10 Things to avoid when pitching your Value Proposition
We at Blackhawk see around 500 business pitches a year and have learned over the years what we like to hear and especially what we don’t.
Here are some key things I strongly recommend any entrepreneur against talking about – no matter what type of investor you are talking to – as they raise red flags and are real deal killers.
- Sex, Religion and Politics ….. as we are an odd mix of people very sensitive to those issues.
- The Weather, Traffic, Shopping and Celebrities. This kind of small talk could get you pigeonholed as a waste of time.
- Yourself. Not too many of us want to hear your life story, credo, introspective viewpoint – We would rather want to know what you can do.
- Petty scams and schemes. A way to game the system or find a technical flaw to exploit is boring. Everyone wants to hear however how they can get rich by changing the world, slaying a Goliath, or outsmarting the best.
- Astrology. Think very carefully before you bring any superstitions, metaphysics or paranormal stuff into the conversation.
- Negativity. This is probably true everywhere. Nobody ever made themselves great by pointing out other people’s failures. George Carlin the comedian maybe. But he’s not an entrepreneur.
- The appropriate salary to pay a founder of an investor-backed startup. You are wasting your time doing this and will get you nowhere.
- Having us sign a NDA. They are useless, non-enforceable and produce no result other than aggravation.
- Being in the game just for making money and a quick flip. Biggest turnoff ever.
- That your company has no competition and is bound to capture x% of a multibillion dollar market industry. Pretty delusional
Hope you are one day smarter and that we can work together avoiding the above.
