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April 8, 2008 9:01 AM

What's The Best Material for the Pre-Pitch Introduction to a VC

Q: What do you expect to see from an entrepreneur whom you don’t know or have a casual introduction to before scheduling time to listen to a pitch? A one-pager? A complete powerpoint? A classic business plan or a casual one?

A: (Brad) While everyone is a little different, I'm pretty simple.  Optimally, I'd like something to play around with (e.g. a simple web site or software demo / prototype.)  If the company is pre-web site / demo, then a short executive summary is always better than a ppt for me – I’d rather read what the person thinks, than try to interpret it from a ppt. However, I’m happy to get a ppt of any length since I’ll just page through it quickly.  I'm also happy to just get a couple of paragraphs describing the business and the background of the people involved as I can usually decide from there whether it's something I would be interested in spending more time on.

I have no interest in seeing a business plan or a financial model for an early stage company pre first pitch.

Posted in: Presentations | Posted by: Brad Feld
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