Reid Hoffman and LinkedIn recently published their Series B pitch deck from 2004.
It's from early in the company's history, before it was generating any revenue.
Now, LinkedIn is a publicly traded company that's worth billions.
The deck is full of invaluable advice and commentary from Hoffman, who reveals exactly how today's entrepreneurs should be pitching investors and what the investing climate was like when LinkedIn was still getting off the ground.
We pulled together the slides and some of Hoffman's best words of wisdom explaining the pitch deck.
"In 2004, the consumer Internet was just beginning to rebound," writes Hoffman. "We had no revenue...Investors see a lot of pitches. First, understand your audience. Research prospective investors thoroughly. Second, understand the broader financing climate."
"Open with your investment thesis, what prospective investors must believe in order to want to be shareholders of your company," says Hoffman.
"The general rule is one business model drives the business. It's tempting to list multiple revenue streams because you're trying to prove that you will be big. Yet when consumer Internet companies do this, investors generally see a red flag."
"Steer into your investors' objections. There will be one to three issues that are potentially problematic for your financing -- address them head on."
"Show, don't tell. Again, your pitching goals are to increase investors' confidence in your investment thesis and lead them to a shared view of your company's problems."
"In the early days, you want to use analogies to successful outcomes to describe what your company is and what its potential could be."
"Understand where analogies apply and where they do not. Pitch by analogy but don't necessarily reason by analogy."
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