Killer VC Deck

Many students are in the process (or soon will be) of creating a rocket pitch for their business ideas.  This quick pitch is just one aspect of a good set of documents that entrepreneuers should have at their disposal.  Another is the elevator pitch – a 30 second story that grabs the interest of someone.  I found a very good blog post about how to go about developing a full VC Deck and appendix.  You can read the full story here.  There is one particularly good piece of advice that I think is a necessity for Babson students:

you should go find a few people who know a lot about your industry/business…entrepreneurs who have “done it before.” Maybe even a venture capitalist (tell them you don’t want their money…you just want them to tell you everything that is wrong with your business).  Ask them to take 30 minutes and tell you how much your idea/plan/business sucks. Set the ground rules that they can’t say anything positive.  (I’d like to see the look on the VC’s face when you say that!).  Kick the crap out of your business…or as we used to call it: “8-Mile-ing” (if you haven’t seen the movie, go see it and the scene at the end will answer your question). After you have 8-Miled your business, give a 3-6 word title to each objection you heard.  For example, “Team too inexperienced” or “CPM forecast 10x too big?”  Then prioritize them in decending order by your estimate of the probability of it happening and size of its adverse impact.

Considering the resources available to Babson students (professors, other faculty, Blank center, other students, club leaders) this is an easy task to accomplish.  Ask for candid feedback and you will get it – and the positives are far less important than perceived negatives.