Join us on Zoom at 11:30am!

ABOUT THIS EVENT:

On November 10^th, we will be reprising our well-received workshop on critical pitching skills for founders and tech entrepreneurs. Attendees will have an opportunity to develop their abilities to communicate a compelling vision of their companies to potential investors.

This virtual workshop will feature a panel of accomplished pitch consultants, all of them expert in helping founders succeed when the stakes are at their highest. Together, the panel will address the essentials of investor pitching, including the following:

• Elements of a successful investor pitch
• Techniques for preparing and getting comfortable with pitching
• Understanding what investors are looking for and how to address their concerns

The event will include breakout sessions with the panelists to provide a more hands-on opportunity for skills development.

It will be a valuable opportunity whether you are currently pitching to angels or VC investors or are looking to do so in the future.

PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an interactive event, it will not be recorded or made available for subsequent viewing.

THE AGENDA:

11:30 am - Virtual Networking
11:50 am - Welcome & Program Introduction
12:00 pm - Panelist Introductions              
12:20 pm - Rotating Workshops (you can attend 2 out of the 3 workshops, descriptions below)
12:20 pm - Workshop Choice 1 
12:40 pm - Workshop Choice 2 
12:55 pm – Wrap Up followed by Virtual Networking

THE FORMAT:

The format for this event will be a combination of panel discussion and smaller workshops with networking happening before and after the event.  

Everyone will begin watching the same introductory session. After this, each attendee will choose 2 of the 3 workshop options to attend. 

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS:

OPTION 1: ‘Three Secrets for Pitching Online’ with Will Carlin, CEO & Founder, Speakable 

In the age of Covid, high stakes presentations may be even more important than usual. For many businesses, their very future may hang on whether they can interest enough potential investors to close a round.

And because of the virus, virtually all of these presentations now happen online, where attention spans are shorter, distractions are often invisible, and it’s much harder to get energy from the audience.

Will has pulled together three unusual secrets that he thinks have been critical to helping many of those clients succeed despite only delivering pitches online.

OPTION 2: ‘Pitching in a downturn’ with Claire Macmillan, Pitch Coach

Raising money in this environment is tough. FOMO is all but gone, but $s are still there, especially for early stage companies. Investors need to have a higher level of conviction to part with their capital.

Claire will cover some keys aspects of deck structuring and storytelling to focus on when pitching in today’s market conditions and talk about the delivery pitfalls to avoid.

OPTION 3: ‘3 Keys to Hooking Your Investor and Getting to Yes’ with Lisa Tsou, Founder, The Winning Pitch

The two crucial elements of every pitch are the opening (which hooks the investor) and the closing (which puts them on the path to writing you a check!).

But most founders botch one or both of these critical moments, leaving investors confused, bored, and definitely not showing you the money (and let’s not even gets started on the investors who just stand up and leave!).

In this mini-workshop, we’ll take a closer look at these make-or-break moments, and Lisa will share the 3 keys to hooking potential investors and getting to yes. 

SPECIAL PITCH OPPORTUNITY:

Some of the workshops will include a limited opportunity for 1-2 founders to pitch during the session. 

IMPORTANT: If you would like to be considered to pitch, you must be prepared with a 3-minute pitch complete with a slide deck you can complete in 3 minutes, and you should be prepared for a few minutes of Q & A/Feedback from the EXPERT and other participants. Those who would like to be considered to pitch must connect to the event at 11:30am.

HOST:

Paul Ellis, Managing Partner, Paul Ellis Law Group LLC

As Managing Partner of the 9-lawyer Paul Ellis Law Group, Paul counsels on issues including formation, early-stage financing (friends and family, angel and VC), joint venture and strategic partnering relationships, employment, equity plans, mergers and acquisitions, and, together with his colleagues, protection and licensing of intellectual property. Beyond the internet/mobile/IT industries, he has practiced in industries including telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, banking, real estate, consumer products, and entertainment. He has represented companies ranging from startups to multinationals, as well as funds and individual and institutional investors.

PANELISTS:

Lisa Tsou, Founder, The Winning Pitch

Lisa Tsou is the founder of The Winning Pitch, a private consulting practice which advises startup companies on growth strategy and funding so they can reach the next level. Besides working with private clients, Lisa led the coaching program at Women Founders Network fo seven years. Since 2013, Women Founders Network alumnae have raised over $100 million.

Lisa also serves as a mentor at accelerator programs including Techstars Los Angeles and the SAM Preccelerator, and as a coach to conferences including Allbright’s Pitch Day with HSBC and Salesforce’s Dreampitch events, preparing founders to pitch to all- star panels of investors, including Mark Cuban, Chris Sacca and will.i.am. Lisa speaks regularly on issues related to startups, tech and women in business. and has also been featured in The Huffington Post, Business Rockstars, Women 2.0, the Standing Out podcast, GenHERation and StartupNation. To schedule time to talk to Lisa, visit her scheduling page at TalktoLisaT.com.

Claire Macmillan, Pitch Coach

"Claire Macmillan is a startup storyteller. As an ex British criminal barrister who has spent years in the start up ecosystem in Silicon Valley, she works with founders to tell their company story in the best way possible both on paper and then in words. She creates pitch decks from scratch or refines what founders have, before working on strong verbal messaging & delivery. She has worked with 100s of companies from seed to IPO, she is sector agnostic and loves what she does. Visit her website to read what her clients say. https://www.clairemacmillan.com/"

Will Carlin, CEO & Founder, Speakable

Will Carlin is the founder and CEO of Speakable, a company that specializes in helping executives and organizations with high-stakes presentations. The former Managing Partner at three different marketing/advertising agencies, Will has coached 55 out of 55 clients to winning or achieving their goals, often against extreme odds. He has coached NYU Wagner to two national titles and three second place finishes in five years at a national graduate school presentation competition; he has coached a start-up to win a national venture capital competition with a $500k first prize (over almost 300 competitors); and he has helped an organization go from fourth place prior to oral presentations to winning a $450 million pitch to the City of New York over Accenture, Oracle and IBM. Will was the two-time US number one player and National Champion in squash and is a world-renowned emcee for four major professional squash titles. He attended Yale as an undergrad, Harvard for post-bac pre-med studies and Columbia Business School where he earned an MBA.

To register for this event, click the link below

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kceiprD0tH92MdpNaPU7wM2rya3WYb3_j