How VCs evaluate Startups

http://www.madintelligence.com/how-vcs-evaluate-businesses/

4 13 14 years ago

Any feedback on the product/marketing/website would be very much appreciated

Your page doesn't provide much from your book, then tells me to either pay up or feel guilty. Can we maybe get a preview of the first 5 pages without being made to feel like bad people?

Nitpick:

Speech their language should be Speak their language

Get into incumbators should be Get into incubators

rdl3• 14 years ago

The entire content is 5 pages.

Madintelligence6• 14 years ago

Sorry for that strategy - I thought everybody would go for the free version. I just changed the website.

rdl3• 14 years ago

Not to be overly harsh, but the site doesn't really give the impression of credibility. It doesn't help that there's no verifiable background information (human names, bios, etc.) for any of the authors.

I'm pretty familiar with the VC world (having raised money, and from the angel/micro-vc side due to having friends in funds, and considered doing a fund myself), and I feel comfortable evaluating the book based on the content, but your actual readers won't -- they'll figure out if you're trustworthy and credible based on presentation, references, and overall plausibility. If you have a background in VC (associate? you seem to be Australian, so that doesn't seem as likely), or have raised VC multiple times, that would be good to disclose.

The actual content is ok. Not as good as the Venture Hacks book or other "standard" startup resources for the general advice -- much of which is available free online, and from highly credible primary sources (i.e. VCs who blog, successful entrepreneurs, etc.). The level of content is maybe a good blog post or two (if you tighten it up, and use examples -- you could maybe do 5), but it's not a $2 e-book.

The "financial modeling for startups" content seems a lot stronger -- if you included editable google docs and/or excel templates, combined with resources on how to do both bottom up and top down analysis (and USE THE STANDARD TERMS OF ART), it could be useful. Maybe that could be a $2 package, if you really want to sell something.

Madintelligence6• 14 years ago

The point of the ebook was to try and present the perspective of VCs very simply and to the point through some research. This was done through a checklist type deal, where the content was free (and an option to pay) - as I say in another reply this is so I can try to understand this type of business.

I am from an Accounting background just btw.

Thank you very much for your feedback - its all part of the learning process. I have made changes and will definitely try to incorporate this in the future.

MehdiEG2• 14 years ago

This is what you say:

" This is not your run of the mill E-book – this is content that puts you in the mind of the VCs, allowing you to:

Dominate Pitches Understand their perspective Speech their language Get into incumbators " (all spelling mistakes left as-it)

In addition, you are very strongly encouraging people to pay for it and making them feel guilty if they don't.

This is what I got: a 2.5-page PDF document that contains a really basic check-list of what investors are looking for in a startup - the sort of thing you'll find on a countless number of blog posts about raising funding.

Is this a joke?

Madintelligence6• 14 years ago

No I'm trying to understand how small businesses work. I seriously have no idea - so I am starting at the beginning by covering their content while also trying to sell what I research.

The ebook was always free - now it is very clear that it is.

Also Thank you very much!

How VCs evaluate Startups

Related Stories