Basic skills
« Previous EntriesMake sure your business plan gets read – build a “killer” exec summary
Friday, November 20th, 2009Like most people I hate writing business plans, I want to get on with the business at hand rather than keep writing and re-writing lots of words about what I plan to do!
This must also be true for many investors…
How to write a winning elevator pitch
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009Writing a good and punchy “elevator pitch” is way harder than most people think. Plus I find that I really need to teach this skill a lot with my Stanford and UC Berkeley MBA’s to help them both with distilling…
Public speaking…the key things to know
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008If you are making any form of presentation you will benefit from these quick tips.
Get the content and flow right:
First, make the presentation flow correctly – as most presentations are trying to convince someone of something, I tend to use…
Tech startup guides…in summary
Monday, November 17th, 2008Writing about “how-to” startup could take 1000s page or just a few. In the last 20+ years of doing this I have learned a lot, mostly through my own dumb mistakes and I would say that again if you had…
Learn from the guru on presentations…it’s harder than you think to build a compelling pitch
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008Again and again I find myself telling my MBA students about how to present.
They tend to get everything wrong, every time, no matter how many times I tell them or ask them to learn.
Why? Well it’s probably because it’s very…
Even more advice on presenting to investors…preparation is key
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008You must know what they say about the 5 P’s, preparation prevents "piss poor" performance!
THE PREPARATION PROCESS:
Identify the 3-5 key points you want the audience to remember. These will inevitably be the key points of the investment case. Build the presentation…
How To Create A Unique Selling Proposition
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008This is a superb piece by Jay Abraham on creating your USP.
I really like his many books and reference materials and suggest you take a look at them if you are in sales or marketing.
This is a direct quote from…
Always, always, always get references when hiring…
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008How to get references
Always get references as a way to Exclude candidates and get them very early.
Always check: 2 bosses, 2 Peers, 2 Staff, 2 Customers and other colleagues/VCs etc.
Also, try to get other non-provided names to give a view of the…
Double check that "intuition" when hiring…it could save you a big mistake
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008These are useful notes I took from a book on HR (Sorry can’t remember its name now):
The problem:
A) Perfect on paper — intuition says no
B) CV& background not right — intuition says yes
These are both situations when you want…
CXO Leadership Forum – A great way to learn and connect
Thursday, November 6th, 2008I often get asked by friends and mentees in their ventures or working on a startup idea where they can learn more about all the various things CxO’s have to know and also where they can mix with similar people…
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