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Mike Maples, Jr. appeared on this week’s podcast episode of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People. Maples is a seed round venture capitalist. He talked of his hits and misses.

Most interesting to me came from Kawasaki’s question about what he looks for when an entrepreneur comes in to make a pitch. I’ve listened to CEOs and other executives for 25 years come in to pitch me on the value of writing about their companies. Maples’ answer resonated.

What the VC most wants to know is what’s the product. What are you doing? Why should anyone care? Who has validated the idea?

Don’t come in with 20 slides about market and millennials and competitors and the like. Don’t wait until slide 24 to say what you’re doing. By then, you’ve lost the game.

I don’t remember who the perpetrator was, but I painfully recall a meeting in the Automation World offices around 2010. 

The CEO came in with a PowerPoint deck. Only he and I were in the conference room. After about 20 slides about his bio and the company bio and the market, I interrupted to ask what they did. He said, wait until slide 35. I’ll get to it. I told him I knew the market and the technology landscape. Just tell me what you do.

I’ve found software spokespeople especially susceptible to this disease. It’s as if they are embarrassed by the paucity of the “advancement.” They need to snow you with big words. They seem reluctant to get into the “what’s new” part.

I’m glad to find I have big-time company in my attitude toward these presentations.

Tell me (or anyone) what you’re doing, what’s the product (or service), why should anyone care. If it’s a tech thing, I enjoy knowing the underlying technology—but only after you have my attention with what you do.

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