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Articles that will help guide you during the early days of building an early-stage company / startup.

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Pitch Deck Handbook: Index Slides

Index Slides are there to provide supplemental detail that answers questions that can not be answered in the “pitch” part of the deck (Intro Slide through Closing Slide). They should include any detail needed to expand upon topics in the deck. Index slides are always located at the end of the pitch deck.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Closing Slide

The Closing Slide is where you provide your contact information for investors to use. It should contain; Your company info, company website, the primary contact’s info, and the primary contact’s email + phone number. It is always located just before your Index Slides.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Ask Slide

The Ask Slide is where you present the details about your fundraise and what the investment money will help you accomplish. On this slide, you should include; the amount you are raising, the runway it provides, the raise details, and the milestones that you are going to achieve with this money. The Ask slide is located just before your Closing Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Team Slide

The Team Slide is the most important slide in your deck because it is where you need to show why you are the team to build this company. It should include; each team member, their info (name, photo, position), reasons/data as to why they should be on the team, and potentially your advisors (can be broken out into a second slide). The Team Slide is typically located before the Ask Slide or after the Intro Slide...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Financials Slide

The Financials slide serves as a benchmark for where your company is estimated to financially headed over the next few years. It should include: A 3 to 5 year projection including your break even point along with revenue, expenses, and net profit. The Financials Slide typically is placed after your Market Slide or Roadmap Slide...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Roadmap Slide

The Roadmap Slide helps investors gain clarity on where you have been, where you are, and where you are going with your company. This slide should include a timeline with; What you have done, what you are doing, what you will be doing, and simplistic date ranges in which these things will happen in. Typically, the Roadmap Slide is either located after the Market Slide or after the Traction Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Market Slide

The Market Slide is designed to make the solution’s market opportunity clear to investors. It should include; TAM, SAM, SOM, and CAGR. The Market Slide is typically located after the Traction Slide or the Why Now Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Traction Slide

The Traction Slide should show what your company has achieved so far such as sales, users, growth, etc. It should include any metric that relates to your company’s traction. Typically, it is located after your Business Model Slide or Competitive Advantage Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Competitive Advantage Slide

The Competitive Advantage Slide (Also can be referred to as “Moat”) is a place to sum up the reasons why competitors can’t beat you right now or in the future. It can contain content such as; patents, market capture, etc. Typically it is located after the Traction Slide or the Business Model Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Business Model Slide

The Business model slide is where you help investors gain clarity on how you make money. It includes; revenue models, unit economics, and who you are selling to. This slide is typically placed after the Solution Slide or the Why Now Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Intro Slide

The Intro slide is where you introduce your business at a “mission statement” level in order to prime investors’ brains. It should include; your company name, logo, mission statement, and potentially contact info of the primary contact. This is the first slide in the deck.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Problem Slide

The Problem Slide help investors gain clarity on what the problem is that you are solving and why the problem should be solved in the first place. This slide typically includes; an overview of the problem, the impact of the problem, and potentially your personal connection to the problem. The Problem Slide is traditionally located after the Intro Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Existing Solutions Slide

The Existing Solutions Slide shows how existing solutions/competitors fail to solve the problem(s) you mentioned. It should include; examples of current solutions/competitors along with how or why those solutions/competitors are failing to solve the problem. The Existing Solutions Slide typically comes after the Problem Slide or Why Now Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Why Now Slide

The Why Now Slide is built to make it clear why this business/solution should be built and launched at the current moment in time. It typically includes; Quantified metrics and/or facts/logic as to why now is the right time. The Why Now Slide can be placed either after you introduce your solution or just before you introduce your solution.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Solution Slide

The Solution Slide is where you show what your solution is and how it addresses the problems listed in your Problem Slide. It typically includes the name of the solution, visual depictions of the solution, a description, and lists how the solution addresses the problem(s) that were listed. This slide is placed after the Problem Slide or after the Existing Solutions Slide.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Pitch Deck Handbook: Overview and Principles

The Pitch Deck Handbook is for anyone who is looking to build a pitch deck for raising money for their startup or idea. It will cover each “typical” slide found in a pitch deck in detail to give you an in depth look at how to build a great deck, slide by slide. Keep in mind, every startup is different so you might not include some of the slides talked about or you might include ones that aren’t discussed at all in this series.

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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How Fucked am I Matrix: What your Retrospective has been Missing

The How Fucked am I Matrix (or HFI Matrix) was designed for team members to not only learn about how they optimally operate, but also about their fellow teammates.It monitors each member’s energy level and workload each week which gives both them and you a good idea of where everyone on the team stands. This does three things for the entire team: In the short term, it allows you to see who might have too much on their plate and who might have too little on their plate for the week. In the long term, it helps you learn about each member’s energy and work cycles (EX. John is typically really motivated and has lots of stuff to do for two-ish weeks. Then he usually has very little energy the next week and needs some help getting...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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5 Lessons Learned in 5 Years of Entrepreneurship

1. (Team + Culture) * Execution = Outcomes. Pay close attention to team, culture, and your execution quality. From what I’ve experienced in my time working with teams I’ve learned that there are three, high-level critical factors that are the foundation of either good or bad outcomes with the team over time; the team, its culture, and its execution. I see outcomes as being heavily influenced through:(Team + Culture) * Execution = Outcome...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Getting the Most out of College as an Entrepreneur

College is one of the best times in your life to get started in entrepreneurship. Why? Time, freedom, and free resources. I spent my time in college as an entrepreneur falling face first, making mistakes time and time again. From creating a free food locator for students on campus, to a marketplace for popup stores, these experiences are still some of the most valuable to me today. I utilized college in a nontraditional way compared to that of an average college student and I encourage you to do the same. From my four years in undergrad at the University of Colorado Boulder, I look back on how I personally approached taking my first steps into entrepreneurship and break out a few lessons that will hopefully help you on your journey...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Entrepreneur House: Year 1 in Review

Back in January of 2018, a group of friends and myself gathered to talk about what we could do to help and connect entrepreneurial students here at CU Boulder. We came up with tons of ideas from an online map that helped people meet up around campus to renting a house purely for entrepreneurs. Emails were sent out to groups and various schools on campus to figure out if students were looking to get into entrepreneurship or just to be involved in a community of driven people. In the end, the plans all revolved around one core idea: Surround yourself with people who push you to be better on a daily basis. We weren't only aiming for the purebred entrepreneur. We wanted to include anyone who strives to improves themselves day after day in...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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Essential Tools for Entrepreneurs in 2020

Entrepreneurs love whiteboards. The tool that you might not have known you were waiting for, has come. Miro is the ultimate online whiteboarding, planning, task assigning, task accomplishing, and my personal favorite tool on this list. Miro has completely changed how we work at Friday Industries and Entrepreneur House. You can even pull in all of your documents from Google Drive, photos from Creative Cloud, and much more...

Jan 26, 2024
Entrepreneurship
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