Episode transcript:

M.K.:
So Alper, we’re going to…

A.R.:
Start with Alper. You are going to start with Alper.

M.K.:
I’ll start with something different this time. Alper I think it’s a radical change. I’ll just throw it out there this time. It’s still not that radical, but at least it’s a little bit different. Okay, here we go. Alper this week, let’s see, in the last couple of weeks. So the first week we did principles one and two, which was markets and value proposition, right?

A.R.:
Yes.

M.K.:
And then in the episode after that was so we did principle number three, which was I forget what was number three? What was number three? It was.

A.R.:
Timing. The third criteria was naming timing to give a context. If if someone is listening to this episode for the first time, we are talking about the six criteria that investors look at when deciding on whether to keep on talking to a project or not in terms of investing. And these six criteria, as are coming from my mentors here, Multicurrency.

A.R.:
And if a our listeners are interested, they can go to the show notes too, to find out more about them, which I strongly encourage.

M.K.:
Yeah, the I think I mentioned on one of the episodes. But if you if the if you’re just tuning in so definitely I’ve met I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Matthew a couple of times and if you haven’t already, then I highly recommend going down to the show notes and following those links in the show notes because his six principles.

M.K.:
Any time that he speaks on this topic, it’s extremely interesting. And so you can go to him for an articulation of the principles. It’s better than anything that we can do. So our main job is here on this podcast is just to translate how would you take these principles and represent them in a presentation, represent them on a slide?

M.K.:
So that’s the that’s the main angle that we’re coming from today. So, so Alprazolam, remind me, what’s the fourth principle that we’ll be discussing today?

A.R.:
The fourth one is, is the team who is going to be leading the project. So for example, if you think, yeah, the team, the the managing team. So for example, if you think of the start up as, as an ocean liner, let’s say the team is like the, the, the captain.

M.K.:
Okay.

A.R.:
And just like as far as I know in every ship there is only one captain with the highest ranking. And in the in the project there can be, you know, founding partners, founding members with equal shares, etc.. But usually there is one person, the CEO with with more exposure with the to the to the investors. So but in this in this criteria, we’re not talking about only this person himself or herself.

A.R.:
We’re talking about the entire team.

M.K.:
It’s basically. Let me interrupt you here.

A.R.:
So go ahead.

M.K.:
So what I so we’re talking about the presenters are describing their team. And so what is the main interest of the of the investor? The investor is sitting there think you’re the potential investor is sitting there thinking, who am I sending my money to or who is driving this thing forward? Is that what’s going through their mind?

A.R.:
In a sense, yes. But that’s on it, not on a personal basis. Like whether do I like this person on that, of course, is an important factor as well. But there are more primary questions that is going through my mind. For example, what I want to hear, the part about the team you remember in value proposition, they have told me about a business plan, the proposition that they’re bringing on the table.

A.R.:
So basically the questions that go through my mind about the team is, are they going to be able to pull it off? I mean, they gave me a business plan. Are they going to be able to pull this off or are they going to be able to contribute to the growth of of this of this project of this company?

A.R.:
And basically, the main question at the end of the day is will they be able to create the business environment that will be able to give me the return on my investment? Because at the end of the day, that’s that’s what I’m looking for. Okay. And yes, business plan is a part of it. The value proposition is a part of it, but like I said, the team is a driving force behind this this startup project.

A.R.:
So it’s important that they can demonstrate their capabilities now in. But I also want to underline something, say highlight something else. Almost in all startup presentation investor presentations, you see team members who are capable, they are they have skills, they have dedicated themselves to the project and and they declared this. But the thing is, this is standard. Like if I have never heard, for example, from a team member saying, well, we have this project, but we’re not that passionate about it or we’re not that dedicated on this project.

A.R.:
So everybody is dedicated, everybody’s capable, so this is like this is like the most basic. So in a sense it’s almost unnecessary to include that in the presentation included in the slide because, I mean, can you imagine a team member saying this? And I would be like, Well, yes, I’m still excited about your project, so I still want to invest.

A.R.:
No, I mean, the moment I feel that it’s done, it’s very easy. I just get out. So. So these are not pluses that that should be included. Just like since we’re talking about the slides I see most of the time, like a photo of the team member, his or her name and underneath, like logos of the universities or education educational institutions that they have attended or the logos of the place that they have worked.

A.R.:
Okay, I understand these are important, but these are like the the basic necessities. So the the, the thing that I want to see on the slide is more about the questions that I mentioned. How are you going to make this ship go forward towards going to execute the the business plan that you shared with me. But apart from this, do you have questions or should I continue?

A.R.:
Because I will continue.

M.K.:
Oh, please do continue. Please do continue.

A.R.:
Okay. Apart from this, there is one and there is one parameter of of the team that I really want to see and we can discuss about how to show this on a slide, but it may be more about a the conversation that they’re going to have is do you either have the managing skills or are you willing to improve yourself in that area?

A.R.:
Because many people I mean, almost everyone can claim that they have expertise, they have the skill set and everything. But at the end of the day, the management skills managing of a company or of of people is maybe the single most no, not the single most, but it’s a very big indicator of whether you will be able to take this company from a 20% start up to a 2000 big company and management skills play a crucial role in that.

A.R.:
So in the presentation, in the conversation, in all the interaction that I have with the the founders, with the startup founders, I want to see that, yes, in the long term, they will be able to bring managerial skills onto the table so that they can they can scale this company from a project of several enthusiasts into an operation of hundreds, if not thousands of people.

A.R.:
So that’s that’s one of the things that I also want to see.

M.K.:
So let me interrupt you at this point and just make sure I’m following you correctly. Okay. So let’s let’s take a hypothetical example and say we’ve used the orange entrepreneur in Barcelona example before an entrepreneur selling oranges and or selling startups. So let’s see if I do that.

A.R.:
I’m going to sell this business.

M.K.:
Yeah. Okay.

A.R.:
So it’s so obvious that there is a market to people that interested. Yeah.

M.K.:
So, so what you’re saying is that the investor or potential investor doesn’t care that the CEO loves oranges. That’s, that’s table stakes loving oranges. He doesn’t want to see my passion for oranges. That’s table stakes. It’s just assumed that Matt loves oranges. And the CFO, let’s say the CFO grew up on an orange farm and thinks that oranges are great too, so the potential investor just isn’t really impressed by that.

M.K.:
Matt that the CEO loves oranges and the CFO grew up on an orange farm. That’s great, but tell me something valuable so that stuff doesn’t matter that much. What does matter is the management skills, and that’s great. If I’m Elon Musk and I can say, well, you know, this orange startup, you know, in order to scale from zero one employee to a million employees, that’s no problem.

M.K.:
I’ve done that a million times of four. In fact, I started PayPal. And so scaling up from 1 to 1000 is no problem. And my my Yeah, yeah. So also started at PayPal and so so so my CFO is not going to have a problem with building a large company. Nobody’s going to have a problem with building a large company.

M.K.:
We’re very familiar with the management, but if I’m not Elon Musk and I want to convince the potential investor that I am a good bet when it comes to building this startup, if this startup is successful, Matt and his CFO are going to be able to build a good company. How do I do that? What can I show if I’m not?

A.R.:
Elon Musk Well, first of all, speaking of oranges or any kind of project, you will need to be able to show me that you can make the sale. Okay. You love oranges. Great. You’ve grown up basically together with the owners. Three. That’s that’s that’s perfect. It doesn’t mean you know how to sell oranges. And you need to be able to show that because unless you can sell them, then your passion means and I think especially in the in the scope of this project.

A.R.:
So you need to be able to demonstrate how you’re going to be able to execute the business plan of oranges and in this case, how to sell them, whether you need a needed like if you need a technology to do that, okay, if you need the marketing to do that. Okay. So you should be able to get those people into the project if those are the things that you need and basically show me how we’re going to sell.

A.R.:
Now about selling, I am guilty of this at the time because I also used to claim that I could sell. And now looking back now, now I can. But at the time what I was doing was a selling. It was something completely different. Many people claim that they sell, they can sell. But I think there’s a difference between trying to sell something and doing good sales, you know, in a way that resonates with your with your potential clients.

A.R.:
So and being successful in it, I wouldn’t call myself a successful, successful seller, for example. So I know what I stand. Would the I function much better in terms of selling with a fewer number of people in a limited scope. But then I’m not claiming to start a I’m not claiming to be an entrepreneur with the hopes of starting the starting a company and and making it, you know, a huge operation.

A.R.:
That’s why I know my limitations. Okay. In the presentation, apart from everything that I talked until now about the team, one of the things that I also want to see is how are you going to make the sale? Remember, we talked about this finding the first customer and basically here I want to see a little more information about that related to the to the characteristics of the team members.

M.K.:
So when I am describing myself and my CFO and my other team members on the team page and my pitch deck. So one of the questions that I need to keep foremost in my mind is how can we explain to people that we’re going to be able to sell these oranges?

A.R.:
Mm hmm.

M.K.:
Yes. Okay.

A.R.:
So and how.

M.K.:
Oh, go ahead.

A.R.:
And how our how we are going to turn this company from a team of five people selling oranges to a 5000 or 500 people of running a regional or international or in selling operation. Okay, So that’s where the managerial skills come into the picture.

M.K.:
So me, let’s continue with our hypothetical example. So me as a CEO, I have never built a team, so I can’t really lay any claim to that. But my CFO, he didn’t build a team, but he worked for a large company. Let’s say, for example, he worked for Unilever or something for five years. Is that going to be enough to say that?

M.K.:
Okay, well, the CFO didn’t build a team, but he had exposure to the operations of teams. Do you think that’s going to be enough?

A.R.:
I would say it would be enough. I would say it would be a benefits. But like I mentioned before, the main thing would be to show me that, A, you either have those skills.

M.K.:
Or be.

A.R.:
You’re willing to improve yourself on those. So take an honest assessment of your skill sets. If you don’t, if you don’t think that you have the sufficient minimum of managerial skills, well, okay, learn about them. Educate yourself, Get get those skills. I don’t think there is any skills that come from both. So either show me that you have them or show me that you’re willing to get them when the time comes.

M.K.:
Okay. All right. So before we before we finish up, because we’re running out of time, but before we finish up, So I have a question for you. Okay. So one question that is on the potential investors mind when he’s looking at this this team slide. One question that he has is will these people be able to sell something, especially sell something to the first customer and another question that the potential investor has is will these people be able to build a business?

M.K.:
Will they be able to build a team of people so I need to make sure that both of these things are present on my team slide. Is is there like a third element that I need to that’s running through the potential investors mind and I need to think I need to be looking at my team side and saying, is this element on there?

A.R.:
Well, basically maybe the third element could be how these things that you how the first and the second things that you put on the slides relate to the growth, the future growth of the company and and making the returns potential returns possible in the future. So I think a connection to these two things will be highly beneficial to to talk about.

A.R.:
Like I said, this is not very easy to visualize this, but as long as you keep things simple and it’s a focus on on on these questions that is going through the minds of the investors and, you know, establish a narrative for that, I think you should be fine.

M.K.:
Okay. So that wraps it up for today. Give me a little preview about our next episode. So what is principle number five today? Today we did principal number to the team. So what is yes, number five?

A.R.:
Yes. The the first one is scalability.

M.K.:
Scalability. So that’s what.

A.R.:
And you will be surprise. I have a lot of opinions on that, too.

M.K.:
Oh, wow. So that sounds like it’s going to be a good episode. All right. So that wraps it up, will talk about that and and then we’ll continue on in the next episode with principal number five. And thank you, by the way, again, Matthew Crenshaw, who should probably be here on the podcast. Yes. All right. So it’s nice talking to you.

M.K.:
Work.

A.R.:
Yeah, that’s a good idea. Yeah. Take care. All right.

M.K.:
Talk to you later. Bye bye.