Help Us Help You– The Art of the One-Page App
August 4th, 2010Last night we had a reception for the earlybird applicants to our coaching program and showcase, First Look Forum. And though you may have missed out on the free wine, great food (thanks DWT!) and the chance to rub shoulders with the screening committee, some investor coaches, and alumni, we’re pleased to pass on some of the wisdom of the crowd.
CHEERS:
1) First rule of the First Look Forum application: One-page max.
2) Second rule of the First Look Forum: One-page max. That’s one side of one page. As Mark Twain says, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter so I wrote you a long one.” We know it’s hard to distill months and years of your life into one page, but it’s a good forcing function—there’s nowhere to hide, and whatever your outcome with this program, you need to ask yourself and answer who’s your customer, how you’ll get to market, how you’ll make money, how you’ll scale and more.
3) Have me at hello. Get your audience’s attention with a really compelling elevator pitch or tagline: 30 words or less.
4) Get a second date. That’s the goal of a first date and that’s what this application is (or any executive summary). That means you’re whetting your audience’s appetite, providing succinct but not exhaustive answers in each section. Show evidence that you’ve identified the risks in your business, start to suggest how you have or will mitigate them.
5) Show and tell? Share your assumptions about what will drive revenue. We only know one thing about financial projections—they will be wrong—but show us how you can make scads of money, don’t just tell.
6) Tip your hand. Give us some insight into your “secret sauce.” Sell us on your sustainable competitive advantage—what can you do better than anyone else and what will stop them from doing it?
7) The naked truth. Be crystal clear about what you do; if we get to the end of the application and still don’t understand the business, that’s bad. You’re so close to your business that you can easily forget how to explain it to uninvolved third parties—and whether you’re pitching investors, courting business partners, or hiring new team members—you’ll need to be able to do that! Practice on your mom, your 8th grade kid, your neighbor. And us. That’s what we’re here to do…help us help you!
JEERS:
1) Send us a 10-page document. We will only skim it, sorry to admit, or just quit reading after the 1st page.
2) Tell us you have no competition. Either you have no market or you haven’t done your homework.
3) Say “we could explain our technology but then we’d have to kill you.” Investors won’t give you the time of day if they don’t know what you’re asking them to invest in.
4) Submit a crazy hockey stick for financial projections. An aggressive ramp is one thing, but orders of magnitude of uptake of your product, from one year to the next, is another.
5) Overestimate, spin, obfuscate, exaggerate your traction. Integrity is key—give us the status of your company, product development, and market penetration.
INSIDER TIPS:
Two freebies, courtesy of FLF Alumni Jon Pincus and Bruce D’Ambrosio:
1) Jon: When you’re getting coaching and feedback, ask questions back! What am I missing? What are our obstacles? It turns out investors (and advisors) will think you’re super smart if you listen to their advice.
2) Bruce: Fail fast. Iterate. Fail fast again. The trick here is perceiving the reason for your failure, being honest with yourself, taking advice to heart, and trying again.
We suggest you take Bruce’s advice: lather, rinse, repeat on your executive summary (the sooner you apply, the more feedback you can get between now and the 8/18 deadline). And if you have any questions at all about the program, take Jon’s advice—ask! (rlovell@nwen.org, 206-902-4079). Now to take our own advice, we’re going to keep this to one page—signing off!
