Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center: How to Pitch Investors, Grow Teams & ‘Best-Friend’ Your Customers

1. Caitlin Roberson cr@clearww.com HOWTO PITCH INVESTORS, INSPIRETEAMS & ‘BEST-FRIEND’ YOUR CUSTOMERS

2. StakeholderResults Company Growth Category creation FOUNDERS START COMPANIES TO IMPROVE SOMETHING

3. THEIRVISION INSPIRES ACTION. 1.Why the company exists 2.What’s different/better 3.What action to take 4.Why now

4. BUT BUILDING COMPANIES CREATES PRESSURE. Investors Partners Media Customers Board Team ProspectsCompetitors ?*#! !#?* Conﬂicting priorities d i l u t e results. #?!*

5. INCONSISTENT RESULTS INDICATE… Seed Storytellingeffectiveness Growth Venture Pre-seed Company growth Maturity

6. Sales Marketing Ops Product HR Engineering …A METHODOLOGY PROBLEM.

7. STORY GONE WRONG - VCs say no -Star performers leave -Low morale -Poor Glassdoor reviews -Partners under-deliver -Customers churn -G2Crowd says what?! Leading Indicator How consistently does your team describe vision & mission?

8. Results CXO buyers at odds New tagline, Analyst category Gartner Magic Quadrant Master asset IPO Year 1 2 3 SALESVS. FINANCE Enterprise software, Series F

9. REIMAGINEYOUR APPROACH Start with founders Have customer convos Build scalable architecture

10. WHAT IS STORY? Point A Point B Help, wolf! I’ll never lie again! x

11. BUSINESS STORYTELLING Point A Point B ??? 6.8 people!

12. 3 STEPS: HOWYOU CAN… • Distill your personal purpose into company values, vision & mission, and tagline • Design an category creating narrative • Build lasting relationships withVCs and customers • Teach your team to tell the same inspired story

13. PHASE 1: DEFINE PURPOSE START WITH THE FOUNDERS

14. Consumer product, pre-seed ATALE OFTWO SISTERS

15. Taran Ghatrora, CEO

16. Bunny Ghatrora, COO

17. Organic tampons

18. VALUES EXERCISE 1. What do you remember most about childhood? 2. What events shaped you in adolescence? 3. What were your family’s happiest times? 4. What are your most painful memories? 5. What experiences shaped you in college 6. Early career?

19. VALUES EXERCISE 1. It is important for me be BE… 2. It is important for me to be KNOWN AS… 3. It is important for me to DO… 4. It is important for me to HAVE…

20. WHAT WORDS STAND OUT?

21. DISTILL RECURRENTTHEMES

22. HALLMARKS OF INSPIREDVALUES • Limit to <3-5 • Use surprising words & pairings • Offer tangible concepts that people visualize • Form the character fabric of your company • Can be used as evergreen, guiding principles

23. —Jon Miller, Cofounder & CEO “Consider couplets.” “After Marketo:10 Things I’m Doing Better The Second Time” Presented @ SaaSter Annual 2017: ScaleTogether With Doug Pepper, Managing Director @ ShastaVentures

24. NEXT STEPS • For ~7 days, record when you experienced [your word] • Compare notes with cofounders, execs, family • Flesh out values by describing experiences • Cut word count to 25% (1-3 sentences) • Same principles apply from previous slide

25. PHASE 2: VERIFY ‘WHY’ HAVE CUSTOMER CONVOS

26. — Zig Ziglar “Logic tells, emotion sells.”

27. SELECT CUSTOMERS • Pareto Principle applies • So does Account-Based Marketing • Understand “jobs to be done” • Ask standard questions & improvise (Record & transcribe)

28. MATCH PRODUCTS & PROOF POINTS

29. Email cr@clearww.com for template. MESH & DOCUMENT ‘VOICE’ • Addresses tone, grammar logistics, content UX, variance by content type, and more

30. EXERCISE • Vision: Timeless statement of the world you see • Mission: Timely statement of what you do to deliver on your vision • Brand Promise: Indicates vision & what you do (eg: mission) for customers • Positioning: Articulates where you ﬁt into market, general guidelines, not industry speciﬁc like GTM

31. MARQUISTAGLINES Just do it Think different No software

32. TAGLINE BEST PRACTICES • Short: 2-3 words, excise adjectives • Thinks: Start with a command verb • Feels: Imply purpose with noun Seriously, this is going to take a while.

33. Care on purpose.

34. PHASE 3: REFINE CORE NARRATIVE BUILD SCALABLE ARCHITECTURE

35. 6 COMMON MISTAKES 1. No purpose… on purpose? (Values) 2. All about you & your features (Hero) 3. Immediately pitches a solution (Sequence) 4. Lacks third-party proof (Proof) 5. Inconsistent journey, relationship (Scalable) 6. Leaves listeners hanging (Actionable)

36. MESSAGING BEST PRACTICES • 5 Feels • 10% Rule • Real people language (usually from customers) • Consistent story and tone (3-7X to trust)

37. STORYTELLINGTHAT SELLS 1. (Who are you/your company?) 2. (Who is your audience?) 3. How does s/he current understand, approach what she needs to do? 4. Where & why do existing approaches fail? 5. What data, anecdotes, proof points back that up? (Impact) 6. What are requirements for a new approach? 7. How can s/he execute a new approach? (Crawl, walk, run) 8. What milestones & outcomes can s/he expect? When? 9. What proof of beneﬁts exist? 10. What can s/he do next?

38. PITCH DECK Intro As-Is Why existing approach fails New Requirements Solution How it works Proof Next steps (AUDIENCE PROFILE) DIFFERENTIATORS PRODUCT [CATEGORY] MATURITY CUSTOMER STORIES Proof STATS, QUOTES

39. STORYTELLING PROGRAM CXOs Formal sharing Culture Incorporate in process Certification Measure personalization • Assets already mentioned + bios and 25, 50, 100 word value statements • Source materials: Company overview, one pager, customer stories

40. DESIGN MASTER ASSETS

41. MEASURETHE JOURNEY

42. Proof this works?

43. WHAT DOES AMAZONVALUE? Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

44. WHAT DOES AMAZONVALUE? Relentless customer focus Thinking longterm Bold investments Measurement Lean culture Stock > cash

45. SUMMARY: STORY SWAGGER 1. Deﬁne purpose (Values) 2. Target an audience (Hero) 3. Educate, solve a problem (Sequence) 4. Provide proof (Proof) 5. Create relationship (Scalable) 6. Offer a clear next step (Actionable)

46. TIPPING POINTSStorytellingeffectiveness Company growth Visionary founders, new approach Purpose Customers Scalable architecture Business outcomes

47. Caitlin Roberson: cr@clearww.com Thanks! & Conversation