David Hogan’s Post

Pitch deck templates are killing you, because they stop you from thinking. 9/10 founders I talk to end up with something completely incoherent. I'm begging you to close PowerPoint for a second! Take a word document and do these 4️⃣ things: 1️⃣ List what you need investors to believe about your company 2️⃣ Write down the strongest evidence you have for everything in your list 3️⃣ Then write a short story explaining why investors should give you money 4️⃣ Now make each sentence is a slide. Congratulations you have a coherent structured presentation that flows and is TAILORED TO YOU. P.S. Make sure you think about how the things all investors care about relate to your startup.(Team, Traction, Market, Product) You can find out how to make investors believe what you say about these areas at pitchdoctor.app/newsletter. For example here's a deep dive on presenting your team in the best light. https://lnkd.in/dKgizmCk

A few weeks ago I did something a bit new, a bit crazy and a bit spur-of-the-moment - a live deck roast giving founders raw, unfiltered and direct feedback as to how investors see your cold-call deck. It was 🔥—over 200 attendees, nearly 50 decks submitted, and incredible feedback from founders who said it changed how they approach fundraising. So, we’re doing it again. But way bigger and way better. 🚀 And..... 🥁drum roll -  I’m thrilled to bits to announce I'm doing this deck roast with the INCREDIBLE Chris Tottman who amongst other things is:  - Founding GP at Notion Capital ($1b AUM), Founder of AlphaGrab. - Author of "The Go-To-Market Handbook for SaaS Leaders" 📘 - Creator of the Substack newsletter "The Founders Corner" - Investor in over 500 founders**, backing startups every week via Notion, AlphaGraph, and his family office run by Vencha, the growth consultancy. Chris has seen many, many MANY thousands of decks, does startups deals every single week and between the two of us, we’ll be breaking down what works, what flops, and how to stand out in the inbox chaos. 💥 We’ll walk you through a few decks in real-time, "talking out loud" to show what goes through an investor's mind when they open your cold email. You’ll see exactly what makes us say: ✅ "Let’s set up a call!" ❌ "Delete, next." We’ll get into the stuff investors like, dislike, tolerate, and flat-out hate. No fluff, no filter, and absolutely no bullsh*t. You’ll leave knowing how to get us (and investors like us) to pay attention. When? December 5th at 1pm GMT. 🚀 Spots are limited, so don’t wait! See you there. Bring your deck, your questions, and maybe a little courage. 😏 Comment ROAST on this post and I’ll send out the deets!

I used to scoff whenever a founder had “Stealth” on their profile. I mean, what jokers right? My thoughts were: Do they really think what they are working on is going to be stolen? Are they working on something that “cool” that they can’t tell anyone about it? Now, obviously you can see that I have “Stealth” written on my profile. But there are key reasons as to why this is the case now as opposed to the first time I started a company 👇 1️⃣ I get a LOT of VC reachouts. I know, world’s tiniest violin right? But the reality is: it’s incredibly distracting to building a business. The privilege I have of being a 2nd time founder makes it so I already know the people I’d like to partner with ahead of time; not necessary for me to do cold inbound convos. “Stealth” shields me from a lot of back and forth. 2️⃣We don’t need to launch for sales…at least right now. We’ve already reached $XX of ARR without needing a website. The “constantly launch” ethos of YC is true…but more true for those who struggle getting their product out to the world. 3️⃣My standards have changed for launching publicly. As much as possible, I want a great experience for those who land on our website. We won’t get it perfect, but we want to get to a point where our product is stable enough to handle the inflow of people who land on the site and can self serve their way through. 4️⃣ There are a LOT of hype builders out their with amazing marketing videos. YC is churning those startups out like a factory. That’s great, but does their product actually work? When publicly launching, we want to make sure things actually work to get to that first “aha!” moment. 5️⃣ I’m not exactly “hiding” what we are building. If you ask me individually, I’ll tell you. Feel free to DM me if you’re a CEO or a Head of Finance/Revops that’s struggling with ARR reporting or getting data from your systems, more than happy to give you an early look!!

Quick tip for Startup Founders & Business Owners: When launching your product, focus on highlighting ONE major benefit. Yes, it can be tempting to showcase everything your product can do, but trying to spotlight all the benefits at once might make it seem too good to be true. Instead, choose that one big benefit that aligns with your audience’s pain points and let it take centre stage. Once they’re hooked on that, you can gradually reveal the rest. Remember, clarity wins in the marketplace. P.S.: Do you agree with this? P.P.S.: I’ll be stepping off LinkedIn till the end of the month but will still drop by in your comments now and then. Catch you in November!

“The bootstrapping mindset is about creating something from nothing.” At #BubbleCon2024, Bubble co-founder Emmanuеl Straschnοv dove deep into the Bubble bootstrapping journey and shared tips for other founders bootstrapping, too. Catch the highlights and video recap on the blog 👇 https://lnkd.in/eBiWw3vf

Dear founders, don't overlook the secret weapon in your startup pitch: YOU. Founders spend hours perfecting their TAM and product slides. But behind closed doors, investors are asking a different question: Do you have the entrepreneurial DNA to build something extraordinary? It's not just about the childhood lemonade stand (though that's charming). What really captivates investors is your pattern of building and scaling: - That SaaS tool you coded and sold while in college - Your YouTube channel that hit 50K subscribers before graduating high school - The teams you've led, even without a fancy title - Those weekend projects that turned into real businesses Clearly demonstrate that you’re on the path to build great companies.

The hyper short, intensive and most effective video course on everything that is important if you want to launch a start-up in order to scale-up soon. Brilliant (and difficult of course. You won’t be able to tick all the boxes, but add a few to your list and increase your chances instantly). I particularly like the ones about PR and media - build lasting relationships, follow-up, it is just like being in touch with investors (of course). Take advantage of it!

How to start a successful business from scratch with little money to begin with

Are you planning to start a business? You absolutely need to check this out! And if you want to know how to reduce attorney fees for the incorporation in Germany down to zero, send me a message. #founders #efficient #advice

🚀 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐘 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 10 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 In this quick video, YC's Michael Seibel breaks down key insights for building a successful startup: 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: Crucial for turning ideas into reality. 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Test and iterate before fully committing. 𝐌𝐕𝐏 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Start lean and build from there. 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬: Focus on gaining traction early. 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐩𝐬: Engage effectively with investors. 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 & 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Build a strong, efficient team. 💡 What’s your biggest challenge in building your startup? 🤔 Which growth strategy resonates most with you? 💬 How do you approach MVP development? #Startups #Entrepreneurship #YCombinator #GrowthHacking #VC