Startup pitch peeve of the week
September 5th, 2008 by Benjamin KuoI listen to a lot of startup pitches. All the time, for folks who want coverage, or helping out with venture conferences, etc. I wanted to share my “pitch” peeve of the week, which seems to be increasingly common.
Don’t cite your mention on blogs, news, or elsewhere as validation of your company
I see this a lot nowadays, particularly on very, very early startups — think “two guys and a dog in the garage” — where the very first slide you see about the company is that they were covered by such-and-such blog, this-or-that web site, etc. Maybe it’s just me (as a publisher), but given the plethora of blog sites and the amount of material they turn out, being mentioned on a site is not validation of your company. Sure, it’s good for you to get the word out about your company, but a mention of your company on a post (including on our own site) is not validation for your idea/company.
I can’t count the number of companies I’ve seen who have cited (insert- your- favorite- Web-2.0- touting- web-site-here) who later went under, that VCs won’t touch, or who don’t have feasible business plans. (i.e. “We provide social networking for left handed, Bulgarian dentists! We’re going to be completely ad-supported!”)
Instead, the best thing is to include a quote or proof from your users, partners, or customers. The best citations are I have seen–and the most successful companies–are the ones who can bring a customer–whether that’s a consumer, a corporate customers, or OEM–who has said “you’ve solved a big problem, we love it, and we want to pay for this!” Second best (IMHO) is a partner, with experience in the space, who can give you some testimonial on your usefulness, i.e. “we partnered with so-and-so because they were the only solution in the space, we really needed their product in this industry, and they’re really ahead of the curve”
Anyway, that’s my opinion on the subject…
