seen that post.

Anyway, kudos to Mike.  He’s providing a great service to our Startup and Investor community alike.  If you’re looking for money, I recommend VANTEC.  There’s no cost to present, but you need a sponsor (a current investor or advisor will do), and then you have to go through a selection process.

The companies that presented and are in the digital media space were:

• Jostle.me – a collaborative Social intra-network to help employees communicate, collaborate and find hidden talent within their own organizations.
• Ayogo – a company that can port video games to social networks and help monetize them.
• Wireless Image – Very simple and cool way to advertise via people’s mobile phones.
• TinySpeck – This company didn’t actually present, but Stewart Butterfield (founder of Flickr.com, which was originally started in Vancouver) was in attendance to sponsor  Michael Fergusson’s Ayogo.  In the process, he mentioned the name of his new Startup and thought you might want to check it out.

If you’re interested in learning more about investing in Digital Media, check out my previous posts. More to come!

• VC is not broken – Anymore. Digital Media’s new funding models
• Assessing Competition Risk for Digital Media Startups

I often hear the statement: “I’m not going to invest because if [fill in the blank large company] wanted to do this, they would just wipe you out.” I usually respond: If that was true…

• …Yahoo would have taken out Google
• …Amazon would have taken out eBay
• …MySpace would have taken out Facebook
• …Facebook would have taken out Twitter
• …Blockbuster would have taken out NetFlix
• …and the list goes on and on and on.

I had the pleasure of getting to know some of the management team at Amazon who was around long enough to remember when they had the option to buy eBay.  They tell the story as if it was the largest missed opportunity that Amazon ever made, and they never want to make that mistake again. Still, they waited until Zappos had an $800M price tag before they bought them, but how come Amazon didn’t just do it themselves?  I use Amazon as an example, specifically because they have to be the most innovative large-companies that I can think of, and they still can’t defend themselves against anyone coming along and making a superior product.

Exceptions to the rule will always have to do with some sort of manipulated market channel.  Anyone who owns/rents a Motorola DVR knows what I’m talking about here.  No reasonable consumer would ever buy this product if they had a choice.  It’s the worst piece of garbage I’ve ever used.  Especially if you’ve used a Tivo before.  Motorola has the muscle to be able to negotiate big long term contracts with the cable companies and force them to restrict consumer choice.   There are similar exceptions with AT&T and the iPhone, and Microsoft with Windows.

But, The Internet is unique. It’s the ultimate in disintermediation.  It’s very difficult to lock up any particular channel.  For example, If I don’t like Google, I’m headed over to Bing with one click.

On the Internet, the best product wins.  It’s truly a case where the best defense is a strong offense.  And winning has NOTHING to do with the size of the company you’re competing against.  Large companies “get this.”  77% of acquisitions made by the top 10 acquirers in the entire technology industry are web companies.  Large companies have really no choice but to succumb to using the start-up ecosystem as their outsourced R&D departments.

So, what can you conclude about competition risk for digital media startups?

1. There is no such thing as a big company who is going to come and eat your lunch.  All companies, regardless of their size, are run by a collection of individuals.  By definition a decision maker is just one person, whether you’re in BigCo or NewCo.  And, although large companies have more data and more money, their decision makers have to listen to lots of opinions (causing a watered down unfocused product), too many people to please (causing the product to launch and change very slowly), and have a reduced tolerance for risk because they’re afraid of losing their job if they screw up.  These are all impedance’s that startup decision makers don’t have.
2. The product development and engineering teams the most important positions in the company.  Companies may soon fight for the elite PD guys the same way that TV networks fought for Dave Letterman. See Boris Wertz’ post (any my comment) to get a glimpse of our future.
3. The best of the best will usually not want to work to make someone else rich, when they can simply start their own company.  So, the most innovative product teams will not fear risk, and leave to start their own companies.

All this boils down to another great reason to invest in digital media companies.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

I hear it all the time – almost daily, in fact.  Entrepreneurs deal with wildly varying, passionate, almost religious, beliefs around how to pitch their company to Investors.  They have advisers, board members, friends, family, potential investors, consultants, and sometime even the gardener telling them how to get their point across to prospective investors.  My advice to you is this: listen to all of them, but put their advice into each of the following buckets.  You see, everybody is so sure that they have the right answer, because most of the time, they do.  They just forget to understand the conditions in which you’ll be delivering the pitch.  And that, changes every aspect about how you deliver it.  I tried to work out how many pitches I’ve given over the past 10 years.  My guess is about 100 pitches, which have resulted in 10 rounds of investments.  Adjust your pitch to match the conditions, and you should receive better responses:

5 Pitch Conditions

1. The Pitch Event/Angel Forum Pitch – For many first time Entrepreneurs, this is first contact.  The goal here is to  pitch interested investors one-on-one.  Many entrepreneurs make the simple mistake of trying to tell a room full of people about every nuance of their business in 10-20 minutes.  They feel that, “if they only knew about this feature, and that deal, or the other markets that my product could expand into” that they would get funding.   I recommend you follow Guy’s pitch advice for group presentations.  Also, read my post about loud-mouthed (probably ambulance chancing consultants) at Angel forums.  If these guys try to criticize your pitch in public, just deflect those comments by responding with, “I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about the business or my team.”
2. The Coffee Shop Pitch – The chance to pitch a VC or Angel one-on-one is the most important part of the fund raising gauntlet.  This is when an Angel or VC will decide to do further diligence, or leave you on the side of the street.  This often follows a Pitch Event, but if you’re lucky enough to get a personal introduction (which is always better) then this may be the first time the individual has heard the pitch.  In either case, your pitch needs to be dynamic, interactive, responsive, which will result in a fresh and real delivery.  It’s much more of a discussion than a pitch, except you’re doing most of the talking.  You should be open to sharing every detail about the company; No NDAs are accepted or required here.  Do not follow a rigid format.  You can use slides, but mix it up with as many actual live demos as you can and based on what the investor may care more about. (to know what they care about, ask them)  You have the unique ability to watch for the “ah ha” moment.  Keep your eye out for this moment, it’s what you’re working toward.  You’ll know it when you see it.  When you do see it, think of what you just said to cause this reaction and go into more detail about that aspect of the business.  This is when the questions will start to pick up, because it’s at this moment that the investor switches from “why should I invest in this deal,” to looking for reasons “why not to invest.”  Make sure he/she doesn’t find any, and you’ll be on to the next stage.  Oh, and be careful never to answer challenging questions in a defensive tone.  This will make you seem closed to advice and difficult to work with.
3. The VC Partnership Pitch – Following the Coffee Shop pitch, you will be subjected to a certain level of diligence.  If the investor was a VC (vs an Angel) and things went well, then you will then be asked to pitch the Partnership.  This usually happens on a Monday and if it goes well, you will hear about it by the end of the day.  If it doesn’t you’ll hear a no by Wednesday.  Of course this isn’t a perfect formula, but I can it’s hard for me to recall a time that this wasn’t true.  This pitch is usually the easiest because you’re being “sponsored” by a partner in the partnership.  To get the investment approved, it requires by-in from his/her entire firm.  The Partner will work with you to construct the exact slides that will sell the firm.  Work with them, but for the most part do exactly what he/she says.

Other Pitch Conditions

This post is not about pitching to customers, but it needs to be noted that the pitches below also differ from the rest.  I mention this because I have seen many entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors as if they were pitching to a customer.  They spend way too much time on the product and not enough on how the business makes money.  Knowing about these other two buckets will hopefully help you decide where to move store the advice you receive.

1. The Customer Pitch – For example, Industry events, customer’s offices.
2. The Public Peer Pitch – Demo Camps, Launch Parties, etc
3. The Board Pitch – Every board meeting is a mini pitch.

Universal pitch advice

1. Exude a calm confidence in what you know.
2. Talking fast usually means you’re nervous. SLOW DOWN.
3. Using lots of inflections in your voice means you’re passionate, but be careful not to sound defensive.
4. Using your body means you’re really passionate, but remain pragmatic.
5. Never get defensive when someone criticizes  your idea or approach.  Chances are they have a really good reason for doing so, and you may want to think about their advice a bit more. But, it’s nice if you can say, “We looked into that, and this is what we discovered…”

Pitching yourself

Don’t forget that there’s always a sub-pitch that you will always have to keep fresh.  That’s learning how to effectively pitch yourself.  When Bootup Mentor, Patrick Lor came to town to work with our portfolio and some other local companies to refine their pitch, the first thing he made us all do is pitch ourselves in less than 30 seconds.  In almost every case, we went over time and didn’t focus on our achievements.  Even the most egotistical of us, could have done a better job transmitting our resume with pride and confidence.  People want to invest in winners, tell them that you are one.

Good luck!

I’m a small Angel investor, but I’m first an entrepreneur.  I’ve been the pitcher and the pitchee over 100 times.  Having this perspective has taught me something that I wish to share.  I offer this advice up in the best interest of both entrepreneurs who detest the experience of pitching to a group of angels, and Angels who are (hopefully) looking to find a great place to invest some of their money.

Becoming a good pitcher during your first few months on the job is not a prerequisite to building a billion dollar organization.  There, I said it.

Think about it. Most pitches are done by first time founders, who have never pitched before.  I remember back to the time I delivered my first pitch.  It was terrible, but I got better.  And by the time I finally convinced someone to take a chance on me, I was pretty good.  BUT, the company was exactly the same underneath.  The only difference between the first group of Angels who heard my terrible pitch and turned me down, and the later group who finally invested, is that the first group missed out purely because of a poorly delivered pitch.  Who gives a $%^&* how well the CEO delivered his pitch?  Instead, ask yourself “Do I want to know more about this business?”  By definition, you are a smart person; You should be able to fill in some of the gaps on your own, or at least form some intelligent questions to ask the CEO afterward.

A side note:  There is more often than not, at least one know-it-all, loud-mouthed, wannabe-almost-angel who takes pleasure in criticizing and humiliating the entrepreneur in front of a room full of strangers.  Please, do not listen to people who comment on the presentation.  Yes, there are actually people who do this, and it’s more common that you think.  To this (probably consultant) guy/gal, who seems to always sneak into the Angel Forums:  I ask you to please stop.  You’re not helping.  You’re there to learn about the business, not give a public lesson on pitching styles.  We don’t want to hear from you.

Just remember, that it takes two people to effectively communicate.

A while back, I tweeted on the @bootuplabs account that “Craigslist now sucks for finding good web / startup people. Use http://www.joblink.tw/ which @ericries made. Let us know, we’ll RT for you”.

More recently, we’ve had a chance to try this out. One of our portfolio companies, Dimerocker, is looking for a PHP ninja with front end skills. Their job description is at http://www.joblink.tw/PmfC, and a simple “Tweet this” makes it easy for the @bootuplabs or any other account to “RT” and pass the job along.

But Joblink is not just for job postings. If you’re looking for a cofounder, or you yourself are looking for a cool new position, you can anonymously fill out a listing and have friends with good networks pass the link along.

I think that my comment on Craigslist was perhaps a bit over the top. But, it definitely is the case that you have to sift through a lot more chaff from Craigslist resumes than you used to. I think that if I were hiring for web startups, I’d want anyone there to be familiar with Twitter, or at least have friends that can pass the links along from it.

If you have a startup related job, are looking for a cofounder or some related job offering, let us know the Joblink, and we’ll happily pass it along with our accounts.

The last post was called Pitch-tember. We get “pitches” all the time. People tell us their idea, where they are with their business, and we try and give them feedback. A lot of the time we get stuck in the weeds because people feel the need to somehow make their pitch “fancier” in some way. It’s much better if you can just tell us what the problem is, and even better – how you decided to pick this problem, what it means to you, and how your solution is different / unique.

Rick Segal suggests the Stop Watch Test as a way to tune your “live” pitching when you meet people (VC or otherwise):

On the idea/business front, I’ve been giving people the 60 second stop watch test.  I simply say, okay, step one, let’s see if you can, in 60 seconds, tell me what you do and why.  Currently, I’m running about a 35% success rate which is, in a weird way, a good thing because we can then spend 39 minutes working on a bit of fine tuning. Makes for a true no harm, no foul session.

…

P.S. I’ve typically told people, what’s the problem, how do you solve it, where’s the money, as being the three things that are core to any ‘pitch’ or idea looking for funding.  What you are doing and why in sixty seconds is the same things.

Dave McClure uses lots of fonts and big giant YOU FAIL in red to make his point in trying to make less of the pitches he hears not “completely suck balls” – Your SOLUTION is Not My PROBLEM:

remember folks: pitch the PROBLEM first, connect with your audience emotionally around the problem, and then — and ONLY then — offer your solution as the remedy to that problem.

Got more pitch articles, tips, or presentations to share? I’d love to add some more links to our Resources & Templates section.

Problem

We’ve been having some telephone growing pains here at Bootup Labs.  I am not a big fan of phone systems in general. They fall in the same category as fax machines and printers.  Old school, heavy tech, that requires skilled IT people to install, operate, and support.  Everything at Bootup Labs is done in the cloud, except the phones and printers.  Luckily, i’ve been able to get away with faxing with MyFax, and scanning and emailing most of the time.  I realize that we could have used a cloud based PBX system, like Primus, but I wasn’t prepared to sign a long term contract with a bigger player, or trust a smaller player.  As much as I try to encourage the use of corporate cell phones instead of desk phones, I had to succumb to the basic requirement for a corporate phone number.  People that call a company, expect the professionalism and security you feel when you’re greeted by an automated attendant saying “Thank you for calling NewCo. If you know your party’s extension, please dial it now, otherwise press 4 for the directory”  Argg.  If someone actually answered the phone, the reaction should be “wow, you have great service” but it’s more often met with the feeling of, “wow, if you can afford to have people answer the phone directly, you’re probably too small to work with us.”

Solution

We have purchased a Sutus Business Central 200 box for each portfolio company.  When the company leaves Bootup, they take their phone system with them.  All they have to do is plug it in at their new office and they’re ready to go.  It’s already configured with their babytel VoIP line, so no need to call any phone companies.  Obviously, they need to have a good internet connection, but they’ll need that anyway.  ahh, sweet simplicity.

Unboxing pics