There Are Two Types Of

What You Learn In School Is The Opposite Of What Happens In The Real World. In School, You're Always Worried About Minimums. You Have To Reach 20 Pages Or You Have To Have So Many Slides Or Whatever. Then You Get Out In The Real World And You Think, 'i Have To Have A Minimum Of 20 Pages And 50 Slides.

"patents Make Our Product Defensible." The Optimal Number Of Times To Use The P Word In A Presentation Is One. Just Once, Say, "we Have Filed Patents For What We Are Doing." Done. The Second Time You Say It, Venture Capitalists Begin To Suspect That You Are Depending Too Much On Patents For Defensibility. The Third Time You Say It, You Are Holding A Sign Above Your Head That Says, "i Am Clueless."

A Crash Is When Your Competitor's Program Dies. When Your Program Dies, It Is An 'idiosyncrasy'.

"(big Name Research Firm) Says Our Market Will Be $50 Billion In 2010." Every Entrepreneur Has A Few Slides About How The Market Potential For His Segment Is Tens Of Billions. It Doesn't Matter If The Product Is Bar Mitzah Planning Software Or 802.11 Chip Sets. Venture Capitalists Don't Believe This Type Of Forecast Because It's The Fifth One Of This Magnitude That They've Heard That Day. Entrepreneurs Would Do Themselves A Favor By Simply Removing Any Reference To Market Size Estimates From Consulting Firms.

Skillful Pitching... Is A Necessary, But Not Sufficient, Part Of Raising Capital. More Important Are The Realities Of Your Organization: Are You Building Something Meaningful, Long Lasting, And Valuable To Society?