Latest news with #Powerpoint
Technical.ly
2 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
‘Be yourself:' VCs want founders to tell authentic and urgent stories
There's no such thing as a perfect pitch — but there is such a thing as a forgettable one. At the 2025 Builders Conference, three venture capitalists with varied investment backgrounds joined a refreshingly unstructured conversation about what makes a founder's story resonate. Moderated by Ken Malone of Baltimore-based Early Charm, the 'VC Roundtables: Telling Your Story to Investors' panel featured Ryan Bednar of Orange Collective, Rob Brown of MVP Capital and Anthony George of Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP). Despite their varied areas of expertise and interest, the three Philly-based investors largely agreed that founders need to lean into their own unique qualities when telling their stories to potential investors. Bednar, a founder and Y Combinator alum whose firm specializes in other graduates of the prestigious accelerator, framed it as giving the funder a sense of being in on something exciting. 'I think the best pitches,' Bednar said, 'are where you're kind of letting the investor in on a secret.' That secret isn't always about the product. In fact, as much as the panelists all believed in the value of a founder's passion, one of them cautioned against being too focused on those products or solutions, instead of the problem that birthed those products. 'Your solution should always be changing, your product should always be changing,' said George. 'But if you're obsessed with the problem, you're going to stick with it even when things get difficult.' Relationships over transactions, no matter the personality While the Elon Musks and Travis Kalanicks of the world might suggest that the most outgoing entrepreneurs are the most successful, several panelists said that it's entirely possible to build the right connection with a VC without that kind of personality. 'I think you can totally build relationships with VCs and investors as an introvert,' said Bednar, adding that he found success in online networking and email outreach when he was a founder. Brown said that the depth of a relationship matters more than how much a founder puts themself out there. 'You don't necessarily have to be a conference junkie,' he said. 'You can find one-on-one ways to interact. It also goes back to the idea of time: I find that I have introverted tendencies myself, and I find that over time, the more time you spend with someone, the more extroverted you become with that specific individual.' That said, the panelists also believed in the worth of a pitch that can hook someone in on the first interaction. 'The last half-a-dozen deals we've done, almost all of those were where the pitch didn't happen over Zoom or on Powerpoint,' Brown explained. 'The pitch happened in person, talking to them, meeting them for the first time. That was the real pitch.' For bootstrapping founders — especially those building in hard tech or from cities outside the usual VC hotspots — the advice was practical. Conserve cash. Do your research. Find the right kind of capital for your business model. And don't assume geography is a limitation. 'You can also build relationships out in Silicon Valley,' Bednar said. 'I don't think you should limit yourself to a particular geographic area.' What (not) to do Building relationships that lead to investment may not be a perfect science, but the investors still had actionable tips for what every founder can do (and should avoid) when seeking venture capital. While entrepreneurs often conflate story with pitch, panelists drew a line between the two. The story is personal, emotional and evolving. A pitch is structured, strategic and designed to answer key questions like who you are, what you're doing and why. But one needn't be fully separate from the other, and the panelists also shared tactical advice for making that story stick. For instance, George of BFTP suggested founders create a 90-second pitch video to share with funders, especially if they can't meet a VC firm's principal immediately and need to give something representative to that firm's associate or analyst. That video could incorporate the story, which must be unique to the founder's particular journey. Either way, 'don't copy it out of a book,' he warned. Asked about the 'wrong' way to build investor relationships, panelists agreed: pushiness and rigidity are quick turnoffs. A founder who can't pivot raises red flags. The speakers also advised against flooding pitch meetings with more than one team member and pitching ideas that don't fit an investor's stated interests. 'We are a bit generalist,' he said. 'But when I say, like, 'Listen, we don't do life sciences' … they typically get the message.' George also said that founders too often skip a critical piece of their story: not just why they're building a company, but why now. Context matters, he said, because timing — from technological readiness to macroeconomic tailwinds — can make or break an investment. Through all of these themes and the many audience questions that guided the discussion, the investors revolved around one primary consideration: authenticity. 'This sounds trite, but be yourself,' Brown said. 'If the end result of this is … potentially a 10-year-long relationship, you can't fake it for 10 years.'
The Independent
04-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Westminster council offers staff chance to take ‘privilege' quiz
A flagship Labour council offered staff the option to take a 'privilege test' in a move to combat unconscious bias against ethnic minorities. Westminster Council workers are asked to take an online quiz which gives a privilege score based on answers to statements like 'I am a white male' or 'I have an illness or disability', according to the Daily Telegraph. The council said the questions appeared on a Powerpoint presentation from 2021 and do not form ' any part of formal policy, training or recruitment process.' Answering yes to 'I am a white male' would score +15 points, while answering yes to 'I am a carer' would score -5 points on a scale of least privileged to most privileged, according to the newspaper. The quiz also asks staff to answer yes or no to statements like 'My parents or guardians read to me when I was a child' (+5 points) and 'I have never been stopped and searched by the police' (+10 points), it was reported. Other statements read: 'I do most of my food shopping at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer'(+5 points), 'I think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs' (-5 points) and 'I live in rented accommodation' (-5). Answering yes to 'I drive a new car' would score a staff member +5 points, while answering yes to 'I have to take annual leave for my religious holidays' would result in a score of -5 points. Last month, Westminster Council proposed alcohol-free 'quiet nights' in Soho as part of a plan to transform the famous district. It encouraged Soho bars and pubs to cater for neurodiverse people through 'sensory-friendly' nights with reduced noise, dimmed lighting and calm zones. Cllr Geoff Barraclough said the plan was intended to 'balance the needs of a thriving evening and night-time offer with the wellbeing of the residents who call Westminster their home.' A Westminster Council spokesperson said:" Westminster City Council 's recruitment policies are industry standard, entirely consistent with UK employment law and have been in place for a number of years. 'In keeping with many public sector and private companies, we are committed to ensuring all candidates can compete for a range of roles and we actively promote ourselves as an inclusive employer. 'This PowerPoint presentation, which we believe was available on the council's staff intranet from 2021, does not form any part of our formal policy, training or recruitment process.'
