THAT INTRODUCTORY SLIDE!

So what do you do again? 

The year 2013, when my then co-founder and I decided we would go out and pitch our start-up idea to the Venture Capitalists (VCs), little did we know that the toughest slide to write and present would be 'That Introductory Slide!' (What we do!). 

A sharp look, high octane energy and some really well thought through small talk before the customary “shall I start the presentation” did not help when at the end of our Slide 2, we got a hesitant, albeit vocal, “what do you do again?”! 

Some kinder souls would let me ramble on till Slide 6 and then when the politeness wore off, would pause me to ask - “Is it possible to see a demo now? I didn’t quite catch the solution fully!”At that point, we were at a pre-demo stage and very little could be salvaged from then on - we landed up pickling our livers that evening though. 

When you decide to spend the next 10 years of your life solving a problem, the problem is of course absolutely worth it and hence........................needs to sound lofty.  

Wrong! 

It needs to sound clear because clarity resonates conviction!

Before I continue on this thread, let me digress to bring in the perspective of a VC, given I have some first hand information now (atleast, I think so)! 

When I started as a VC in 2018, I met an average of 6-8 founders at a minimum a week. It was exhilarating and I was drawn to the amount of vicarious learning and experience that this job offers. 

Within 6 months, I realised that the biggest bottleneck in this job is time - time is the inventory!

Initially, my average meeting time per founder would be for over an hour. However, in quite a few cases, I would not get clarity on the value proposition or the solution until almost half way through the slides. In a few other cases, I would remain unclear right till the very end. While I did not want to interrupt the flow of the founder, it landed up becoming a one way interaction and often I would hold back questions given my own lack of clarity. 

It did not help me or the founder!

My goal, given my own past ordeals, was to make sure that every meeting was a great conversation with the founder and that I came back with a NO faster so as to not keep the founder waiting. However, I realised that the best conversations and the fastest responses (feedback) were with companies where the value proposition was clear within the first 2 minutes (literally!) of the conversation (excluding small talk). 

In this context, I was able to ask relevant questions and apply filters on whether to - 1) Continue evaluation/meet the team or 2) Ask for more data, or 3) Communicate with the founders that we may not be the right partners. 

Now, this is what you want from a VC! 

They should either call you for a second meeting or ask for more data (absolutely fantastic) or say ‘NO’ (also fantastic because you can now move on and strategize the rest of the fund raise, even better) 

Here are some pointers on how you can nail that Introductory Slide! 

CLARITY IS KEY

I strongly believe that every founder (I did it too eventually!) should be able to describe their venture in one crisp line. However, summing up what you tried to do, what you are doing and what you are likely to do, all in your introduction, is a recipe for confusion. 

WHAT YOU DO IS NOT THE CLIMAX - PUT IT UP THERE!

Often founders believe that they need to give a big ‘build-up’ and then dramatically ‘raise the curtains’ on what they do! The sooner I know exactly what you do  (I would advise right upfront even before the problem statement), I get to have a better quality conversation with you, ask relevant questions and connect every following slide better.

WHAT YOU DO CANNOT BE A SUMMARY OF JARGONS

Try and be as specific about your venture - what you do (focused on a <specific sector> or a <specific problem>) for whom you to do it (enterprises, SMBs, Direct to consumer) and how you do it (market place, SAAS, social commerce, mobile app)!

PEEL YOUR STORY LIKE AN ONION

An up front clear presentation of what you do can then lead to a step by step explanation/elaboration of why, how and other nuances. The goal is to get another meeting and not to treat the conversation as if it would be your only one - no 'information dump'!

BE MINDFUL WHEN USING PROXIES (OTHER BRANDS) IN YOUR INTRODUCTION

In a few cases, the founder lands up using proxies (example: Uber for, Amazon for, Shopify for) with caveats - “I am an uber for trucks but … ". It does not work well in these cases. Leave proxies out, if they are not a 100% proxy!

FASTER UNDERSTANDING, FASTER NEXT STEPS

Should you apply the guidelines above, your ability to take clear feedback from your first meeting increases dramatically. Remember, the sooner & better the VC understands what you do, the better she would be able to evaluate and close the loop.

I wrote a blog on That Competitive Landscape, where I spoke about how it can be used to drive great conversations with VCs. That Introductory Slide, however, is even more fundamental and forms the basis of how this meeting would turn out for you and the VC. 

A clear and crisp value proposition right up front can make ‘That Introductory Slide’ a great catalyst to a great outcome!

Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon is endearing to me as I am sure he is to many! He is so annoyingly convoluted about everything he says that it leaves me amazed about the character’s script sense. However, a real life Sheldon may be the worst salesman for his startup.