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

by Evan Baehr, Evan Loomis

HOW DO YOU LAUNCH THE VENTURE OF YOUR DREAMS?

Get Backed isn’t just about startup fundraising. It’s a handbook for anyone who has an idea and needs to build relationships to get it off the ground.

Over the last 3 years, entrepreneurs Evan Loomis and Evan Baehr have raised over $45 million for their own ventures, including the second largest round on the fundraising platform AngelList. In Get Backed, they show you exactly what they and dozens of others did to raise money -- even the mistakes they made -- uncovering the secrets of the world’s best storytellers, fundraisers, and startup accelerators. Get trained in “the friendship loop”, a step-by-step process that can be used to meet and build relationships with anyone, from investors to potential cofounders. They also show you how to create a pitch deck, building off the actual examples of 15 ventures that have raised over $150 million.

Get Backed won't just show you exactly what it takes to get funded, it will give you the tools to make any idea a reality.

Genres: Business, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction, Reference

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2015

About the author

Evan Baehr is the cofounder of Able, a tech company committed to growing the "fortune five million"--small businesses around the United States--with collaborative, low-interest loans. He's worked at the White House, a hedge fund, and Facebook and is a graduate of Princeton, Yale, and Harvard Business School.

Reviews

[Jose Papo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be considered a must read for all new entrepreneurs. New business development and new product development teams inside corporations also should read it. The book talks and explains all details about how to build a pitch deck. It also describes fundraising strategies and funding sources. With chapters like "The Building Blocks of a Pitch Deck", "Story", "Design", Överview of Funding Sources" and others this book certainly will live side by side with startup classics like "The Four Steps to the Epiphany", "Business Model Generation" and "Lean Startup".

[Kieran Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, tactical, actionable

[Kashif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why this book was written: To give startups a crisp idea on how to pitch and 'get backed' in a format that is a pitch itself.

Synopsis: The book walks you through best cases on preparing, delivering and closing investor pitches in the best possible way with practical examples and demonstrations. The cool thing is it is incredibly practical and include things like opening AngelList profiles and standard email templates.

Highlights: Lays out a detailed pitch structure that is sure to help founders out there.

Recommended for everyone and Highly Recommended for anyone getting into the startup/VC game.

[Kyle Bjorkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for getting an overview of each aspect of the fundraising process. The first half of the book provides general information on developing a presentation or specifically "a pitch deck". The second half gives an overview of how to go out and get the funds your startup needs. Love how it focuses on building meaningful relationships over $.

If you are looking for an overly detailed book about the process of fundraising, this is not the book you are looking for. However, it does an excellent job of overviewing the entire process and adds in several important steps that are not common knowledge. Great place to start, but don't stop there.

[Brandon Stiver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book. I am not really an entrepreneur of any sort, but was recommended this book from coworkers in our start-up non-profit that really enacts a lot of the concepts and approaches found in this book. It definitely teaches a lot of the ins and outs of getting your enterprise off the ground and the framing of it all is really encouraging. I think that business and venture capital can get a bad wrap (sometimes for good reason), this book really approaches enterprise from the point of view that entrepreneurship is a social good that can solve problems and care for people in society, which is my hope in all of this as well.

[Radek Husek · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a category solely "a guide to raise capital" it would get 5 out of 5 for the presented content, maybe -1 for the length.

However, as a reviewed book, I did not feel completely satisfied with some of the aspects of writing and also the choice for topics in the book. For example, the book totally omitted anything about financial model which is also a crucial thing for raising capital.

[Andrea Puente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book and a must follow through list of the basics in getting yourself in a pitching mindset. The author shows an excellent array of examples for each of the ideas discussed, but doesn’t really dwell on the specifics. Overall, a good introductory text that every member in a startup team should read.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay, the authors got their hands on a few decks and used them as examples throughout the book. It had many online and offline business decks, it wasn't 'deep' in explaining things, and seemed a bit too simple. Not bad, but not an comprehensive resource either.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great guide to developing and presenting a funding or venture capital deck and pitch. Clear, concise instruction and recommendations for creating a deck that tells the story of a start up or new product.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this insiders look on startups. The section on deck building is something I’ll take when creating presentation slides. The back half of the book gave use cases of different startups and the methods used to retrieve funding. Great read would recommend to any budding entrepreneur.

[Andrew Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent and practical for anyone with fundraising responsibilities, even well outside the realm of for-profit ventures.

[Ollin Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book it literally tells you how to set up the best keynote of your life

[Verna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for startups

It helped me make my 1st pitch deck for my startup; it gives a heads up to build an impressive deck to start with

[Dominic Gadoury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for anyone looking to start a new venture and get financial and informational supports. Easy to consumer and understand for anyone looking to have a successful startup of any kind.

[Jacob DeNeui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read for anyone looking for solid advice on how to network, whether for your startup or just building your own personal network. So many great pieces of advice and information!

[Sanjay Kr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pitching made easy

Best book if you want to know how to pitch in the right way! I highly recommend this book to all the entrepreneur.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. Maybe there could be less deck examples and more details.
At any rate, one of the best books I have read.

[Nelson Monteith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're raising money for an endeavor, this is an absolute must.

[Ryzal Yusoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most practical book on pitching, build a perfect pitch deck and fundraising! I knew that this book would be brilliant (even before I bought it) after seeing Evan Loomis live video on Facebook where he was teachinghis class. The way he teach was so amazingly novel which lead me to buy this book and read it.

What’s brilliant about this book is the fact that it includes all the topics that you should know about pitching, building pitch deck & fundraising, from how to craft & tell your story, prepare & design your pitch deck (slide by slide), pitching exercise to the moment on how to build your network & raising money. All the topics were carefully designed so you could just follow step by step instructions/framework that were taken based on real experiences of entrepreneurs who have done it before. So you could read about the amazing stories, and just follow the practical examples!
When I said practical, I mean they were all really practical! In one part of the book for example, you could find the number of ways that you could use to craft your pitch by using the specific framework. And in the other part of the book, you could even find the email template that you could use to follow up with the people that you just met.

This book is full of great examples, inspiring stories, and very friendly and easy to understand to those who just started their venture or thinking about starting one. This is the one of the books that every entrepreneur should have and I could see myself carrying it around with me all the time.

Above all, this is the most I could tell you how amazing this book is and below will be my key takeaways:
(note that these are just some short points that I found interesting & easy to go through. To really see the contents, you should read the book yourself :))

# A startup is an organization in search of a business model, not an organization with a plan to execute - Steve Blank
# The greatest advantage of a pitch deck was that is allowed the presenter to tell a great story
# If you want advice for your startup, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice

#Elevator Pitch
:: Don’t talk about what your product does, talk about what it does for your customer
:: The secret to all great pitches is learning to combine the familiar with the intriguing

# People don’t empathise with big, general problem; they empathise with the struggles of specific people with names & faces
# Never use bullet points for your solution slide! (or all slides if it is possible)

# Investor don’t want to feel that a venture needs them
:: Traction helps convince an investor that the idea is going to be a success no matter what

# Vertical Market - Market in which vendors offer goods&services to an industry, trade, possession or customer
# The art of market sizing is deciding what key characteristics differentiate your customers from everyone else in the world in order to make those calculations.
# Many venture find TAM (Total Addressable Market) by searching industry profiles from big research companies like Garther, Forrester etc.
# Cash Flow :: Will it make money? When?

# Time Spent for Pitch Deck
:: 25% - Architecture
:: 75% - Components that really differentiate your deck

# Story
:: Origin, Customer, Industry, Venture Growth

# If you want to get people fired up about an idea, they need to know why you are fired up about that idea first
# The difference between a great idea you’ve never heard of & one that’s changed the world is it’s originator’s ability to tell a damn good story
# What makes a good story?
:: Things happen
:: Your five senses give you access to vivid details
:: Conflict
# Great stories have a unique rhythm that carries the listener from the beginning and middle to the end, through a constant tension between what is and what could be
# Fonts, like all good design, should be felt, not seen

# Plan your opening
:: Show that it’s not all about money - begins conversation with something but money
:: Complete the Transfer of trust - Talk about mutual connection
:: Show confidence
:: Put them at ease
:: Make it about them
:: Show gratitude

# Make it about them
:: Everyone has a desire to be perceived as smart & interesting
:: When people feel smart, they feel empowered
:: When they feel empowered, they open up and share their ideas

# Find Commonalities
:: The mutual friend who introduced you is the most obvious commonality you’ll share with the people you meet

# People take meetings expecting to have conversations
:: So make it a conversation
:: Get phenomenally interested in the person across from you
:: His life should be so amazing to you tat you would want to write a book about it

[Greg Loughnane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book in 3 sentences:

This book dispels the myth of the business plan and provides you with concrete how-to advice about putting together a killer pitch deck, getting out into the world, and making your business happen (i.e., getting backed). It puts you in the shoes of budding, growth-stage, and mature entrepreneurs, and also of the people that help them turn their business into reality. Lastly, it provides an incredible crash course in the basics of startup financing (e.g., accelerators, crowdfunding, angels, VCs) and is chocked full of practical tips; from every detail of the deck, to why networking and exactly how, to a plethora of the more subtle aspects of the entrepreneurial mindset.

My personal commentary in 3 sentences:

If you want be an entrepreneur, pick up this book right now and start trying to wrap your head around the breadth and depth of skill sets that you're going to need to cultivate to get there. Remember that what you do not know yet is is more important than what you already do (shout out to Jordan Peterson's Rule of Life 32).

PS...this is the first book that was recommended to me by a close friend and mentor of mine, who got funded on Shark Tank Season 9 (followed by Lean Startup, Founders Dilemmas, and the Slicing Pie Handbook).

[Trey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skim-read an advance copy. This is a great business resource. It's relatively easy to provide an inspiring account of personal success with the implicit directive to readers being, "You too can be successful like me if you're willing to work hard and take chances!" Starting something requires more than inspiration, however. It requires careful thought and action on a whole range of topics that the inspired would-be entrepreneur has to take seriously before he/she will be taken seriously by customers and investors. This book provides a clear road map for that process.

The instructions are sharply practical, easy-to-follow, and evidently grounded in the actual experiences of a range of successful entrepreneurs. In particular, I really appreciate the layout and format of the book -- there are tons of examples of what your "pitch" needs to look like, as opposed to merely general instructions on what to include in each phase of your pitch presentation.

This book will be on my short list of recommended reading to anyone looking to start their own business because of its ability to bring clarity to an otherwise overwhelming process of, "where do I start? what do I need to communicate to others about my business and vision right now? how do I communicate all of that information effectively? etc."

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone expected to create a ‘pitch deck’ for their idea, but has no idea how to do it, like me, I highly recommend this super practical how to guide with lots of explicit instructions, samples, and explanations. If you don’t need to make pitch decks or already know how, feel free to skip.

[Prasanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have the pitch fine tuned, so what are the best ways of funding your venture? Part II of Get Backed is a brief, to the point instruction on evaluation of different sources of funding: from the rich relative to crowdfunding. You will also learn how an angel investor is different from a VC firm and which one is better suited for you.

~ http://bookreviews.infoversant.com/ge...

[Elliott Garber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and easy read that inspires while also providing concrete advice on raising money to start a business. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in gaining the support of others in ventures of any kind.

[Megan McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful info on presentation decks, and the process of getting funding for a startup.

[Ben Wikner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and profound. Great resource for entrepreneurs.