Below are Pete’s key takeaways from these Blackbird investor comments.
1. Get really good at describing what the product is.
Investors need to “get” what the actual product is, i.e. is it an app? Is it the hardware + the software?
Company building happens in 2 stages: Build a product that people love; then build the company that makes money. “Tell me more about those pilot customers.”
2. Product roadmap slide is super important for investors.
Investors want to see ambition. How do you get to hundreds of millions in revenue?
“Go one layer deeper: our first user is using it for X. Here’s what’s next.”
3. Balance the big vision with where you’re starting.
Put your vision at the start, then go to step 1.
4. Graphs are great to show traction.
Your job is to clearly communicate whatever traction you have, because it shows investors that your business idea has demand, and that your business model is working.
Graphs are an informative and visually effective way to show this.
5. Have an opinion.
Have an opinion on how you’re going to succeed / proceed, especially how you’re going to win where others have failed.
E.g. Businesses based on hyperlocal communities are really hard to scale. “People need to live close to work. So how will you scale / repeat your GTM across different geographies?” Have an opinion on how you’re going to grow, enter new markets. What’s your secret sauce?
E.g. Consumer user-generated-content platform. “Chicken and egg problem. How do you do this at a high scale and keep the quality? So many marketplace apps fail to get scale because it’s so hard. You need a unique answer to this question. Maybe it doesn’t make it to the 3-minute pitch but maybe tease it.”
6. Consider AI.
“Update your thinking for AI, as it changes our needs around data — doesn’t need to be structured anymore.”
“Why can’t ChatGPT do this? What are the barriers to entry in your product?”