Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams

370 Pages·2015·28.61 MB·English

by  Evan Baehr

“Get Backed is the essential guide to launching a company—not only raising
money, but also raising relationships. If you’re a founder or an
entrepreneur, this book has the tools you need to succeed.”
—ADAM GRANT, Professor of Management, the Wharton School; New
York Times bestselling author, Give and Take “This book delivers
completely new and refreshing ideas on how to raise money and build
genuine relationships with investors.”
—DAVID COHEN, cofounder and Managing Partner, Techstars
“The best way to solve the world’s most pressing problems is to start a
company. This book shows you how.”
—JOHN MACKEY, cofounder and Co-CEO, Whole Foods Market;
coauthor, Conscious Capitalism “The ability to get a startup funded is a
crucial test for a founder. It pulls together all of the larger requirements
of the job—crafting a clear vision, laying out a clear execution path, and
cultivating relationships above money. Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis
have created a field guide to help the best founders get the funding they
deserve for their disruptive ideas.”
—MIKE MAPLES JR., cofounder and Partner, Floodgate; investor, Twitter
“Even the best business plan will fail if you can’t pitch it well. Read this book
to make sure you can.”
—BLAKE MASTERS, cofounder, Judicata; coauthor (with Peter Thiel),
Zero to One “Successful companies grow out of strong communities.
This guide helps you raise friends, partners, and investors—the ultimate
community to make your venture succeed.”
—TOMMY LEEP, Chief Connector, Rothenberg Ventures
“Founders envision how the world can be different—and invite others to join
that vision by telling stories of hope, failure, triumph, and a better future.
Get Backed is the definitive primer on how founders ought to tell these
stories.”
—JAMES K. A. SMITH, Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College; author,
Desiring the Kingdom “Finally, a book by people who have actually done
it! Get Backed is a staple for any startup library. It was our handbook for
raising capital for our venture—and it will do the same for you!”
—LAURA and BEN HARRISON, cofounders, Jonas Paul Eyewear
GET
BACKED

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For details and discount information for both print and
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Copyright 2015 Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis
All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should
be directed to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School
Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication
but may be subject to change.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baehr, Evan.
Get backed : the handbook for creating your pitch deck, raising money, and launching the venture of
your dreams / Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-63369-072-1 (alk. paper)
1. New business enterprises—Finance. 2. New business enterprises— Management. 3.
Entrepreneurship. I. Loomis, Evan. II. Title.
HG4027.6.B24 2015
658.15'224—dc23
2015015748
When your relationship with your spouse is strong, you move out into the
world in strength no matter how tumultuous it is, explains theologian Tim
Keller. But when that relationship is weak, you move out into the world in
weakness, even if everything seems to be going perfectly.
As residents of a tumultuous world, we dedicate this work to our spouses,
Kristina and Brandi, who—like so many spouses of entrepreneurs—sacrificed
eternally by making ends meet, putting the kids to bed alone, and
shouldering way more than half of the work at home.
And despite the burdens they bore, they often looked us right in the eyes
during entrepreneurship’s darkest moments and said, “I believe in you.” And
that belief alone equipped us to move out into the world with great strength.
—Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis
Austin, TX
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: CREATE YOUR PITCH
 1 The Birth of the Pitch Deck
 2 The Building Blocks of a Pitch Deck
 3 Story
 4 Design
 5 Text
 6 Actual Pitch Decks
 7 Pitching Exercises
Part Two: GET BACKED
 8 A Primer on Startup Financing
 9 Overview of Funding Sources
10 Intro
11 Build
12 Delight
13 Invite
Conclusion
Index
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
We are truly grateful to all those who have assisted with this project, and
we’d like to express our sincere thanks for the generous help and support
we’ve received along the way.
This book would not have happened without Trevor Boehm’s tireless work
and creativity. He served as our quarterback, led the writing and research
efforts, and conducted countless interviews. Our names are on the cover, but
Trevor is the true hero of Get Backed.
We’d also like to express our deepest gratitude to Harvard Business
Review Press. Our first e-mail from Tim Sullivan, editorial director at the
Press, said, “The good news is that I took the project to our acquisitions
meeting this morning. The better news is that the committee was wildly
enthusiastic about the book—and how often can you say that any committee
is wildly enthusiastic about anything?” From the get-go, the Press has been a
joy to work with, and we are deeply indebted to Tim for believing in us and
seeing the importance of a book like this. We are especially grateful to a few
folks on his team, namely, Jennifer Waring, Stephani Finks, Julie Devoll,
Kevin Evers, and Nina Nocciolino.
Showing your investor pitch deck to strangers is a bit like giving the
world a key to your front door. It is courageous and an extreme act of
generosity. Most of the entrepreneurs we interviewed simply said, “No, you
cannot publish my pitch deck . . . are you crazy?” It is for that reason that we
are so grateful to the thirteen founders who said “Yes”: Brad McNamara,
Cofounder and CEO, Freight Farms; George Arison, Founder and CEO, Shift;
Jonathan Beekman, Founder and CEO, Man Crates; Justin McLeod, Founder
and CEO, Hinge; Kegan Schouwenburg, Founder and CEO, SOLS Systems;
McKay Thomas, Cofounder and CEO, First Opinion; Michael McDaniel,
Founder and CEO, Reaction, Inc.; Russ Heddleston, Cofounder and CEO,
DocSend; Ryan Allis, Cofounder and Chairman, Connect; Steven van Wel,
Cofounder and CEO, Karma; Wade Eyerly, Cofounder and CEO, Beacon; Zvi
Band, Cofounder and CEO, Contactually; and Will Haughey, Cofounder and
Chief Blockhead, Tegu.