There they gave a great 30 minute presentation about how prospective angels should find deals, work with portfolio companies, and approach angel investing in general (I won’t spoil their grand finale, but suffice it to say that the last five minutes of their presentation should be mandatory viewing for every past, present and future angel investor on a monthly basis.)
But don’t take my word for it, listen for yourself:
You can create a deal in Angelsoft by sending or forwarding an email to your drop-box email (newsubmissions@YourGroupName.angelgroups.net ).
Remember these simple rules to maximize your use of the drop-box email:
The subject of the message will be the Deal Name.
The files attached to the email (up to 10MB) will go in Documents.
The body of the message will be posted under Messages.
This will speed things up, and allow you to start tracking ALL your deals in Angelsoft.
For a more advanced option, you can also add ::referral source to the subject line, to indicate the person or organization who referred the entrepreneur to you. For instance, if a company named ABC General was introduced to you by Sam Smith, then the subject line should be: ABC General::Sam Smith.
As I mention early and often to anyone who will listen, the sensei of state-of-the-art presentations (which you will use to raise startup funding, inspire your team and sell your product to customers) is a gentleman named Garr Reynolds, the former Manager of Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple Computer. He writes the most influential blog on the subject, Presentation Zen, which was recently turned into the most influential book on the subject, Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter), a copy of which I present to every CEO who comes to me for training.
I have been asked to essentially talk about the contents of the book. I will indeed talk about the themes and ideas covered in the book, however, I have entitled the presentation How to Think Like a Designer (and why it matters). The applications of the items I discuss will focus on presentations, particularly presentations that are given with the aid of slideware, but the ideas can be applied to other types of presentations and even other types of disciplines such as web design and professional communications of all types. I have come up with a list of 10 ways to “think like a designer” with examples for each and applications for presentation design. Yet, there are of course more than 10 things we can learn from designers that may help us in our own work, so if you’d like to share your list — or even just a few tips of your own — please share those below. I appreciate your comments. Look forward to connecting with you during the webcast.
I can’t recommend this highly enough, but if you are not able to make the live webcast (at which you’ll be able to ask questions), the archive of the webcast should be available about 72 hours after the live event. Garr’s presentation, blog and book are mandatory reading for any entrepreneur who is serious about communicating his or her vision.
After watching the video of my “How to Pitch a VC” presentation at the TED conference, Garr Reynolds, who writes PresentationZen (the name of both the most influential presentation blog on the web, and also the best book ever written on presentation design) asked if I would mind if he created a summary slide show of my top tips that he could use with his students. Mind? I was delighted! So here’s the really, really short crib note version of my pitch training sessions. The first list are the personal qualities in YOU that an investor looks for; the next set are the inside tips that will make your presentation come across as uber-professional. Good luck with your pitch!
In addition to all of the speed and stability enhancements released with version 3.1 of Angelsoft, we have given investment groups increased control over the look and feel of the entrepreneur application.
Investment group logo and name are now much more prominently displayed at the top of the application.
Investment groups may now select one of four color schemes, as well as include an introductory paragraph with a group profile, investment criteria, and instructions for the entrepreneur so that you can ensure potential entrepreneurs will understand exactly how best to apply to your group.
Watch the video below to see exactly how to customize your group’s application:
In the early days of New York Angels, we noticed what appeared to be an anomaly in our operations. We had quickly established a good incoming flow of deals, and had followed that up with an effective screening process, but we found that we were actually funding a much smaller percentage of the presenting companies than we had expected. What was particularly puzzling was that we KNEW these were likely fundable companies, because we had spent over half an hour with them around a table during the screening session, and only picked the very best ones (typically the top 10%) to present to our whole group. But after hearing the fifteen minute pitches during our monthly meeting, our full membership just didn’t get excited enough to put their money to work. A puzzlement. We eventually figured out the problem: the companies were great, but the pitches were awful!
That was when we instituted mandatory pitch coaching for every single company that was selected to present to our membership. The result? Our investment rate more than DOUBLED, and we have funded over $35 million into more than 50 companies during the past six years. In that time, I have handled most of the coaching duties on behalf of the group, and have gotten pretty good at helping entrepreneurs refine their Powerpoint presentations to meet the need of their target audience: early stage investors. Word began to spread about these sessions, and soon BusinessWeek came by to do a story about them, giving me the moniker of The Pitch Coach. The next thing I knew, there seemed to be even more demand for presentation training than there was for my investment dollars!
These days, I spend quite a bit of my time teaching entrepreneurs how to clearly and persuasively get their message across. Most of this happens for New York Angels, at business schools like Yale, Columbia or NYU, or for institutions like the National Science Foundation. However a couple of years ago Chris Anderson, the Curator of the renowned TED conference (and a fellow New York Angel member) asked if I would do a session during the “TED University” event before the main conference. I agreed, but wondered how I would be able to compress what is usually an hour long presentation into the allotted 12 minutes. The answer? Talk faster! [grin] So, with the compliments of TED.com, here is The Pitch Coach, in the super-express-version of “How to Pitch an Angel (or VC)”. I hope you find it useful! (The ‘expand’ button in the corner will bring up a full-screen version.)
1. Enter your location in the left hand column of the Group Finder to sort groups by distance from you.
2. Click the View Site link to learn more about the group and the Start Application button to begin the application.
3. You can have up to three active submissions. If you apply to more than three, your deal will go into the group’s Bulk Submission folder.
4. If you want to apply to an additional group click the Delete button next to an active submission. This will free up a spot and allow you to submit without being placed in the Bulk Submission folder.
Full Explanation:
Finding the right group to apply to can save you considerable time and money. Groups often have specific criteria they are looking for in a business such as industry and investment range. Applying to the correct group greatly increases your chance of additional funding talks. While it may seem like a good idea to send your plan to as many groups as possible, this can actually hurt you. Angelsoft is an ecosystem, and investors quickly ignore companies that abuse the system. To further prevent misuse, if you have more than 3 active submissions, your application will go into a group’s Bulk Submission folder. You may delete an application to free up a spot. If you are looking for broad exposure we suggest applying to the Investor Community , which is accessible to the 8000 investors and 450 groups that use Angelsoft.To find the right group for you, start by entering your location in the left hand column of the Group Finder. This will display the groups that are closest to you. A local deal is more attractive to an Angel, so these are the best groups to apply to first.
Click the View Site link next to a group’s name and familiarize yourself with their funding criteria. If you think your company is a fit, click Start Application. If you do not have an Angelsoft account you will be asked to register.
You can save an application as you work on it, so there is no need to finish it at once. All of your applications can be managed from the My Application tab. You can start as many applications as you want; you will only be placed in the Bulk Submission folder if you SUBMIT to more than three groups.
If you have already submitted to three groups, and would like to submit to an additional group, you can click the Delete button next to an active submission. Usually you would do this after the group has declined your deal. This will allow you to submit to an additional group without being placed in the Bulk Submission Folder.
The Investor Community provides you with a place to view and rate & review deals. Whether feedback is positive or negative and whether the deal is local or all the way across the country, your feedback is valuable! As more and more member provide negative feedback, other investors won’t waste their time looking at the less interesting deals, and the good deals will rise to the top.
Also, as you build a reputation as a great deal reviewer, other Angel groups will begin to know who you are and what types of deals you like. The Investor Community becomes your private community to establish your expertise , reputation, and trust as an investor.
1) Start with the Deal Dashboard:
If you do not know how to find the Deal Dashboard for a deal in the Investor Community, please view the Basic Guide to the Investor Community tutorial.
2) Scroll to bottom to find Ratings & Review section:
3) Click “Rate & Review this deal”:
4) Enter in your ratings for each category:
5) Type up a review with all your opnions on this deal:
Here is where you can establish your credentials. The more valuable your feedback, the more other investment groups will appreciate your work. The more thoughtful your reviews, the more you will establish your area of expertise in the eyes of the early stage investment community.
The Investor Community can be used as a source of extra deal flow for your investment group. As you navigate from deal to deal putting in Ratings & Reviews, if you find a deal that might interest your investment group, you can simply refer it back to your group. With the click of a button, you can send a copy of this deal to the new submissions folder of your group on Angelsoft, where it is then ready to go through your group’s investment process.
1) Find the Deal Dashboard:
If you do not know how to find the Deal Dashboard for a deal in the Investor Community, please view the Basic Guide to the Investor Community tutorial.
So, you have a deal with some serious interest from your group, but not enough to do the full round. This is a great opportunity for you to leverage the Angelsoft network, and get connected to other investment groups nearby. With a couple simple steps, you can post your deal to Open Deals, making a preview available to other Angelsoft users, so they can contact you to discuss the potential of co-investing.
Nothing more than a preview will be shared, and once you are contacted you can still decide how you would like to proceed with this group. Its a very fast and efficient way to find more capital, and a huge value you can offer the entrepreneurs applying to your group.
