The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki

IIC hosted a short training sessions on making the perfect pitch, based on Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start principle. The training is a prep session for the upcoming InnoTech Venture Capital Pitching which will be organized in 11th & 12th October 2011. About 8 very inspiring technopeneurs attended the session.

The day started with welcoming remarks from IIC's in-house coach, Mr. 'Azra'i Shu'ib, lengthy explanation of Guy's 10 - 20 - 30 rule, a demo presentation by Mr. Yusno of Y Us Sdn. Bhd, founder of Evenesis and an in-depth coaching of Capital Analysis.

So in short, Guy said that to make that perfect pitch, you have to adhere to the 10 - 20 - 30 rule:

• Capture your contents in 10 slides. Suggested contents are:
• Title
• Problem
• Solution
• Business Model
• USP
• Marketing
• Competition
• Team
• Financial
• Current Status
• Deliver in 20 minutes
• Use no less than 30 font size

Let's hear it from Mr. Kawasaki himself:

Our prezi version that we used today:

Art of the Start on Prezi

At the end of the session, Mr. Azra'i Shu'ib stressed that you  are NOT TRYING TO CLOSE THE DEAL, YOU ARE SIMPLY CONVINCING THEM TO TAKE YOU TO THE NEXT STAGE. You need to internalise your business, make sure it is in your blood, feel it, and the VCs can see that you are in for serious business. Make your 20-minute interesting enough to get one foot in the VC's radar.

The Golden 10 - 20 - 30 Rule

Mr. Yusno demonstrating his presentation skills

Mr. Azrai coaching on capital risk analysis, capital sourcing analysis, capital costing analysis

Interesting quotes of the day:

VCs in Malaysia are mostly from financing background. Hence, their questions will mostly be on financial-related matters, i.e. business model, business returns, so get yourself prepared. Thanks En. Azrai for preparing me in advance! - Mr. Yusno

Make the VCs run for you! - Mr. Azrai Shuib 

So come and join us at IIC!