Showing Your Startup Mo’

I’ll never forget that scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Mike Damone explains that no matter where you are make it seem like the coolest thing going on (some cool Fast Time quotes here).  I am always reminded by that scene when talking about a business’ momentum around investors.  You want to highlight and package your business in a way that makes it seem like the coolest enterprise on the planet.

I can tell you that a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs should really re-watch that movie in order to get some pointers from Mike Damone.  The amount of questions that I personally get on fundraising have been accelerating.  Per a recent post on the StartupWhisperer free investment slides, there have been a ton of free PowerPoints sent out and I would love to get feedback whether they were helpful. 

There are a lot of ways to show your If you are early stage, you will not have much to show.  In this case, you might want to show early results from customer tests or trials.  Key customer testimonials would also be a good compliment to this slide.  If you have data that is meaningful, then don't be afraid to show it. Data around unique users, searches, new v. repeat customers, organic traffic, subscribers, etc., is really useful.  If you are a B2B business, you might want to show your sales funnel here and highlight closed deals.

Whatever you have that shows some traction – use it in a while that tells a story.  The data that you use should explicitly tell the investor that your product or service works for your core customers and there is less risk investing today because there is early traction on the business.  This data should only be used if it is growing.  Showing flat growth trend lines will defeat the goal of this slide. 

So figure out what you’ve got and use it.  Not just your words.  Or said better by the immortal Mike Damone, “I mean don't just walk in. You move across the room. And you don't talk to her. You use your face. You use your body. You use everything. That's what I do. I mean I just send out this vibe …  something happens.’