1.
Pitching the Perfect Game
Wowing Angels and VCs
Bryan Rutberg | 3C Communications
with Early Growth Financial Services
Webinar | June 23, 2015

2.
Who are you?
2
Startup? Small
established?
Seeking
acquisition?
Established /
Acquirer?
Startup?

3.
3
Lifelong communicator and
relationship-builder
20 years in big business
Regular public speaker
Communications consultant
and speaking coach
Principal, 3C Communications

4.
What we’ll discuss today
Pitching your company vs. pitching
your product or service
Building your pitch deck
Owning the room
4

5.
Pitching product vs. company
5

6.
Building your pitch deck
6

7.
“Life involves
functioning with
uncertainty, but
we usually don’t
embrace it.”
Ari Kiev,
Trading to Win
7

8.
Three types of risk
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Market Product Execution

9.
Building your pitch deck
1. Cover: Your big idea
2. Summary: Highlights of the opportunity
3. Problem: What’s the problem, for whom, and
why
4. Solution: What you do and its benefits
5. Product: Your product and how it works
6. Business Model: How you make money
7. Market Opportunity: Market size and winnable
share
8. Competition: Who are they and why are you
better
9. Growth: Customer acquisition and retention,
profitability
10. Traction: Proof they’ll buy and what they’ll pay
11. Financials: 3-5 years projections
12. Team: Who, why, and what they have done
before
13. Funding: Your ask and what you’ll do with it
14. Summary: Review highlights
1. Logo/Mission/Positioning Line/Founders
2. Problem We Solve
3. Solution
4. Market size
5. Product/technology architecture
6. IP/Defensibility/Scalability chart
7. Go to market/distribution
8. Competitor matrix
9. Revenue projections
10. Advisors
11. Use of funds
12. Exit strategy
9 Sources: http://pitchdeckcoach.com/pitch-deck and http://earlygrowthfinancialservices.com/startup-pitch-decks-will-get-funded/

10.
The voice of an angel
• Clear and real problem statement
• Clear market sizing
• Clear customer profile/persona.
Start with an amalgam, but
quickly get to actual customer
quotes and profiles as quickly as
possible
• Clear on your competitors and
your points of differentiation
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John Sechrest, Seattle Angel Conference etc.

11.
The voice of an angel
• How big will you get and why?
• Evidence the market cares?
• Evidence the team can execute?
• Angels don’t invest in development; they invest in
scale.
• Prove you can win your first market, then tell me
what’s second, third, and fourth.
• Watch out for Reg D 506b (link)
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12.
Owning the room
12

13.
Every time
Tell me
a story
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14.
Every time
Draw me
a picture
Tell me
a story
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15.
Every time
Draw me
a picture
Tell me a
story
Tell me what
you want
15

16.
The grand opening
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“You can be a
millionaire…and never
pay taxes. You…can
have one million dollars
and never pay taxes.
“You may ask me,
‘Steve, how can I have
one million dollars and
never pay taxes?’”
-- 1970’s Steve Martin bit
(click to play)
Can you resist listening for what’s next?

17.
Prepare your body
• Hands out of pockets
• Stand up straight – shoulders back,
chest forward
• “Willing hands” at chest level
• Point
• Hands spread wide
• Spiral staircase – how high?
• Umbrella – how wet?
• Eyes – where is the audience? Who are
you talking to?
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18.
[YOUR NAME HERE], YOU ROCK!
Tell yourself you’re going to be
great
“Be that person” – do it in the
third person
August 7, 2014 ♦ Jessica Love
Participants were told that they faced a
nerve-wracking task: to impress a member of the
opposite sex, in one study, or to give a speech.
Some participants were assigned to [prepare]
by speaking to themselves in the first person; the
rest were instructed to address themselves using
their own first name, as well as non-first-person
pronouns like she, he, or you.
According to reviewers, those who’d avoided
I and me in their pep talks appeared less nervous,
and did a better job on the task at hand.
Speaking to ourselves as though we are someone
else, it seems, lets us distance ourselves from an
overwhelmingly stressful experience.
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19.
Make it memorable
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Big bold
graphics

20.
Make it memorable
20
Graphs
that work
Big bold
graphics

21.
Make it memorable
21
Involve
and
Engage
Big bold
graphics
Graphs
that work

22.
Own a big room
Go big or
go home
“At the Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration of President Obama, Aretha
Franklin's hat nearly stole the show.”
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23.
Own a big room
Keep it
moving
Go big or
go home
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24.
Own a big room
Keep it
moving
Go big or
go home
1, 2, 3,
Eyes on me
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25.
Chair the boardroom
Conversation
not
presentation
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26.
Chair the boardroom
Welcome to
Math Camp
Conversation
not
presentation
26

27.
Chair the boardroom
Welcome to
Math Camp
Conversation
not
presentation
“How
might we?”
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28.
Additional tips
Pitch competition Small room presentation
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Key
takeaways
Q&A in a pitch
competition –
• Look at
questioner for 10
seconds then
present as
normal
• Repeat the
question for
audience; give
you thinking time
• Remember your
key points and
pivot to them
during answers
For smaller
audiences –
• Could have 2
versions of deck –

29.
On EGFS site alone…
• 5 Ways to Convey Your Passion to Potential Investors
• How Do Angel Investors Make Decisions?
• Lessons From A Startup Pitch Competition
• VC Fundraising: Real Advice From A Real VC
• 6 Ways To Increase Your Odds of Landing Venture
Capital
• Five Startup Pitch Deck Mistakes To Avoid
• Startup Fundraising: What Investors Want to See
• Startup Pitch Decks That Will Get You Funded
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30.
Please connect
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+1 (206) 251-6911
Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/3CComms
bryan@3CComms.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanrutberg