Adam Chavez

I’m re-reading “Art of the Start” & thought I’d take some notes — then I thought, “Why not just post them on my blog? Kill 2 birds with 1 stone” So here you go. Enjoy!

Question: How can you tell if an entrepreneur is pitching?
Answer: His lips are moving.

Pitching Tip 1:

In the first minute, answer the question: “What does his organization do?” — Don’t go off on personal tangents at the beginning of a pitch

Two Things to Do Before Pitching to a VC

1. “Set a timer to 1 minute. Give your current pitch until the timer goes off. Ask the audience to write down one sentence that explains what your organization does. Collect the answers and compare them to what you think you said.”
2. “Videotape yourself giving your pitch. If you can watch it without being embarrassed, you’re ready to go.”

Pitching Tip 2:

Observe the 10/20/30 Rule

• 10 slides or less
• 20 minutes (leave 40 minutes for questions/discussion in a 1 hour meeting)
• 30 point font

Pitching Tip #3 - 1 Person Talk & 1 Person Listen & Take Notes

Story on listening:

“I once accompanied a startup’s CEO and COO on a pitch to a venture capitalist. A few days after the pitch, I met with the VC alone. When we began to discuss the Management (with a capital M), all he said was, ‘I noticed that the CEO did a lot of talking, but the COO was sitting there taking notes. The CEO didn’t write down a thing. I think the COO is a quality guy.’

“I don’t remember whether what the venture capitalist had been saying at the original meeting was actually noteworthy, but that’s not the point. The point is that shutting up and taking notes or, God help you, actually listening for ways to improve is a good thing to do in a pitch, where even the smallest actions create a big impression. The visible act of taking notes says

• I think you’re smart
• You’re saying something worth writing down
• I’m willing and anxious to learn
• I’m conscientious

“Taking notes provides these benefits, plus the value of the information that you’re recording. It can’t get much better than this.”
“Also, at the end of the meeting, summarize what you heard and play it back in order to make sure you got the correct information. You can make an even greater impression by also following through, within a day, on all the promises that you made during the pitch — for example, providing additional information.”

For RSS feeds without the setup from Guy Kawasaki on startups, try startups.alltop.com

I had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan Caldwell last week. He’s the CEO of Entice Labs, a startup based in Provo, UT that is changing the way companies recruit and attract talented people in technology. Using cutting-edge, patent-pending technology, Entice Labs allows employers to reach five times as many job candidates at a fraction of the price.

Caldwell, a graduate of an earlier iteration of the Information Systems program at the Marriott School, is no stranger to startups and entrepreneurship. His first company was MadKey, an internet company that specialized in high-speed networks. He discovered an innovative way to get speedy internet to customers for less than what any of his competitors were charging. He described his competitors as being “a little miffed” as they would be out-bid nearly every time they went up against MadKey. Caldwell’s team could service an entire apartment complex with high-quality service and only charge a fraction of their competitors’ fees. Needless to say, they had no problem getting new customers. Even more impressive though, was that they managed to maintain a profit margin of 80% even with such low prices.

A few weeks before his graduation from the Marriott School, he sold MadKey for $2.9 million. Not receiving the typical graduation present, he celebrated by doing what everybody who sells their company for a few million dollars before graduation from college does — he kept working. Caldwell valued his startup experience, but wanted to see the corporate and international side of things.  He worked in the corporate world for about 9 months in San Francisco (my hometown, and one of Caldwell’s favorite places), where he traveled as far as London and Singapore for corporations like Microsoft and Visa.  After getting a good feel for the corporate world, he then came back to Utah to help a few friends with their startups.

He ended up at Entice Labs after being introduced to the team through colleagues in the area. The company had some big challenges ahead of it when he picked up the reins as CEO, and he and his team have been sprinting and sweating ever since to get the startup to its current level. “It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve done,” said Caldwell as we discussed his time at Entice Labs over Pita Pit sandwiches.

1. Go to docs.google.com (login with your gmail or google account)

2. On the left-hand side you’ll see a box that says “new.” Click that.

3. A drop-down menu will appear. Click form. An editable version of your form will appear.

4. Edit your form.

5. Click “Save” and you’ll be given a link that you can share with others.

6. If somebody fills out your survey or questionnaire, the results of what they entered will come to you in a google docs spreadsheet that you can access from your google docs account.

A chance for a student to work at a vc-backed startup this summer, and learn venture capital at vSpring once a week!

Update: We’re very interested in candidates with a background/passion for GTD.

Location:

Salt Lake City, Utah

Industry:

Finance/Banking - Venture Capital

Job Function:

Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Product Management, Project Management, Supply Chain Management/Logistics

Description

Internship:

Looking for 8-12 interns to work with successful start-up companies in Utah.

Project Description:

vSpring Capital, the most recognized venture capital firm in Mountain West Region, is now accepting applications for summer internships. Several of vSpring’s portfolio companies have expressed interest in adding a summer intern to their start-up team. Interns have previously worked on projects such as implementing software platforms, establishing financial controls, creating strategic road-maps, researching competitive landscapes, and leading entire marketing strategies.

Job Description:

We are looking for 8-12 MBA or undergraduate business students to serve as full-time interns. Interns are placed in vSpring portfolio companies to provide the company a means of accomplishing projects that might be difficult given the company’s limited resources.

Therefore, intern assignments represent significant value-add projects and tasks that help the portfolio companies to secure their competitive advantage. Intern assignments are strategic in nature, and may involve market research and quantification, competitor analysis, marketing, product and project management, R&D, or finance.

Only after individual job descriptions are developed are candidates screened and interviewed. These descriptions are then matched to the intern possessing the best combination of skills and background. Interns achieve the highest levels of quality and performance in their internships, and produce deliverables that are consistent with vSpring’s recognized standard of excellence.

Benefits and Opportunities:

Work with premier and highly-active venture capital firm and gain invaluable experience with a successful start-up organization. Establish a network of business professionals that can assist in career development.

Specifically looking for those interested in Finance, Marketing, and Operations. The portfolio companies of vSpring are in the technology & life sciences fields.

HOW TO APPLY:

Send resume and cover letter to [Update] Adam Chavez at adam@vspring.com (Mobile: 801-687-1401)

My friends Tyler and Rich and I are fed up with slow computers. So…

We started this Facebook group, “My Computer is So Slow”, to find other people who feel the same way.

If you have a few minutes, join the group by clicking the above link — and then let your friends know about it.

Thanks!

If you ever wanted the answer to the question, “What’s going on in the Utah tech community?” Jordan Gunderson has the answer. He’s compiled the Utah Tech Events Calendar, which you can access directly from the top navigation of this site.

Alternatively, you can just google “utah tech events” and the calendar will be the first result on the list.

Thanks to Jordy and the rest of the tech community for putting on all these events!

Somebody from this group stopped me in the Wilk and gave me a flyer for this Thursday’s event. I’ve been wanting to learn more about Linux for some time now, so I decided I’d check it out. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Details from the flyer:

Install Fest

Thursday, January 15, 2009
6:30pm
120 TNRB
Website

Free Software
Free Tech Support
Fully Customizable

From the Linux installer site:

Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Are you curious about Linux and Ubuntu? Trying them out has never been easier!

Step 1

Click this link or copy and paste the url http://wubi-installer.org/

Step 2

Click “Download Now” on the first page

The installer tool takes you through the rest of the simple process, and then you’re done!

1. Log in to LinkedIn

2. Go here

Copy and paste the code to your site/blog.

If you have any problems have questions, comment below or contact me.

Here are the details for the upcoming Web Startup Group Meeting:

Date: 8 January, 2008 (Thursday) at 7:00PM in 1170 TMCB
Download Flyer

BizTech:
“Javascript Libraries” - Brian Whitmer

FastPitch: (5 min each)

1. “User-Content Utilities” - Matt Bills
2. “Olifont - Investment Proposal” - Ben Buie
3. “Launch It! Weekend (Feb. 13-16)” - David Gardner

GroupGab:
1-3 minute blurb each with some discussion (whomever wishes to participate)
Discuss ideas and meet people (All)

All details for upcoming and past meetings are publicly viewable at:
http://webstartupgroup.com/meetings/details

Matt Smith, Founder of Web Startup Group