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How to Pitch an Investor - William Quigley Interview
To prepare for the Mixergy Funding Forum, I did a pre-interview with William Quigley, Managing Director at Clearstone Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm. He allowed me to record the conversation for anyone who can’t make it to the Forum.
Here are some of my notes:
How to Pitch
William says too many entrepreneurs talk about the market as it is at the time they pitch.
He prefers a presentation that starts by talking about where the market is right now and who the current players are. And then the pitch needs to explain where the market and each competitor is likely to be in the coming years. Finally, he wants to know how your company fits in this universe.
The idea is to look at the market like a moving chess board. You need to go beyond where your opponent’s pieces are now, and consider where those pieces are likely to be later in the game.
The PayPal Example
That pitch format allows him to help entrepreneurs find hidden opportunities. He talks about how PayPal’s pitch was focused on a payment system that worked on portable devices. Because of the way they presented their business plan, Clearstone was able to help them realize that the market for portable devices wasn’t going to be big enough and email was a better medium.
The podcast
We discuss several ideas that are helpful to anyone working on a startup business. You’re better off listening to the conversation that reading my notes on it.
“Right click” here to get the podcast (33 minutes)
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2 Responses to “How to Pitch an Investor - William Quigley Interview”
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I really like the point of painting the picture of the future. Entrepreneurs, and investors, are investing valuable time and money in a bet on the future. Your business plan will change, your model with change - things will change. But it’s important to A) understand how your markets may shape up (think about scenarios here - there is no one answer and there is no right answer and B) communicate it crisply and articulately.
I had coffee with a really great guy (entrepreneur and investor) today talking about a similar thought which is to show where you are today (traction), where you think you need to be (gretzky puck analogy) and how you are going to get there. He and I agreed - this is the heavy lifting.
Cheers
My biggest annoyance is when VCs are too chicken to call you back and tell you “no.” Instead, they just ignore you and don’t return your calls. Sure, I get the picture but why don’t they just give me a chance to address there concern. No wonder people hate vulture capitalists.