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- The Art of Unlearning: A Startup Founderās Guide to Letting Go of Corporate Baggage
In the vibrant whirlwind of startup culture, the adage "learn fast, fail fast" is frequently preached but seldom dissected for its silent counterpartāunlearning. Unlearning is not about forgetting; it's an art of strategically letting go of outdated methods and mindsets that stifle innovation. Itās the deliberate abandonment of former conveniences and a daring embrace of uncertainty and flexibility. The science behind unlearning reveals why it is so challenging: our brains cling to familiar patterns and resist change, making the process of discarding established cognitive maps both difficult and discomforting. From a psychological perspective, unlearning requires confronting deeply ingrained beliefs and routines, making room for new, more adaptive ways of thinking and behaving. This cognitive restructuring is not just fascinatingāit's essential for thriving in an ever-evolving business landscape. The Philosophy of Unlearning At its core, unlearning is the process of discarding the obsolete to make way for agile and innovative practices. As business environments evolve at a breakneck pace, the ability to unlearn becomes as valuable as the ability to learn. Startups, unlike their corporate behemoths, must pivot quickly, shedding old skin to reveal more responsive and adaptive operations. The Science Behind Unlearning Research underscores the critical nature of unlearning for organizational growth and innovation. A Harvard Business Review study highlighted that companies actively engaging in unlearning practices reported a 22% higher innovation rate than those that donāt. This shows unlearning is not just beneficial; it's essential in today's business climate. Revolutionary Unlearning Frameworks 1. Embracing Agile Decision-Making - Old Habit: Delaying decisions for extensive data collection. - New Skill: Agile decision-making allows startups to seize opportunities that fleeting moments offer. - How to Implement: Set a "decision clock" limiting decision phases to 48 hours and use tools like Trello for real-time tracking and accountability. Studies indicate that agile decision-making can cut time to market by 33% and improve operational efficiency by 25%. 2. Cultivating Trust and Autonomy - Old Habit: Micromanagement and excessive oversight. - New Skill: Building a culture of trust not only boosts morale but also encourages innovative thinking among team members. - How to Implement: Define clear goals and employ platforms like Slack for progress updates, maintaining a balance of oversight and independence. The future of work isnāt about watching the clock but about performance and results. Companies that focus on output rather than hours worked see a productivity increase of up to 20% . 3. Practicing Radical Candor - Old Habit: Formal, indirect communication filled with jargon. - New Skill: Direct, transparent communication fosters a dynamic environment where ideas flourish. - How to Implement: Implement regular radical candor workshops and encourage feedback sessions that promote honest and constructive dialogue. In an era where authenticity in leadership is more prized than ever, radical candor isnāt just preferableāitās critical. Conclusion The journey of unlearning is crucial for startup leaders who aspire to navigate their ships away from the safe harbors of conventional wisdom into uncharted waters. By shedding the cumbersome weights of outdated practices, we not only streamline operations but also foster a culture ripe for innovation and success. Embrace unlearning as your strategic advantage, and watch your startup thrive in the dynamic tides of the modern business world.
- Unstuck Labs Recognized as a Top Software Development Company in the USA by Techreviewer.co in 2024
Arlington, Virginia - March 31, 2024Ā ā In a landmark announcement, Unstuck Labs, the Arlington-based beacon of innovation in software development, has been recognized by Techreviewer as one of the elite software developers in the United States for the year 2024. This prestigious accolade serves as a testament to Unstuck Labs' unwavering commitment to pioneering digital solutions and underscores its standing as a leader in the fiercely competitive US software development industry. Founded on the ethos of breaking barriers and transcending limits, Unstuck Labs has carved a niche for itself through its relentless pursuit of innovation and excellence. "This recognition from Techreviewer is a remarkable honor for us. It's a reflection of our dedication, our passion, and the innovative spirit that drives every project we undertake," says Wa'il Ashshowwaf, CEO of Unstuck Labs. "It validates our efforts to not just meet, but exceed the expectations of our clients, pushing the envelope of what's possible in digital solutions." Unstuck Labs has consistently set the standard for excellence in the tech landscape, driven by a forward-thinking approach to software development. Renowned for its ability to solve complex challenges with creative and scalable solutions, Unstuck Labs' inclusion in Techreviewer's elite list is a mark of its superior service and innovative capabilities. Central to Unstuck Labs' success is its client-centric approach, fostering strong, trust-based relationships with its clientele. This philosophy ensures that every project not only aligns with the client's vision and business objectives but also transcends them, leading to successful outcomes and lasting partnerships. The team at Unstuck Labs, a diverse group of seasoned professionals, is the cornerstone of the company's achievements. Their unique skills and expertise enable Unstuck Labs to address and surmount complex challenges, delivering comprehensive, innovative, and tailored solutions for every client. "Our team's diversity in thought and experience is our greatest asset. It allows us to approach projects from fresh perspectives, ensuring we always offer innovative and customized solutions," Ashshowwaf adds. Adherence to the highest standards of quality is non-negotiable at Unstuck Labs. This commitment has not only earned the company numerous accolades but has also secured repeat business from satisfied clients, affirming its reputation for reliability, scalability, and future-proof solutions. Looking ahead, Unstuck Labs is poised for continued growth and innovation. With a commitment to exploring new technologies, adopting the latest methodologies, and expanding its service offerings, Unstuck Labs remains at the cutting edge of software development. "The future is bright, and we are excited about continuing our journey of innovation, staying ahead of industry trends, and delivering exceptional digital solutions that drive our clients' success," says Ashshowwaf. The recognition by Techreviewer is more than just an accolade; it's a milestone that underscores Unstuck Labs' hard work, dedication, and its enduring commitment to excellence. As Unstuck Labs continues to innovate and expand, it remains focused on its mission to craft exceptional digital solutions that empower businesses and drive success.
- The Ultimate Guide for Non-Technical Founders: How to Craft an Effective Request for Proposal (RFP)
In today's fast-paced digital age, turning a brilliant idea into a tangible product is the dream of many. However, for non-technical founders, the journey from conception to creation can seem daunting. How do you convey your vision to a developer? How can you ensure that your idea is translated accurately into a product? Fear not, for this guide is here to help! Introduction Every great product starts with an idea. But the bridge between an idea and its execution often requires the expertise of software developers. For non-technical founders, this bridge is built using a well-crafted document that clearly and effectively communicates the product vision. Let's dive into how you can create such a document. 1. Start with a Clear Product Overview Purpose: Set the stage. Give developers a bird's eye view of what you're aiming to achieve. Product Name: Keep it simple and relevant, budget and target launch date. Brief Description: In 2-3 sentences, describe the core functionality and purpose of your product. Example:Product Name: PetConnect Brief Description: A mobile app connecting pet owners with trusted local sitters, ensuring pets are cared for in a homely environment. Budget $50,000 launching in 12 weeks. 2. Dive into Market Research Purpose: Showcase that you've done your homework. This provides context and highlights potential competitors. Target Audience: Who will use your product? Top Competitors: List 2-3 main competitors and their unique features. Example:Target Audience: Pet owners aged 20-50, living in urban areas. Top Competitors: Rover (offers certified sitters), Wag (includes dog walking services), PetBacker (features pet taxi service). 3. Detail Your Product Features Purpose: This is the heart of your document. Clearly outline what your product will and won't do. Must-Have Features: Core functionalities without which your product won't function. Nice-to-Have Features: Additional features that enhance user experience but aren't critical. Platform(s): iOS (Apple), Android, Hybrid App (React Native), Mobile Responsive Website Device(s): Smartphone, Tablet, Desktop or Laptop Computer, Wearable Example:Must-Have Features: User profile creation, search and filter options, in-app messaging, secure payment gateway. Nice-to-Have Features: Review system, reward points, pet taxi booking. 4. Visualize the User Journey Purpose: A picture is worth a thousand words. Visual flowcharts or wireframes can help developers understand user interactions with the product. Use tools like Lucidchart or draw.io to create flowcharts. For wireframes, platforms like Figma or Sketch are great. Example Flow: User signs up > Creates profile > Searches for sitter > Books sitter > Makes payment > Leaves review. 5. Gather Feedback & Recommendations Purpose: Show developers that you've sought external opinions, which can provide additional insights. Include feedback from mentors, potential users, or industry experts. Highlight recommendations that you're keen on implementing. Example:Mentor Feedback: Consider partnerships with pet stores for cross-promotions. Implement a verification system for sitters. Conclusion Crafting a comprehensive document is your first step towards turning your idea into reality. It not only aids developers in understanding your vision but also showcases your commitment and thoroughness. Remember, clarity is key. The more precise and detailed you are, the better the outcome. So, non-technical founders, arm yourselves with this guide, and embark on your exciting journey of product development. The digital realm awaits your innovation! Liked this guide? Share it with your network and help other founders navigate the world of software development with ease!
- The 100 point Startup Checklist
100 bullet points from Jason Calacanis and the team at LAUNCH that will help get your startup off the ground. Episode 1 - Do You Have What it Takes to be a Founder? Episode 2 - Choosing a Business Model Episode 3 - Finding and Delighting Customers Episode 4 - Building a Great Product Episode 5 - Building a Great Team Episode 6 - Market & Branding Episode 7 - Optimizing Operations Episode 8 - Preparing to Fundraise Episode 9 - Fundraising Process Episode 10 - Things We Missed #startups #launching #ideas #hacks
- 5 Ways For Startups to Thrive During a Downturn
If you are a startup founder that is raising capital and feeling the effects of the market downturn, your not alone. We recently spoke with TechCrunch about how one of our startups, Reyets: Social Justice Network is being impacted and managing the downturn. Here are tips on how to make it out the other side of a downturn. 1. First and foremost remember great companies are born in difficult times. It's mental game, stay postive. Salesforce, Google, Facebook, Disney, General Electric, General Microsoft, FedEx, HP, Hyatt, IBM and Trader Joes, all started during a economic down turn. 2. Reduce your burn Aim to have at least 12 months and ideally 24 months of runway. If you don't already have enough to get you throgh the next year, you will need to find some fuding, increase revenues, or cut some costs. Need help figuring out your burn? Use this Calculator 3. Reduce non-people expenses first. Expenses such as software, real estate, perks, marketing expense or non-necessities. 100 More Free Tools 4. Talk to your potential customers everyday. I can't srtress enough how important it is for you to stay close to your customers during a downturn, not only will it help keep you top of mind, you will gain insights. 5. Communicate,. communicate and communicate When potential investors, clients, and partners don't hear from you, they will assume the worst, make sure to regularly update your stakeholders and send out regular investor updates. Here's my favourite investor update email templete you can use.
- 100 Free Startup Tools That Will Save You Time and Money.
Gathered via sources ProductHunt, TechCrunch, YC News, ETC. š§³ Business šÆ Productivity š£ Marketing āļø Design š§³ Business FREE WEBSITE HTML5 UP Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 site templates. Bootswatch Free themes for Bootstrap. Templated A collection of 845 free CSS & HTML5 site templates. WordPress.org | WordPress.com Create your new website for free Strikingly Free, unlimited mobile optimized websites for strikingly domains. Layers A WordPress site builder so simple. Itās free, forever. Bootstrap ZeroThe largest open-source, free Bootstrap template collection. FREE BRANDING & LOGO Logaster Professional online logo maker & generator. Hipster Logo Generator Itās Hip, Itās Current, Itās Stylish, Itās Hipster. Squarespace Free Logo You can download free low-res version for free. Signature Maker A free web based tool that creates your handwritten digital signature. FREE INVOICE Invoice to me Free Invoice Generator. Free Invoice Generator Alternative free invoice generator. Slimvoice Insanely simple invoices. Wave Free & easy accounting, invoicing and more.Invoice.toFree invoice generator. FREE LEGAL DOCS Kiss (Keep it Simple Security) Free legal docs for startup founders and investor. Docracy An open collection of free legal documents. Shake Create, sign and send legally binding agreements in seconds. Free for personal use. FREE IDEA MANAGEMENT Experiment Board Test your startup idea without wasting time or money. Germ.io Get from idea to execution. Skitch Your ideas become reality faster. FREE BUSINESS / PROJECT NAME GENERATORS The Name App Find an available name for your brilliant idea. Naminum Discover a perfect company name. Short Domain Search Find short, available single-word domain names. Wordoid Pick a short and catchy name for your business. Hipster Business Name Hipster business name generator. Impossibility The best domain name generator ever. Lean Domain Search Find a domain name for your website in seconds. Domainr Fast, free, domain name search, short URLs š£ Marketing FREE WRITING / BLOGGING Hemingway Hemingway App makes your writing bold and clear. Grammarly Finds & corrects mistakes of your writing. Medium Everyoneās stories and ideas. ZenPen The minimal writing tool of web.LiberioSimple eBook creation and publishing right from Google Drive. Editorial Calendar See all your posts, drag & drop to manage your blog. Story Wars Writing stories together. WP Hide Post Control the visibility of items on your blog. Social Locker Ask visitors āto payā for your content with a tweet, etc. Egg Timer Set a time and bookmark it for repeated use. Wattpad Writing made simple. Known The worldās largest community for readers and writers. Wattpad A single site for the content you create.DbookThe worldās largest community for readers and writers. CoSchedule Structured and collaborative writing for large documents. A5.gg Blog post headline analyzer. Free Summarizer Summarize any text online in just a few seconds. FIND (TRENDING) CONTENT (IDEAS) Porten Content idea generator. Google Trends A new way of displaying trending searches. Buzzsumo Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor. Hubspot Blog Topic Generator Custom blog ideas. Swayy Discover the most engaging content. Free for 1 dashboard user.OthersGoogle+ Whatās Hot | Twitter Trending | Quora | Reddit | Ruzzit Find the most shared content on the web. FREE SEO + WEBSITE ANALYZERS Open Site Explorer A comprehensive tool for link analysis. Ahrefs Site explorer & backlink checker. Quick Sprout Complete analysis of your website. WordPress SEO by Yoast Have a fully optimized WordPress site. SEO Site Checkup Check your websiteās SEO problems for free. Hubspot Marketing Grader Grade your marketing. SimilarWeb Analyze website statistics for any domain. Alexa Ranking Analytical insights to analyze any siteās rank. SERPs Rank Checker Free keyword rank & SERP checker. OpenLinkProfilerThe freshest backlinks, for free. Keywordtool.ioFree alternative to Google Keyword Planner. Google Analytics | Keyword Planner | Webmaster Tools | Trends | Nibbler Test any website. Browseo How search engines see your website. Broken Links Find broken links, redirects & more. Copyscape Search for copies of your page on the web. Google Pagespeed Insights Check the performance of your site. Pingdom Test & the load time of a site. GTMetrics Analyze your pageās speed performance. Moz Local Check your local listings on Google, Bing, and others. XML Sitemaps Sitemap generator that creates XML & HTML variants. Shopify E-commerce Report Get your free Ecommerce report. W3C validator Easy-to-use markup validation service. FREE IMAGE OPTIMIZERS TinyJPG | TinyPNG Compress images. Compressor.io Optimize and compress your images online. Kraken Optimize your images & accelerate your websites. ImageOptimizer Resize, compress and optimize your image files. ImageOptim Makes images take up less disk space & load faster. Smush.it Image optimizer WordPress plugin. Dunnnk Beautiful mockups. InstaMockup Create beautiful screenshots of your app or website. FREE IMAGE EDITORS Canva Amazingly simple graphic design for bloggers. Pixlr Pixlr Editor is a robust browser photo editor. Skitch Get your point across with fewer words. Easel.ly Empowers anyone to create & share powerful visuals. Social Image Resizer Tool Create optimized images for social media. Placeit Free product mockups & templates Recite Turn a quote into a visual masterpiece. Meme Generator The first online meme generator. Pablo Design engaging images for your social media posts in under 30 seconds. FREE EMAIL MANAGEMENT Contact form 7 Famous WordPress plugin to collect email addresses. Mailchimp Send 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers for free. ManyContactsBar Free contact form sits on top of your website. Hello Bar Get more email subscribers Sumome List Builder Collect email addresses with light box popover. Scroll Triggered Box Boost your conversion ratesāāāWordpress only. Sumome Scroll Box Capture more email addresses, politely. Mandrill The fastest way to deliver email. Free 12K emails/month. MailgunThe Email Service For Developers. Free 10K emails/month. Sendgrid Delivers your transactional and marketing email. Free 12K emails/month. Sendinblue Free 9K emails/month. Mailtracku The best free email tracking solution. Beefree Free Email editor to build responsive design messages. Canned Emails A minimal site with prewritten emails . FREE GUIDES & COURSES Primer No-nonsense, jargon-free marketing lessons (by Google).KeepYourFriendsCloseA free e-book about maximizing Customer Lifetime Value.Pricing CourseA free 9 day course on charging what youāre worth. Email Course for Sponsorships How to get sponsorships for anything. Startup Sales Course A free course to help you become a better marketer. Build an online course A free course to help you build an online course. MailCharts A FREE email course to help you become a better marketer FirstSiteGuideThe beginnerās guide to successful blogging. FREE SOCIAL MEDIA + COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT WriteRack The best way to tweetstorm.SpruceMake Twitter ready images in seconds. Click To Tweet Get more shares on your content. MyTweetLinks Increases Twitter traffic. Latergram Easily plan & schedule your Instagram posts. WordPress Pin it Button for Images Add a āPin Itā button. SharedCountu Track URL shares, likes, tweets, and more. Justunfollow Follow / unfollow people on Twitter & Instagram. SocialRank Identify, organize, and manage your followers on Twitter. Klout Social media influence score on browser extension. Ritetag Instant hashtag analysis. Social Analytics Interactions for a URL on most social platforms. Buffer Free Plan Schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+. Bitly Create, share, and track shortened links.FilamentA free beautiful and customizable sharing bar. Addthis Get more shares, follows and conversions. Sumome Share Auto-optimizes your share buttons for max traffic. Digg Digg Your all in one share buttons plugin. Disqus Build a community of active readers & commenters. App Review Monitor App reviews delivered to Slack and your inbox. Presskit Generator Generate a Press Kit for your iOS App for free. Free Survey Creator Create a survey. Get user feedback for free. FREE CUSTOMER SERVICE & SURVEYS Typeform Free beautiful online survey & form builder Tally Create polls in no time. Free Survey Creator Create a survey. Get user feedback for free.BatchThe first-ever 100% free engagement platform for mobile apps. Helprace Customer service tool. Free for up to 3 agents for small support teams. A/B TESTS & GROWTH HACKING Petit Hacks Acquisition, retention, & revenue hacks used by companies. Optimizely One optimization platform for websites and mobile apps. Hello Bar Tool for A/B testing different CTAs & power words. GrowthHackers Unlocking growth. Together. āļø Design FREE DESIGN RESOURCES FreebbbleHigh-quality design freebies from Dribbble. DribbbleDribbble search results for āfreebieā. An absolute freebie treasure. Graphic BurgerTasty design resources made with care for each pixel. Pixel BuddhaFree and premium resources for professional community. Premium PixelsFree Stuff for Creative Folk.FribbbleFree PSD resources by Dribbblers curated by Gilbert Pellegrom. FreebiesbugLatest free PSDs & other resources for designers. 365 PsdDownload a free psd every day. DbfDribbble & Behance best design freebies.MarvelFree resources from designers we love. UI SpaceHigh quality hand-crafted Freebies for awesome people. Free Section of PixedenFree design resources. Free Section of Creative MarketFreebies coming out every monday. Teehan+LaxiOS 8 GUI PSD (iPhone 6). Teehan+LaxiPad GUI PSD. FreepikiFree graphic resources for everyone. Tech&AllPSD, Tech News, and other resources for free. TethrThe most beautiful IOS design KIT ever. Web3CanvasPSD Freebies, HTML Snippets, Inspirations & Tutorials. SketchAppResourcesFree graphical resources. Placeit FreebiesFreebies delivered right to your Dropbox. COLOR PICKERS Material Palette Generate & export your Material Design color palette New Flat UI Color Picker Best flat colors for UI design. Flat UI Colors Beautiful flat colors Coolors Super fast color schemes generator for cool designers. Skala Color An extraordinary color picker for designers and developers. Material UI Colors Material ui color palette for Android, Web & iOS. Colorful Gradients Gradients automatically created by a computer. Adaptive Backgrounds Extract dominant colours from images. Brand Colors Colors used by famous brands Paletton The color scheme designer. 0 to 255 A simple tool that helps web designers find variations of any color. Colour Lovers Create & share colors, palettes, and patterns. Adobe Color CC Color combinations from the Kuler community. Bootflat Perfect colors for flat designs. Hex Colorrrs Hex to RGB converter. Get UI Colors Get awesome UI colors. Coleure Smart color picker. Colllor Color palette generator. Palette for Chrome Creates a color palette from any image. PLTTS Free color picker. FREE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY Stock Up Best free stock photo websites in one place. Pexels Best free photos in one place. All The Free Stock Free stock images, icons, and videos. Unsplash Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos. Splashbase Search & discover free, hi res photos & videos. Startup Stock Photos Go. Make something. Jay Mantri Free pics. do anything (CC0). Make magic. Moveast This is a journey of a portuguese guy moving east. Travel Coffee Book Sharing beautiful travel moments. Designers Pics Free photographs for your personal & commercial use. Death to the Stock Photo Free photos sent to you every month. Foodieās Feed Free food pictures in hi-res. Mazwai Free creative commons HD video clips & footages. JĆ©shoots New modern free photos. Super Famous Photos by Dutch interaction designer Folkert Gorter. Pixabay Free high quality images. Super Famous Photos by Dutch interaction designer Folkert Gorter. Picography Free hi-resolution photos. Pixabay Free high quality images. Magdeleine A free high-resolution photo every day. Snapographic Free stock photos for personal & commercial use. Little Visuals 7 hi-res images in your inbox every 7 days. Splitshire Delicious free stock photos. New Old Stock Vintage photos from the public archives. Picjumbo Totally free photos. Life of Pix Free high-resolution photos. Gratisography Free high-resolution photos. FREE TYPOGRAPHY TypeGenius Find the perfect font combo for your next project. Font Squirrel 100% free commercial fonts. FontFaceNinja Browser extension to find the web fonts a site uses. Google Fonts Free, open-source fonts optimized for the web. Beautiful Web Type Best typefaces from the Google web fonts directory. DaFont Archive of freely downloadable fonts. 1001 Free Fonts A huge selection of free fonts. FontPark The webās largest archive of free fonts .Font-to-width Fit pieces of text snugly within their containers .Adobe Edge Fonts The free, easy way to get started with web fonts. Typekit A limited collection of fonts to use on a website or in applications. FREE ICONS Fontello Icon fonts generator. Flat Icon A search engine for 16000+ glyph vector icons Material Design Icons 750 Free open-source glyphs by Google. Font Awesome The iconic font and CSS toolkit. Glyphsearch Search for icons from other icon databases. MakeAppIcon Generate App Icons of all sizes with a click. Endless Icons Free flat icons and creative stuff. Ico Moon 4000+ free vector icons, icon generator. The Noun Project Thousands of glyph icons from different artists. Perfect Icons A social icon creation tool. Icon Finder Free icon section of the website. FREE USEFUL STUFF UI Names Generate random names for use in designs and mockups. UI Faces Find and generate sample avatars for user interfaces. Copy Paste Character Click to copy. Window Resizer See how it looks on various screen resolutions. Sonics Free packs of UI sounds and sound effects delivered to your inbox every month. FREE DEVELOP / CODE THINGS Hive First free unlimited cloud service in the world. GitHub Build software better, together. BitBucket Git and Mercurial code management for teams Chisel Chisel offers an unlimited number of fossil repositories. Visual Studio Comprehensive collection of developer tools and services. Landscape Landscape is an early warning system for your Python codebase. Swiftype Add great search to any website. Free with limitations. Keen.io Gather all the data you want & start getting the answers you need. Coveralls Test coverage history and statistics. LingoHub Free for Small Teams, Open Source usage and Educational projects. Codacy Continuous Static Analysis designed to complement your unit tests. Searchcode Search over 20 billion lines of code. TinyCert Free SSL certificates for your startup. StartSSL Free SSL certificates. Opbeat The first ops platform for developers. Free for small teams. Pingdom Website monitoring. Free for one website. Rollbar Full-stack error monitoring for all apps in any language. šÆ Productivity BACKGROUND SOUND TO FOCUS Noisli Background noise & color generator. Noizio Ambient sound equalizer for relax or productivity. Defonic Combine the sounds of the world into a melody. Designers.mx Curated playlists by designers, for designers. Coffitivity Stream the sounds of a coffee shop at work. Octave A free library of UI sounds, handmade for iOS. Free Sound Huge database of free audio snippets, samples, + recordings. Sonics Free packs of UI sounds and sound effects delivered to your inbox every month. Deep Focus Spotifyās famous playlist to focus. ORGANIZE & COLLABORATE Trello Keeps track of everything. EvernoteThe workspace for your lifeās work. Dropbox Free space up to 2GB. YanadoTasks management inside Gmail. Wetransfer Free transfer up to 2GB. Drp.io Free, fast, private and easy image and file hosting. Pocket View later, put it in Pocket. Raindrop Mac app for bookmarking and reading it later. Flowdock Free for teams of five and non-profits. Typetalk Share and discuss ideas with your team through instant messaging. Slack Free for unlimited users with few limited features. DIGITAL NOMADS & REMOTE WORKING Founded X Startup Stats Find the best country to build your startup in Teleport Houses around the world for nomads to live and work together. 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- Seed fundraising checklist for founders
Contents š§š»āāļøĀ Fundraising strategy & philosophy āļø High-level to-do list š± Seed stage essentials š£ Presentation materials šØš»āš» Data room š Documents examples for investments šāāļø Questions? š§š»āāļøĀ Fundraising strategy & philosophy š” Fundraising is like sales ā you sell to investors ā you need a big funnel to get conversions š” Great traction substitutes raising money skill š” Key driver for investors to invest is FOMO ā fear of missing out āļøĀ High-level to-do list š² Preparation: grow your network (outreach in LinkedIn, give talks, help others) š² Collect a list of investors (~200 people) š² Pitch materials preparation š² Create āEcho chamberā š²Outreach & pitching campaign (1 month) š²Due diligence (DD) with Data room š² Valuation price game š² Signature of documents & getting money to the bank account š±Ā Seed stage essentials main round target is hypothesis testing: is there many prospective clients? COGS < X CAC < Y money usage: X sprints for Y money investments strategy: many tickets of $5-50K for up to $500K in total (not one big ticket for $500K) investors focus: target angels & micro-funds (<$100M under management) š£Ā Presentation materials š” In all the materials storytelling is king š š” Pitch points essentials *(by Scott Kupor retold by Pavel Danilov)*: š Market is incredibly big (so investor can make money) šµšµšµ ā particularly our team can win š¦øāāļøā here is our traction š ā here is our product vision š® š² Long deck/story š² Short deck š² Teaser/One-pager š² Blurb š² Data room docs š² Financials š² Bare minimum: financial model with Profit&Loss (PL), Cash-flow (CF), unit economics & how it gets better with growth, valuation š² Mature startup: financial model with Profit&Loss (PL), Cash-flow (CF), Balance sheet (BS), unit economics and valuation š² Slides to answer crucial & popular questions about your business š§āš»Ā Data room š” Keep you docs organized Bare minimum š² Incorporation documents (bylaws, certificate of incorporation etc.) š² Cap table š² Stock purchase agreements š² Stock option plan adoption & options granted š² Intellectual Property (IP) agreements (Proprietary information and Invention assignment agreement) š² Investment docs from the previous rounds (SAFEs, convertible notes) Mature startup š² Corporate records & charter documents š² Business plans & financials š² Security issuances & Agreements concerning securities š² Intellectual Property (IP) š² Material Agreements š² Employees & Employees benefits š² Licenses, Insurances, Taxes š² Marketing & Research Materials š² Product š² Technology & Development š² Custom Information Requests š² Hardware š² Operation Processes & Flows šĀ Documents examples for investments š” Keep it standard, keep it simple. Use YCombinator templates YC SAFE agreement (valuation cap, investment amount) 500 Startups KISS Convertible note (%%, term, conversion conditions) šāāļøQuestions? Get a copy of the check list Made by @spanarin Feel free to ask me anything ā via email (sergey@smartykit.io), on Twitter (@spanarin) or on LinkedIn.
- 12 Steps to starting a Startup, based on 25 years of experience
By: Clay Nichols 12 Steps To Starting your a Software Company and 3 Unit Tests to to measure your progress Or the art of Changing Hats, Calendar Time and not waiting by the phone. I started my career as an Electrical Engineer, created 2 products, then pivoted to Software Engineering and founded a software startup. Below are step by step instructions based on my experience running a successful small software company for the last 14 years. Below that are some milestones for measuring your success along the way. These are principles that I just followed intuitively. My partner works in the industry our software serves and so a lot of this ("stay close to the customer" sort of stuff) was built in naturally. I violated the rules about finding customers first one time and that was the only one of my products that wasn't a success (it was, in fact, a miserable failure commercially. ). How to make Calendar Time work for (instead of against) you I've found there's a certain amount of "Calendar Time" for things to develop. For example, it takes time for the customer to convert from a "prospect" to a paying customer, and it takes time for the effects of marketing (ads, Adwords, etc.) to take measurable effect. You can't speed up these Calendar Time events so it's helpful to have something else to work on instead of "waiting by the phone". The steps below interlace marketing/sales and product development productively while also giving you something to do while waiting on something else. 1. Feel their pain Become intimately familiar with the domain you're working in and the pain you're trying to solve. Hopefully, you've chosen one you already know. You might also find your "anchor customer(s)" who already understand your market. They needn't be actual partners. The relationship could be that they tell you about the market and they get the product, built largely to their specifications, free. Beware the single datapoint. Ideal First Customers have an understanding of the computer and what's easy and hard and understand how the typical customer in this market would use the software. 2. Be the customer. Play customer. Try to find an existing solution to the pain. This will show you who your competitors are and how your customers might find you. Be exhaustive. Try forums, google groups, whatever. How do people currently solve the pain? (Perhaps your software is replacing someone, or it might just help them do the job faster). This will be important when estimating the value of your product. Because the price of your product should be based on its value to the customer, not its cost. (The customer will never pay more than how much it's worth to them and they couldn't care less how much it cost you to create it.) 3. Find a few representative customers. As in, people who would pay if you solved their pain. They needn't actually paybut they have to be willing to. Payment is a litmus test at this point, not an income model. Tip: your Aunt Irma who thinks you have the cutest blue eyes and will buy whatever lemonade your stand is selling is not a customer unless she'd pay for the product even if she didn't know you from Adam. Get referrals from #1 or find them while you're searching forums. These will also be your beta customers. I can't tell you how many people I've seen spend months or years working on a product and then ask "how do I get beta testers". How do you know if you're on track if you haven't been at least talking to potential users. Evaluate the market 4a. Get a domain name & Build a simple website. Submit to google. This starts the clock (see calendar time above) for getting your site into Google. Let folks sign up to get an email when the product is available. They'll be source of enthusiastic Beta testers and first sales. Be clear with them that the product isn't available yet. 4b. Read this excellent article by the author of Lean Startups. The basic premise is that bugs in your idea (whether you can make money selling it) are more deadly than bugs in your software. Your product's #1 goal is to test your business idea. (i.e., version 1.0 should be the minimal product to test whether there is a market there for your product). 5. Test your vocabulary. Having a clear vocabulary about the product is good indicator that your mental model is well constructed and clearly defined. If ya' don't know what to call it then ya' don't know what it really is. 6. Alpha prototype. The simplest thing that will be of net positive benefit to the customer. It doesn't need to be professional. It might be ugly. It might crash a bit. As long as it's better than what the customer uses now,it's good enough. Someone asked Seth Godin what advice he'd have for his own child on how to start a business of their own. His response? One word: Start. 7. Get feedback from Alpha testers. Interactive demos, etc. Look for common feedback themes. 8. Find keywords that your customers use If you can find the lingo your customers use when describing their pain then you can use that vocabulary in your site text and even get a domain name with that text. And you can even find keywords that your customers ("Marketing Segment") use even when not discussing the pain. E.g., if you find that the "pain" you solve is the pain of using paper records in a hospital (your solution: Electronic Medical records). Obvious keyword are the solution ("electronic medical records") the problem (" best way to store paper medical record") and also just words your marketing segment uses: Find Doctors (or Hospital Sys Admins) who are techies. Start an Adwords campaign to start finding out the right keywords. Make "beta trial sign up" one of your conversion metrics. A willingness to give out their email address is the closest (and dearest) thing you can ask of the visitors at this point. All visitors are not equally interested (or equally likely to buy your product). Ones that sign up to be a beta tester are much more likely to be worth your time selling to. The goal of the Adwords Campaign is to find which keywords are likely to attract customers, not simply attract visitors. If all you wanted were eyeballs on your site, you'd just advertise "free sex". But out of the nearly billion people on the internet, you want the folks who are likely to be your customers. 9. Beta version. Get Beta feedback. Does everyone have trouble starting the program? Do they all ask the same questions "What does XYZ mean?". Remember: add features that help a large % of your users and harm a small % of them. Stay focused on your goal. If you're creating a Contact Manager and someone is using it for some other task they'll start asking for weird features to get their non-standard task done. On the other hand, if a lot of your users all "misuse" it the same way maybe you've discovered an unmet need. That's how Flickr started: it was originally a gaming site with the option to share photos. Turns out the photo sharing was the "killer feature". They sold it for around $20 Million. So... look for trends and make sure that the customers who are giving feedback are representative of your market. UserVoice is a great way to gather this info. Users get to suggest features (or you can suggest them) and vote on each others ideas. They have a free "starter" edition that works find for small companies. 10. Let visitors to site sign up to get a trial when it's ready. 11. Let some of them try the trial if you think it's ready. 12. Work on Beta 2. SUCCESS MILESTONES A software company could be considered a Software Factory pattern. And what's a pattern without a Unit Test? Here are three to get you started. a. Finding beta customers for whom your Pain Story resonates. They understand they have a problem and see how your product could mitigate their pain. b. First dollar - First sale (ideally to someone who doesn't already know you, but hey take what you can get) - validates the value of the product c. Stranger Money - Next 10 sales - validates your marketing. (If you can get 10 sales from strangers for $x in marketing then that's probably repeatable and there is a future for revenue from this product. Whether there is profit is another question. But if you can't get to this point, then you'll never reach profitability)
- How Brands are Making Millions Off Tiktok: A Guide To TikTok Marketing In 2022
Hereās how Top Brands are using TikTok to generate more brand awareness and sales. Beginning with TikTok Ads TikTok is a trending platform, itās in a growth bubble. In this stage, TikTok Ads can generate a lot of word-of-mouth more than other social media platforms. A current Tiktok Ads report Show that Users on Tiktok are 37% more likely to purchase than other platform users. Hereās how to get the most out of Tiktok Ads! 1. Dropping Cost Cap With TikTok Ads, you need to first test your Ad sets like Facebook or Google Ads. To figure out your best CPA with current demographics. When you have found the best Ad set, run an Ad with Accelerated Budget like $1k. Then, lower your Cost Cap to the lowest possible means at a rate where your Ad can run! CPA stands for cost per action. Known on other digital marketing channels as cost per conversion, this is the price you pay for each action a user takes on your website because of your ad. What will happen? With this Tiktok will try to spend as low as possible and deliver the same results. This works very well but sometimes Ads stop due to really low CPA setup. Then, try to raise CPA by a little budget raise! 2. Why Keeping CPM low on Tiktok is the best strategy? CPM (cost per mille) is a paid advertising option where companies pay a price for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives Itās because of the audience definition. Itās a growing platform and the new users are joining and they have undefined interests that algorithm might not have defined. This happens with most platforms in the beginning. Thatās the reason most of the advertisers in the beginning got the best results in the beginning of Facebook, Instagram and major platforms. Setting a low CPM is not a bad idea and it generates more brand awareness. When your Average Ad CPM starts to rise, you should try to create a brand new pixel and switch the old one. This worked for us and itās a great tactic. 3. Never download and run Videos by creators about your brand as Ads The best process is to reach out to the creator about using the Content and use Spark Ads to get the most out of the organic reach and paid Ad Spending. Uploading creative from your own Tiktok Account or your partnered influencers is the best thing to do to get more out of Spark Ads! UGC Content That Works 1. You need to train Creators about your content formats. It seems like a small world when reaching out creators, until you talk to them and realise they donāt have the trends and products on their feed that you want them to create content for thatās why you need to train them. User-generated content (also known as UGC or consumer-generated content) is original, brand-specific content created by customers and published on social media or other channels. UGC comes in many forms, including images, videos, reviews, a testimonial, or even a podcast. 2. Train them what? You have done your market research and know your audience and competitors. The creator is unknown itās them. Thatās why, You need to guide the creators about your competitors and content formats supposed to go viral. 3. I recommend creating an influencer Kit to help the creator with Content creation for you. 4. Angles and timelines, to get more out of one-piece of UGC content. Edit the Content in capcut or any desired editor. Have at least more than 2 version of Ad with same content with slight change in transitions or timelines. 5. Donāt ask Creators to replicate their most viral piece of content because that might not work for you. Most of the time it looks not real and connecting to the audience. 6. Real UGC connects with Users with a storyline and copy that makes them buy. Storyline and copy is dependent on you, the tone of your story is in hands of creators. Both need to have a positive approach! Organic Growth On Tiktok with No UGC Achieving 1,000 mark on Tiktok is really important for anyone looking to sell something to the audience because you canāt add link in profile before reaching that milestone. Hereās how to reach your first 1k, 10k, and then 100k TikTok Followers! 1. Tiktok have a User-friendly Feed not creator-friendly: That means focus on CTAs. What I mean by not creator friendly is most users donāt leave a follow sometimes due to fast pace of the content and short attention span of users. Thatās why focus on adding āFollow for moreā or āwatch next partā these type of CTAs in the end! 2. Consistency: Try to be more consistent with your content and build a consistent loop of content to hook people to follow you for a certain type of content. You can study if a platform rewards consistency or not by looking at stage of Theme pages on Tiktok. Movie Theme-pages are growing everyday with a replica content. That means you will have an advantage because you have consistency + original content. 3. Using Hooks To Make People Stop and Watch! You need to sound relatable to Gen-Z to make them follow you and buy your product. Thatās why use Hooks that might make them stop. Here are few Hooks that worked for me and you can use them too! 1. I wanted to gatekeep this, but itās too good not to share 2. My Toxic Trait is X and this X product fulfils it. 3. Name something you recently found and wish you knew earlier! 4. Hereās a lazy hack to get things down (+ product link) or another similar hook is how I get more done as a lazy designer or marketer (+ Product linking). 5. Iām not gonna lie, this might be the best product on Amazon or Tiktok! 6. You may not know this but itās actually possible! 7. Start with your hook with Why. Itās the most effective but you need to give an effective āWhyā to make them stop! Use any hook make it relatable with using a popular Hook format like one from above and that will make people watch! Not this: āStop scrollingā and āStop thisā or that! That doesnāt work and is annoying. 4. TikTok lives are a great way to grow followers and sell products! Itās all about making them more interactive through guiding your audience to launch emojis and do this interactive action to connect with you. These lives show randomly on many feeds and they are organic. Itās not limited to just your followers. Thatās why try to go live more and more to gain new followers and build engaged following! 5. Adapt to Niches When you are on Tiktok, you are not on just Tiktok. You are living on a part of Platform thatās unknown to other people. Thatās why when creating content for a niche, you need to adapt to keywords and content style used in the content more often in your niche than others. It can be like your niche have content with words like sick and itās not aligned, going viral. Then, you should adapt to those words to increase chances of going viral! Ending with Trends I have noticed with Tiktok I have tracked Tiktok updates for a last 6 months. Itās going to be the best platform for DTC brands and e-commerce brands. The Chinese version of Tiktok is filled with product integrations that will make Tiktok the best when launched. Apart from that, Tiktok have launched many new tools for advertisers like Attribution manager for Tiktok Ads and Creative Tools to help advertisers find trending content on Tiktok within their niches with a single search. #marketing Source: https://jaskaransaini.com/thesocialjuice/
- 49 Startup pitch mistakes to avoid
SYNOPSIS If you planning to present your venture to an investor, below are the 49 most recurring mistakes. The article is divided into two categories, "mistakes in the pitch deck," and "mistakes during the pitch." The second section starts after Mistake #19. MISTAKES IN THE PITCH DECK 1. UNREALISTIC GROWTH PROJECTIONS Founders and investors know that the financial projections of early-stage companies do not make sense. There are too many variables, unknowns, and future events that make the projection inaccurate 99% of the time. That said, a projection helps an investor understand how you think about your business and what are the assumptions that need to hold true for the proposed venture to grow. If you project revenue growth that is completely out of sync with other startups in the industry,Ā it brings out your lack of understanding of the space. 2. UNREASONABLE TAM It is important to understand the difference between the Market Size and the Total Addressable Market. Investors are reasonably aware whether a market is large enough or not. If you present a TAM that is unreasonable for the industry, it can boomerang and showcase your lack of experience. 3. TOP DOWN APPROACH TO MARKET SIZING Assume that, as per Nielsen, ādelivering breakfast to the officeā has a market size of $100 MM. While Nielsen could be correct in their calculation, you cannot use this as the only measure of market size. Bottom up is a better approach to paint the picture of sizable opportunity. āIf there are 1 million office-goers in the city and you can attract 5% of them, you will profit $1,000 a month and if you deliver breakfast 20 days a month, that is $20,000.āĀ This bottoms-up approach to market sizing is what makes the cut and shows the true potential of your market. 4. A LOT OF LOGOS WITH NO REVENUE Having Fortune 500 companies listed as customers, makes investors assume that the company is generating meaningful revenue. But if the financials are not representative of the claims, it can mean either the companyās definition of ācustomerā is very loose and includes non-paying ācustomers,ā or the company canāt charge enough for the product. Both options are equally bad. 5. FAKE PRECISION FOR EARLY-STAGE COMPANIES As an early-stage company, please admit if you donāt have enough data to measure metrics like CAC, LTV, % Churn. Donāt try to convince investors with amazing metrics, for example, 20X CAC to LTV ratio. 6. WRITING THE EXPECTED VALUATION Itās OK to quote your expected valuation in a meeting. Itās not OK to write the same in your deck. It is naĆÆve and takes away your leverage in the negotiation. That is, don't write something akin to "raising $4mn at $16mn pre." 7. CALCULATING INVESTORSā EXPECTED RETURNS Itās almost impossible for you & investors to calculate the ROI the investor can expect so early in the life of a startup. Quoting a small number would turn off the investors and a huge number will make them ask more questions about your assumptions. This is definitely not where you should be spending your time. Your job as an entrepreneur is to build a huge company. That is what you should be obsessively focussed on ā and that's what you should present. 8. NO COMPETITION Saying that you have no competition generally means either you have not done your homework or you are going after a tiny market that doesnāt matter. Odds are you have not done a good assessment of the competition in your industry. Think strategically and broaden your horizon. 9. āHARD CODEDā FINANCIALS IN YOUR PRESENTATION Hard coding numbers in your presentation is a rookie mistake. Linking your sheets with formulae and assumptions allows investors to play with various financial inputs to see how your business model will survive in changing conditions. Don't do this. 10. TEAM SLIDE IS SIMPLY A BRIEF BIO This is one of the key slides of your presentation. Investors are bidding for your team and their biggest worry is if you would be able to execute. Make sure you talk about the chemistry, domain experience, and past achievements. Mention the complementary skills of your cofounders and if you have worked together before. Do not create a sub-standard presentation of your headshots and degrees only. The team slide is one of the most important slides. 11.Ā UNINTERESTING OR UNREALISTIC PROJECTIONS Projecting $5 MM revenue in 5 years will not excite any investor. Also, projecting $500 MM in 3 years will get you laughed out of the room if you are at zero revenue today. Avoid assumptions that you wonāt be able to justify, like 500% growth in revenue with only a 30% increase in operating & marketing costs. 12.Ā LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF CAC AND LTV OF YOUR CUSTOMER Be ready for questions on your user acquisition costs like what channels will you use to acquire a customer, what costs will you incur, and what will be their likely lifetime value.Ā Which areas show the most promise with marketing, what is your typical sales cycle duration. A lack of answers to these questions means that you have not thought through your business plan. 13.Ā NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAIL For your legal protection, put a copyright notice at the bottom and add the phrase āPrivate & Confidential.ā Include page numbers on each slide so that the investors can easily reference a specific page. Make sure your presentation is a visual treat, not text-heavy and does not contain typos or inconsistencies. 14.Ā NOT BEING ABLE TO EXPLAIN THE KEY ASSUMPTIONS IN YOUR PROJECTIONS It feels like you donāt have a real handle on your business if you canāt explain your financial assumptions and projections. If you go unprepared, you will not get a second meeting with the investors. 15.Ā NOT ARTICULATING WHY YOUR PRODUCT OR TECHNOLOGY IS DIFFERENT FROM A COMPETITOR You will have to explain why your product is different and 10X better than your competitor. You can assume that investors know about the competitive landscape. Donāt shoot yourself in the foot with sloppy response. Also, if your product is 1.5X, 2X, or 3X better, most times that is not good enough. 10X better or 10X less costly is a great goal to hit. 16.Ā NOT BEING ABLE TO TELL HOW YOU WILL USE THE INVESTMENT CAPITAL AND HOW LONG IT WILL LAST Investors want to know how you will use the raised funds and your burn rate (so that they know when you will need the next round of financing). It will also confirm that you know your costs for hiring, marketing, support & admin, etc, given their experience with other startups. 17.Ā NOT CAPITALIZING YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Investors put a heavy premium on intellectual property. Be ready for questions on what IP your company has and how was it developed, whether any previous employer of your cofounders can have a claim on your IP. 18.Ā LACK OF DIRECTION AND LONG-TERM STRATEGY You need to have a clear strategy of where your company will be in 5 years and how you are going to get there. Unrealistic expectations and naĆÆve assumptions will not help you in closing this round. 19. NOT UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STAND ALONE DECK AND A PRESENTATION The stand-alone deck tends to be text-heavy because you are not there to explain it. It explains certain graphs and other assumptions & ideas. Your presentation deck should be visually appealing, with maximum of 5 words per slide if possible. This will help you make a great presentation as you will not be reading out from your slides (which is the fastest way to put a room to sleep). Use your stand-alone deck only when you canāt be there. MISTAKES DURING THE PITCH 20.Ā APOLOGIZING BEFORE THE START Do not start with āIām sorry, this is not what I normally doā. When you open like that, it shows you lack confidence. You have virtually conceded that you wonāt be able to sell to the investors before you start. It means your team did not plan a good strategy for how to raise money and no one in your team can close a sale as you are the best of the worst on your team. 21.Ā STATED A PROBLEM THAT ISNāT A PROBLEM. Frame your problem statement such that it is clear what is the problem. When you say- "The problem is the same-day delivery market, and we plan to combat the Amazons of the world,"Ā it does not mean anything. Do not assume that investors know what you mean. 22. READING FROM THE SCREEN Aside from the juvenile nature of this tactic, if you donāt know your business well enough to do a 60-second pitch, nobody would be interested. If you arenāt confident enough in your knowledge about your company or your industry to look the audience in the eye, theyāll never trust you. Even if you stumble a bit, it is better than reading your pitch. They stopped listening as soon as you took your notes out. 23. SMELLING OF DESPERATION Do not sound desperate when you pitch. If you come off as this investment is the only way for your business to survive, it seems needy and is unattractive to many investors, and can set you up to be taken advantage of. You'll end up giving away way more equity than you should. It is better to sound confident and make the investors believe that your startup is a gravy boat that they do not want to miss. 24. TAKING CRITICISM PERSONALLY Most investors are direct and are going to ask you the tough questions. That's a good thing; it means they're thinking about your idea. Don't take feedback or tough questions as personal attacks. They have nothing against you. 25. WORRYING ABOUT THE DEMO/PRESENTATION THAT JUST WONāT SEEM TO WORK If anything can go wrong, it will. Be ready for the worst-case scenario. The demo that you planned, might not work. Keep a video of the demo as backup. Arrive early and get your laptop hooked to the projector before the meeting starts. If the on-screen presentation fails, use the print copies as backup. If something does not work, move on. Do not kill the effectiveness of your pitch by wasting time. 26.Ā GIVING UNNECESSARILY DETAILED PRESENTATION Most investors you are going to pitch to are experienced and know exactly what they are looking for. You need to give them the right information to convince them that your company is the right company for them to invest in. 27. FAILURE TO LISTEN Investors will ask you a lot of questions related to your business model and technology. They want to make sure that the investment does not turn out to be a failure. Do not take the questions as a question on your competence. Treat this curiosity as a good sign and do consider all possible alternatives. 28. āTHIS IS THE LAST ROUNDā THREAT. Do not try to scare VCs into investing by saying that itās the last round of financing. It makes you look like a rookie. We all know startups need money to grow. Stay away from non-reasonable scare tactics. 29.Ā USING STAND-ALONE DECK FOR PRESENTATION Do not stand there and annoy your audience by reading your deck line-by-line. Make sure you capture their interest, lead their imagination and passionately share your ideas. This is your show, be the master of the show. If you only have a stand-alone presentation, then make a second version that is less dense in words for your pitches. 30. CONSERVATIVE NUMBERS You look amateur when you say that your numbers are "conservative."Ā Investors want a realistic forecast and would appreciate it if you could show it in your financial model. 31. NDA No investor will sign a NDA.Ā Investors canāt be exposed later by someone they did not invest in, claiming that their idea was similar to the one they chose to invest in. It would be better if you let them know that you are pre-market and that all the information you present should remain confidential. That said, don't assume the investors will not share your numbers with others. 32. IāLL HAVE TO GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT Now this is alright if itās about one or two points, but if there are too many details that you donāt know cold, on the spot, it shows you are not close enough to the business. Before your pitch, conduct a role play with a team member or close friend. Ask your āactorā to be a complete jerk ā have her poke as many holes in your delivery as possible. Anytime she has any sort of question, concern, inconsistency, etc, have her voice that to you. Record it. Take notes. Go back and fix it. Do all of this with plenty of time before your actual meeting so you can make tweaks. Chances are that if your friend is asking something, so will the investor. 33. NOT SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST As you keep pitching, you are going to get better with time. Use recurring questions and concerns after each pitch to revise your deck accordingly. When you pitch, you will pitch to 20-30 different investment groups. Start presenting to the less known investor groups first, and present to your target investor groups after you've given 20-25 pitches already. Once you get to the big fishes, youāll be confident to close the deal. Don't be surprised if you need to pitch 50-200 times to close a round. 34. LEAVING WITHOUT THE Q&A No matter how organized a pitch is, it may fail to answer certain questions your audience has. Planning for Q&A time allows your pitch to be clear to someone unfamiliar with your line of work. 35. RUSHING THE PITCH Speaking slowly makes you sound more confident and knowledgeable. If you get nervous, try to calm down and have a glass of water. Do not memorize your pitch but speak from the heart. 36. PICKING THE WRONG ANGLE As a developer, you might be excited about a different angle of your startup like a new backend technology, than what the investors might be interested in. Investors want to learn more about items that will help them to formulate a judgment, such as how the business is going to make money and how the company will scale. Pitch to your audience. 37. COMING IN WITH YOUR TEAM TO A PITCH MEETING, BUT ONLY HAVE THE CEO SPEAK Investors want to know that you have a good team. They want to get to know your team. If only the CEO speaks, how will they gauge if the other members are any good. Also, don't have the team members contradict each other. 38.Ā NOT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO AHEAD OF TIME. Know your audience. Different partners in a VC firm focus on different sectors. It is best for you if you know how well informed they are in your market segment. If they are already aware of your area, you do not have to explain obvious facts. If they are not aware of your sector, be sure to introduce the critical details of the space. When a meeting is confirmed, itās best to ask who will be attending. The answer will help set the expectations. 39. TALKING ABOUT FEATURES OVER BENEFITS Make sure you appeal to the emotional side as well. Talk about how your product is helping customers, rather than your product's features. Talk in terms of the value your customers can extract from your product, not the features that create that value. Make it easy to understand why customers love your company. Speaking of derived value is always a good bet. Sell a good nightās sleep rather than just a bed, sell 1,000 songs on your phone rather than 1GB of extra memory. 40. NOT FOCUSSING ON BUSINESS METRICS Investors are concerned with 5 major questions: the market opportunity, your teamās ability to turn the idea into a profitable business, the go to market strategy, your current & projected numbers (CAC, LTV, among others), and what you are asking for. Identify what drives each investor. Do they want to be part of a groundbreaking company? Do they want to make money and exit fast? Target what drives them! Focus on the business opportunity rather than spending too much time on explaining your product. If you focus on the opportunity, youāll have a better shot at keeping the investorsā interest. 41. NOT GETTING A WARM INTRODUCTION If you really want to hit it outside the park, make sure you get a really warm intro. Sometimes investors take a meeting with lukewarm intro, with 99% certainty of not investing, just to be courteous to the person who introduced you. The colder the introduction, the lower the chances of your success. 42. NOT ASKING THE PORTFOLIO COMPANIES FOR ADVICE If the previous founders the investor has funded tell you even one thing about what the investor loves or hates, your effort was worth it.Ā This is inside information, mostly available to the inner circle only. So go out and rummage through linkedin for connections, stalk them on facebook & twitter and find their email address. Use linkedin premium if all else fails. But do not return empty handed from this quest. 43.Ā DO NOT BE "UNCOACHABLE" Do not scare away investors by coming across as "uncoachable." Your lack of flexibility, unwillingness to share control or not bringing in new executives at the right time might cost you closing the round. 44. DISCUSSING OWNERSHIP STAKES Do not discuss how much ownership you're willing to offer investors in the initial pitch. These details come up after the investors have finished researching your company. Your primary goal right now is to build a relationship with the investors. If an investor asks about ownership terms early on, Ā simply say you're āflexible.ā Do not quote a hard number, that could kill your pitch right there. 45.Ā NOT QUANTIFYING RESULTS When you use words like "a lot of traction,"Ā "big market,"Ā 'little funding,"Ā it annoys investors. Vague terms have no place in an investor pitch. 46.Ā DESPERATE CLOSING If you close with "please talk to me and I can show you how to get your money back," it looks like an insult to investors. Aside from the obvious desperate nature of this plea, investors are not worried about getting their money back. They are interested in getting a 10X or 100X return on their investment. Getting their money back is not something that excites them. 47.Ā NOT FOLLOWING UP IN A TIMELY MANNER Follow up with your primary contact a few days after the conversation to suggest possible next steps that the investor can follow to learn more about the company and the opportunity. It would be better if you communicate some urgency about your fundraising process. If you get a "no," be thankful, the worst is not hearing back. Receiving a "no" is helpful because you won't be in a state of limbo. If you don't hear back from an investor after three days, consider that an implied no. 48.Ā MAKING INVESTORS WAIT FOR THE DOCUMENTS Serious investors will ask for more documents than simply a pitch deck. This can be anything from incorporation certificates to financial projections to tax filings. Have commonly requested documents like these ready, in a file-sharing site like Google Drive or DropBox. There is no reason to make an investor wait for a couple of weeks while you gather these docs; it is a waste of time and momentum, and can easily be interpreted as sloppy preparation.Ā If you make this mistake, all your previous effort go to waste. 49.Ā PHRASES TO AVOID All we need is 1% of the market. We will get huge viral usage. This product will market itself. Google will want to buy us. Our projection numbers are conservative. Lot of traction, big market. #pitch #pitchdeck #mistakes Source: Paritosh NathĀ advisor at FounderCEO.io