Here is the deal. I'm a Russian guy, living in Siberia. I have a great team and a prototype of a kick-ass project. I'm going to LeWeb 2010 (Paris), which is the biggest European Web conference. There are going to be a lot of VCs. Here is a question: How do I get them to see my prototype and invest in me, if I don't know anybody there? *We are looking forward move to the Valley as soon as we get funded, so Siberia is not the case. Also, I'm not giving a speech at the conference.
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Work on your 30 seconds elevator pitch. Print business cards. Don't print them yourself. Ask a professional to do it. Practice your elevator pitch with your mother, your friends, your cat. Once you go to the conference. Find VCs. Give them one card. Give them your 30s elevator pitch. |
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read the articles on venture hacks about pitching, in particular "High concept pitches for startups" also you can get in front of Angel investors and VC's through Angel List (i can only post 1 link due to a lack of reputation points, but you can find a link to it from venture hacks) |
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You may have to get permission from the conference for little Tweetup, but organize that effectively, and make sure to invite any VCs (if they're on twitter). You'll need a meeting space. Broadcast on something such as justin.tv, make sure you have a hashtag and you've reached out to a strong audience of followers far prior to the conference. It will be your own little self-directed broadcast. Exciting! As with any marketing campaign, you have to "get them where they are". If you know the names of some VCs (some of whom may be in attendance), another suggestion I'd definitely make would be to find out what discussions they participate in online, and hit them from there. You can usually find them by doing some analysis of backlinks to their websites (if they have a strong online presence). - this basically just elaborated on Tim's comment. |
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Sorry for the self promotion - but you should consider applying to present at Startup Riot - an annual conference I do in Atlanta. We're heading into the 4th year with a projected 500+ attendees. We have a lot of investors show up and we actively screen out service providers (lawyers, accountants, recruiters, consultants, etc.) so it's a valuable and networking rich environment. Events like this are a better way to get attention since presenters at Startup Riot get 3 minutes to tell their story in front of the entire audience. Anyways, take a look - startupriot.com. There are other great conferences too that let entrepreneurs pitch too. Just don't go to any that charge presenting entrepreneurs money to present (pay to pitch). That's just wrong and evil. Feel free to ping me on Twitter if you have questions. Sanjay Parekh @sanjay |
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