The Artful Science of Pitching Frank Erschen has developed a pitch coaching method called “The Artful Science of Pitching,” where he distinguishes between the art and science of pitching: Art is what founders must use to be able to tell an investable story. It’s necessary to be artful in crafting a pitch story to account for not having any or many sales, and sometimes they don’t even have a product yet. Science is how investors evaluate. Pitch competitions often have a weighted scorecard. Most Angels have a mental checklist, and venture capital investors (VCs) usually have very refined criteria and analysts who perform detailed due diligence. The challenge for founders is to present their best foot forward despite not having all four corners
squared while their audience thinks in shades of black and white. – Frank Erschen , Charter Member, Golden Triangle Angelnet
As Brad Feld recommends: “If you’re going to be an Angel investor, start writing cheques. If it takes you 12 months to write your first $25,000, you’re making a mistake. You’re going to get better deal flow by making investments and getting known as somebody who actually writes cheques.” (Maher)
Unicorn Hunting in the 21st Century Over 15 years, I have met more than 20,000 founders and not one of them told me their idea sucked. In fact, each believed their startup was THE NEXT BIG THING. Each dreamed of having their startup turn into the next Twitter, Facebook, Zynga or Slack. Each wanted to ride the elusive “unicorn.” For VCs, a unicorn is a startup that has a billion-dollar-plus exit. However, about 98% of all active VCs have never successfully had a billion-dollar exit. The magic formula for spotting a unicorn would be a “Rosetta Stone” for investors; it would allow anyone to spot the next great startup. So a year ago, legendary investor Brad Feld and I set out to find the Rosetta Stone of startups. We wanted to crystalize objective criteria that would accurately predict which startups would become unicorns and which would become zombies. After reviewing more than 20,000 pitches, dozens of Techstars cohorts and multiple seasons of Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank , here is what we found: It is simply not possible. Unicorns aren’t found, they are built. It is execution, not opportunity, that dictates the fate of founders! — Dr. Sean Wise , Assoc. Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Ryerson University
42 A Practical Guide to Angel Investing
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