Common Seed & Series A Milestones

Elevator Pitch Series Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• 3 Key Lessons
• What to Include
• Delivery Matters
• Screwing Up My Elevator Pitch
• SVASE Presentation Slides
• 3 Additional Opinions

I wrote this matrix for as part of a presentation for an SVASE event on writing great elevator pitches that is taking place this Friday (2/10/06) in Belmont. I wanted to share this slide because most of the entrepreneurs I meet aren't realistic about what stage of investment they really are. With the exception of rock star CEOs, the bar is set much higher than most entrepreneurs realize for Series A investments. Talking one's self down from Series A to Seed valuations isn't easy, but its better to be intellectually honest about milestones achieved than to entrench one's self with unreachable expectations. I hope this make is clear exactly what friends and family, seed and series a stage startups look like. I'd love to know if anyone has experiences that suggest different/other milestones.