The Market You Can Actually Reach
A giant market number and a one percent assumption is the least convincing slide in fundraising. Build the market from the customers you can actually name.
· 2 min read
Thoughts
Building things on the internet — apps, experiments, and what they taught me.
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It Was Supposed to Be a Quick Fix
Tim thinks a bad estimate is usually a sign that the thing was never one thing to begin with — it just presented as one.
· 2 min read
The Hockey Stick That Starts Next Quarter
Projections where growth begins just after today are the most common financial slide and the least persuasive. The curve has to start behind you.
· 2 min read
Ship It Before It's Ready, Not Ready to Break
Tim doesn't wait for finished, he waits for tested. The difference between shipping fast and shipping recklessly is whether you can catch what breaks before a customer does.
· 2 min read
Four Revenue Streams, None of Them Revenue
Listing four ways you might make money reads as hedging. One model you can explain in a sentence, with a real price, beats four possibilities.
· 2 min read
The Roadmap Item That Paid for Itself Twice
Tim says yes to a big customer's roadmap ask because the revenue makes it hard to say no — and admits that saying yes has cost him more than the deal was worth, more than once.
· 2 min read
The Demo That Answers a Question Nobody Asked
A solution slide has one job: answer the problem you just described. Feature tours impress the person giving them and nobody else in the room.
· 2 min read
We Built What They Asked For. Nobody Used It.
Tim on the gap between what customers ask for and what they actually do — and why he now trusts behavior over requests, even though the requests still feel like the safer bet.
· 2 min read
Pain Described in Adjectives
Doctors stopped asking how pain feels and started asking for a number between one and ten. Pitch decks haven't caught up — quantify the pain or it doesn't count.
· 2 min read
A Problem Only You Have
Plenty of startups are built on a founder's private annoyance. A problem worth funding is someone else's, it costs them money, and they're already paying to avoid it.
· 2 min read
A Summary That Summarizes Nothing
If your summary slide could belong to any company, it isn't a summary. It should be able to stand alone as the entire pitch if the meeting ended there.
· 2 min read
The Story With Nobody In It
A market described in percentages is forgettable. Put one real person in the story and the numbers afterwards finally have somewhere to land.
· 2 min read
Somebody Chose Your Colors. Make It You.
Every deck has a palette whether you picked one or not. Two colors used consistently read as a company; a template's defaults read as a first draft.
· 2 min read
If It Needs Eleven-Point Type, Cut It
Small type on a slide isn't a design problem, it's a decision problem. If the text has to shrink to fit, you haven't chosen what matters yet.
· 2 min read
The Tech Is Part of the Pitch
On a video pitch, your setup is being judged alongside your company. Rehearse the camera, the light and the screen share the way you rehearse the words.
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Two Founders, One Voice
Co-founders pitching together often correct and interrupt each other into a draw. Decide who owns which part before the room, and hand off on purpose.
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Word-Perfect Until the First Question
A memorized pitch survives exactly until someone interrupts it. Know the material well enough to answer out of order, not well enough to recite.
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Dress So Nobody Remembers What You Wore
Your clothes can't win a pitch, but they can spend the first ninety seconds talking over you. Dress to match the room so the room can hear the company.
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The Champion Nobody Actually Calls
Having a "champion" inside an investor group only counts if you've actually reached out to them — an unclaimed advocate is just a name you're hoping will save you.
· 2 min read
Why Some Investors Know More Than You Do
In any room of investors, only a handful truly understand your industry — pitch to the majority who don't, but find the few who do and turn them into your champion before you present.
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Angel Investors: Why Backgrounds Matter More Than Titles
Angel investors come from wildly different backgrounds and risk tolerances, so pitch to the majority in the room, not the two experts who already get it.
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Expensive Money: Why Equity Costs More Than Loans
Investor money often looks cheaper than a loan because you don't pay it back monthly — but a percentage of your company at exit can cost you far more than any interest rate ever would.
· 2 min read
Why Your Ask Number Shouldn't Be a Guess
The dollar amount founders ask investors for is often picked on instinct, like a lottery number — but it should come from the math of what equity actually costs you.
· 1 min read
The One-Pager That Isn't
A one-page investor summary that runs three pages has already failed — the value isn't the format, it's the discipline of deciding what didn't make the cut.
· 1 min read
The Sentence Nobody Can Finish
If you can't finish "we make…" in under 12 words, your pitch isn't ready — the one-liner isn't a tagline, it's proof you understand your own business.
· 1 min read
The Elevator Pitch Isn't for Closing
An elevator pitch exists to earn a second conversation, not to close a deal on the spot — trying to sell in thirty seconds usually kills the sale.
· 1 min read
The Close Door Button
Most elevator close-door buttons aren't wired to anything. Neither is asking for a commitment at the end of a pitch. No company has ever been funded the day it presented — so stop asking for the check and start asking for Thursday.
· 1 min read