Tag Archives: jason pyles

Ep. 231 – 12 Questions Every Investment Pitch Deck Must Answer – Part 4 of 4

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-4 Welcome to Episode 231 of the Success in Business Podcast. Today your host Tom Ryan and producer Jason Pyles wrap up the list of 12 questions you’ve got to be ready to answer when meeting with an investor.

10. Is your team able to get it done?

It is critical that you can prove that you have assembled an incredible team. Even if it is a small team, that’s OK. It just can’t be you alone. At this point you need to have valuable people on your team.

11. How much money can you make in the next 3 to 5 years?

Investors’ business model is typically to invest and then liquidate in 3-5 years. They want to know that you can do that for them in that short amount of time.

12. How much money are you seeking, and what will you accomplish with it?

Now you need to “read” the flow of the conversation and get ready to ask a direct or semi-direct question. Are they still sitting back with their arms folded or do you have them leaning forward in their seat? Tom reminds us that you need to have a little swagger! Be confident that you are worth the risk!

Thanks for listening!

Tweet Tom at: @TomRyanAVL

Do you have a question about your business? Tom would love to help you:

Leave a voicemail: (801) 228-0663

E-mail your questions: SuccessInBusinessPodcast@gmail.com

Like this podcast on Facebook

Follow this podcast on Twitter: @TomRyanSIBP

Get every episode free: Subscribe in iTunes

Ep. 230 – 12 Questions Every Investment Pitch Deck Must Answer – Part 3 of 4

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-4 Welcome to Episode 230 of the Success in Business Podcast. Today your host Tom Ryan and producer Jason Pyles continue discussing the kind of thorough preparation you must do before meeting with an investor. There are 12 questions every investment pitch deck must answer. We’ll break this into 4 parts. Today, in part three, we cover questions seven through nine:

7. What success or traction have you achieved so far?
Great idea vs. great business model = how receptive the Market is.

8. Who do you need to beat, and how beatable are they?

9. How will you scale the business?

Thanks for listening!

Tweet Tom at: @TomRyanAVL

Do you have a question about your business? Tom would love to help you:

Leave a voicemail: (801) 228-0663

E-mail your questions: SuccessInBusinessPodcast@gmail.com

Like this podcast on Facebook

Follow this podcast on Twitter: @TomRyanSIBP

Get every episode free: Subscribe in iTunes

Ep. 228 – 12 Questions Every Investment Pitch Deck Must Answer – Part 1 of 4

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-4 Welcome to Episode 228 of the Success in Business Podcast where your host Tom Ryan and producer Jason Pyles are getting the band back together with a great discussion on preparing to answer questions from investors! There are 12 questions every investment pitch deck must answer. We’ll break this into 4 parts. Today, in part one, we cover the first three questions:

1. What’s the big thing that you do for your customers? Meaning, what is your impact on the world and do your company’s name and tagline communicate it clearly? Here’s a great terrible example of a completely imaginary company right off the top of Jason’s head: “HydraDex – Because you shouldn’t have to.” What does this mean to you? It probably means nothing! Be sure to keep right on the forefront what you do for your customers.

2. What’s not easy for your customers to do today that you can fix? This is where you tell what you can do to improve the current market conditions.

3. How will you make your customers’ lives better? And, this is where you tell HOW.

Thanks for listening!

Tweet Tom at: @TomRyanAVL

Do you have a question about your business? Tom would love to help you:

Leave a voicemail: (801) 228-0663

E-mail your questions: SuccessInBusinessPodcast@gmail.com

Like this podcast on Facebook

Follow this podcast on Twitter: @TomRyanSIBP

Get every episode free: Subscribe in iTunes

Ep. 221 – Maintaining a Strong Company Culture With Jason Diediker of Business Promotion

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Welcome to Episode 221 of the Success in Business Podcast. In this two-part show, your host Tom Ryan is joined by producer Jason Pyles and the general manager of the producer’s day job, Jason Diediker of Business Promotion, an Inc. 5000 digital marketing company.

In this episode, Jason D. provides a brief history of Business Promotion, which launched during the precarious economy of 2008. Jason explains his background in business and his climb up through the ranks at Business Promotion. Tom asks Jason to describe how his company weathered the storm of the Recession during BP’s early years as a brand new startup. Jason also explains how running his own business has informed his role as the general manager of Business Promotion. Tom asks Jason to discuss some of the more challenging aspects of his day-to-day duties and striking the balance between the company’s “promise-makers” (Sales) and its “promise-keepers” (Fulfillment). You can hear part 2 of this interview next week. Thanks for listening!

Watch the Business Promotion intro video. Continue reading →

Ep. 219 – Startup Secret Weapon: See Risk Like an Investor Part 2

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Welcome to Episode 219 of the Success in Business Podcast, your host Tom Ryan is joined by producer Jason Pyles. This episode is Part 2 of 3, where Tom shares his StartUp Secret Weapon: Approaching Risk Like An Investor.

There are four major risk categories that every entrepreneur needs to understand and to be able to reduce in order to be successful.

1) Team Risk
2) Product Risk
3) Market Risk
4) Execution Risk

Today Tom will be talking to us about Team Risk. The notion that people invest in people is never more appropriate than Continue reading →

Ep. 178 – Seed Funding 101: Common Methods

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-1Raising money is a roadblock most early stage companies will encounter sooner or later. It can be a confusing topic, with a wide variety of competing models and expert opinions muddying the waters. To understand how fundraising works — particularly the “seed stage” funding that’s relevant to most startups — we need to get back to basics.

In today’s episode, host and business coach Tom Ryan outlines the fundamental stages of fundraising, discussing what they mean in purely practical terms for first-time entrepreneurs. Tom is joined by producer and co-host Jason Pyles. Continue reading →

Ep. 177 – Seed Funding 101: Overview

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-5When you work with a wide variety of startups and early stage companies, it’s not the differences in business models or industries that stand out most. What stands out most are the similarities. As they grow, every business goes through roughly the same stages of development. No place is this phenomenon more evident than when it comes to fundraising.

In today’s episode, host and business coach Tom Ryan launches a new series discussing the fundamentals of fundraising. As always, Tom is joined by co-host and producer Jason Pyles. Continue reading →

Ep. 157 – Donald Miller’s “How to Tell a Story” eBook – Part 4

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SIBP-Blog-NEW-5Creating a compelling story for your business isn’t about casting yourself or your company as the hero. It’s about placing your customers, partners and investors in that role, identifying their problems, acting as their guide, and calling them to action. It’s not your story that matters, it’s theirs.

Host and business coach Tom Ryan and co-host/producer Jason Pyles continue their discussion of Donald Miller’s powerful, compelling ebook, How to Tell a Story. Learn why it’s important to frame your stories correctly, and hear some real-world applications of these principles from Tom’s work with the Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneur in Residence program. Continue reading →