Jason Calacanis shares his insights and gives advice for new founders

Watch the full interview with Jason Calacanis, legendary investor and VC, where he dives deep into pitching investors, what he looks for in companies and his advice to new founders, among other topics.

How to pitch an investor

1. Get to the product in 15 seconds

You don’t need to give a history lesson or show a movie clip. Most investors have seen a zillion product pitches so your number one goal is to get to the product in 15 seconds. 

2. Answer the question

Listen to the question and only answer that question as quick as possible.

3. Show, don’t tell

Don’t tell us about your product, business or your margins. Show them in one slide. 

Examples matter so don’t tell the investor about your customer but show a real one you have. A lot of people talk but they don’t show.

4. Synchronicity

What’s on the screen needs to match what you are talking about. A lot of the times founders go on a tangent and as an investor, you can’t keep up.

5. One Slide, One Point

A lot of the time the slide is overcrowded and is showing multiple different points, making it really hard to understand.

Jason’s 3 tips for founders:

1. Rule of 72

Firstly, calculate your growth rate (R) and calculate the time it takes for you to double (T). 

T=72/R

Use, this to track your company’s progress and set milestones for growth and customer acquisition. It’s hard to grow 100% but if you set smaller and more achievable goals it will be much easier in the long run. 

2. Keep learning

Your number one skill as an entrepreneur is your ability to learn new abilities. You don’t need to be the best at everything, but you need to have 50%-70% knowledge of the core concepts of making your business successful. 

If you don’t know how to do something then learn. If you aren’t ready to learn then someone else will get the investors money. It’s a zero-sum game.

3. Delight your customers

At the end of the day, business is all about delighting your customers and growing. One way to do this is to build a great team that works tirelessly to please your customers. You have to iteratively ping back from your customer’s feedback and constantly improve your product.