“Tell a story. I need to know what problem you are solving and why you care about that problem.” — David Hornik, August Capital

“You have about 5 minutes to grab the attention of a VC during the opening of your pitch. If you don’t hook them by minute 10, it’s probably over.” — Charles Hudson, SoftTech VC

“Show, don’t tell. show a demo, show customer testimonials; don’t tell me what you will do. Show me what you’ve done. start with a “bottoms up” story — why you built the product and started the company. unless you’re in an obtuse industry don’t start with ‘top down’ — ‘Market size is X; market inefficiency is Y’ etc.” — David Lee, SV Angel

“Investors have really poor attention spans. Don’t wait till the middle to deliver the best part of the pitch. Get their greed instincts firing early. Whatever is most awesome about your startup, say that first — killer team, unique market entry tactic etc.” —Anamitra Banerji, Foundation Capital

“Team bios and why they started the company; of all the things they could do in their lives, why this crazy thing?” — David Lee, SV Angel

“Why now, why them.” — Anon, Venture Partner