Posts Tagged ‘David Cohen’

How To Pitch Investors (via David Cohen of TechStars)

by Scott Edward Walker on February 9th, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars.

In this extraordinary 30-minute clip (starting at the 8:45 mark and courtesy of This Week in TechStars), David discusses how to pitch investors by dissecting the actual pitch done by Alex White of  Next Big Sound in 2009.  Indeed, David specifically highlights the importance of:

  • focusing on the first minute (especially in a group setting);
  • describing the big problem in the marketplace – the pain proposition;
  • demonstrating the product and how it addresses that problem;
  • telling a story;
  • “painting [your] vision” and not just focusing on what you’ve done to date;
  • going after something “big and audacious” (a “big, hairy goal”);
  • making sure that every slide has a point (“it exists for a reason”);
  • not talking about your competitors – instead, talking about your differentiation;
  • convincing investors that you don’t need a lot of capital (“we are cheap to keep alive”);
  • demonstrating traction and your ability to execute;
  • strategizing about the amount of capital you are trying to raise (“ask for less”); and
  • “beating [investors] over their head with a couple of things that matter.”

I hope you enjoy it.  Many thanks, Scott

Do More Faster – Part II

by Scott Edward Walker on April 28th, 2011

Introduction


This is part 2 of 2 of my post regarding the excellent book Do More Faster, which is a collection of articles/blog posts by successful entrepreneurs and investors, including the editors David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld, the managing director of Foundry Group.

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Do More Faster – Part I

by Scott Edward Walker on March 9th, 2011

Introduction


I just finished reading the book Do More Faster, which is a collection of blog posts/articles by successful entrepreneurs and investors edited by David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld, the managing director of Foundry Group.  As Brad noted on his blog: “Our goal was to write a unique book full of useful information for any early stage entrepreneur.  Rather than give advice or simply tell an entrepreneurial success story, we decided to blend the experience of the TechStars entrepreneurs and the TechStars mentors in an organized fashion.”

Below are a few nuggets from the first half of the book; I will share some second-half quotes in my next post.  Cheers, Scott

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How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? – Part 2

by Scott Edward Walker on October 20th, 2010

Introduction

This post is part 2 of my three-part series: “How do I raise seed capital if I don’t know any investors?”  In part 1, I discussed the importance of hustling and building relationships in order to get warm introductions to investors.  In this post, I will discuss a different approach: applying to one of the mentorship/seed capital programs.

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ODE TO OAF: A Personal Tribute to Jason Calacanis, Tyler Crowley & the Angels

by Scott Edward Walker on May 19th, 2010

In the spirit of entrepreneurship (and fun), I wrote the following poem about my experience at last night’s Open Angel Forum.  (more…)