financial projections

How Investors Look at Startup Forecasts

By Tim Berry

Investors look at startup forecasts for concepts, not accuracy. When investors look at your projections, they are looking not for just the numbers, but essential insight into the knowledge, experience, and goals of the founders. Important: you need to forecast to manage your business. Hard as it is to forecast, it’s much harder to run... Read More »

investors look at startup forecast

What Makes a Successful Pitch

By Tim Berry

No, it’s not really the format, the pictures, or the design … although those help. Ugly, confused, or disjointed is never an advantage. But what makes a successful pitch in a pitch presentation to investors is not the cosmetics; it’s the content. Question: Is there one unique piece I’d seen in a successful pitch that... Read More »

Top 10 Pitch Fails

By Tim Berry

I was asked recently for a list of things that annoy me in angel investment pitches from startups. I’ve done this before, so there will be some duplication here. But here is my top 10 pitch fails list.  Profits. Talk of profits, overestimated profits, the failure to understand that investors make money on growth, not... Read More »

What Are the Normal Steps for Angel Investment?

By Tim Berry

Question: What are the normal steps for angel investment? What’s involved in submitting a business plan? I decided to answer this question here because I see it so often in email and in question and answer sites on the web, especially Quora, which is where I first saw it and answered it. Yes you do... Read More »

Did You Get Screwed in Business

By Tim Berry

This is a true story. I was there. The details are possibly not exact, and the quotes are paraphrased, but the essentials are true.  A startup founder was pitching to 22 local investors. The group had asked him to pitch because we liked his summary materials. He was local to us and had an interesting... Read More »

Business Pitch: Don’t Confuse Optimism with Business Potential

By Tim Berry

I listen to a lot of business pitches and way too many of them try to make something out of the entrepreneur’s attitude. Commitment is great, but who isn’t committed? Passion is great but who isn’t passionate about their business. Saying that adds nothing. It’s assumed. So too, with optimism. Business pitch optimism is vastly... Read More »

10 Myths vs. Reality on Business Plans and Startup Investment

By Tim Berry

I gather from a stream of emails I’ve received that there are a lot of misconceptions on the relationship between a business plan and getting seed money and/or angel investment. So here’s a list of reality checks to apply to all those lists. Business plans are necessary but not sufficient. Even a great business plan... Read More »

Elevator Speech Part 4: Delivery

By Tim Berry

In the real world, you know your so-called elevator speech and you use it when appropriate. Every time you do it, you and it get better. I'd recommend taking time out and working on it, but you probably won't; you're... Read More »