Startup pitch to a Silicon Valley god
We were onto our second beer as I looked at PJ (Paul John) and said there’s something I want to share with you.
Ten minutes later he had enough details on the idea that I believed could disrupt the world of marketing, specially advertising and promotions.
PJ was the right person to judge the merits of the idea because he had spent the last 28 years helping companies advertise and was now running an agency in Malaysia. He was responsible for some of the best and biggest campaigns that drove tourism to Malaysia.
He listened carefully. He took another sip of his beer and said he thought the idea had merit. He asked what next. The idea had potential to scale and if it succeeded we would need a serious backer — someone who had been there and done that, someone either huge in the ad world, or a heavy weight Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
‘Do you know anyone like that?’ I asked. He knew people in the ad world. His mom used to be the Asia Pacific creative director for Saatchi and Saatchi.
He thought for a moment and replied, ‘My dad went to school with someone who founded a couple of IT companies in California and ended up selling them. He was very successful and is highly connected. What if we can meet him? I can ask my dad.’
I suggested to PJ that his dad approach the meeting request by saying ‘My son and a friend of his would like to meet you to seek your guidance. They say they will meet you anywhere in the world, at any time, for however much time you will give them’. I asked PJ to pass on those exact words to show how serious we were.
‘Ok, will do,’ said PJ. For good measure, I asked PJ to repeat the words. It was set in motion. Little did we realise that this would be the start of a crazy ride.
A couple of weeks later, an email from PJ said his dad would be meeting Mr Dado Banatao at a school reunion in a month’s time. He promised to pass on our message. Googling Mr Banatao showed he had sold one of his companies to Intel. He had architected technology that was still found in computers today. He was now a Silicon Valley venture capitalist (VC) that had an office on Sand Hill road.
I first got interested in the world of startups, back in 1995. That’s when I learnt about Sand Hill Rd. This was where serious ideas got married with serious capital. Some of the biggest and best deals that resulted in companies such as HP, Apple, Microsoft and later Amazon, Google, Facebook were sealed here. This was where the seriously smart money got distributed. There were numerous legendary tales from here. This was where sparks of ideas were flamed into raging fires, resulting in companies that changed the world.
This place had such a big magnetic pull that in 2002 when in Palo Alto on business, I rented a car and drove down just to see what it looked like. Expecting to see flying saucers parked in reserved spots, it was rather disappointing to see just another industrial park. And yet, this was mecca for the entrepreneur who ever dreamt big. This was ground zero of the tech world.
Wow. And now we had a chance to meet and pitch someone from that stratosphere? True to his word, PJ’s dad met Mr Banatao, better known as Dado. The message was passed on. He laughed and agreed to meet us. Yikes. We couldn’t believe it. Frantic back and forth with his assistant and we had ourselves a meeting.
Now I had to figure out what to pitch. Little did I know people spend 6 months preparing for 15 minutes with Mr Banatao. Good thing I was not aware of that. My pitch was unrehearsed and raw. After all, we just wanted to know if we were crazy or whether someone of his stature would see value in what we had. Fifteen minutes would be more than enough. This was true lean startup territory — do just enough to get validated learning. I just needed to make sure he didn’t call security to have us kicked out.
This was the biggest business meeting I had flown out for, so I got to the gate with an hour to spare. With twenty minutes to go for boarding, I realised something was very wrong. There was hardly anyone at the gate and no ground staff. Panic set in. I scrambled to the next gate to ask what was happening to my flight. They irritatedly told me Qantas had changed the gate. No announcement, nothing. Changed the gate, just like that. Images of the startup failing even before we had started crossed my mind. I ran like my life depended on it and made the flight.
After averting the first startup life-death moment, I was in bed at the hotel when in the middle of the night I heard water pour out of the aircon and straight into my open suitcase. All hands on deck. Panic stations again. Inspecting the damage, I was happy to see that only my shoes were drenched and my business attire was fine. Crisis two averted.
Reviewing what we were going to cover over a coffee in the morning, PJ gets a note that our meeting venue had been changed to Dado’s penthouse. A brief moment of further panic was resolved quickly when we realise we had enough time.
Finally we were in the lift, on the way up. As long as the lift didn’t breakdown, we should be fine. Adrenalin from all the panic sessions was still coursing through the veins.
Dado was a gentleman. We got through our unrehearsed pitch and launched into conversation. Before we knew it 90 minutes had gone. This is generally unheard of with guys this busy. We decided to wrap it up and asked him point blank, if he thought we were crazy.
He said, ‘No. I don’t think you are crazy. I think you have something.’ He pleasantly told us that if we decided to go ahead and build our idea to come back and see him when we needed funding. Boom. Validation from a very serious person who understood the game and what it takes to scale a business. He’d done it multiple times. And people like him don’t mix words or say things they don’t mean.
PJ and I walked out, stood by the lift and looked at each other. A high five followed. Then there was an ‘oh shit’ moment. We should have been jumping up and down. Instead there was fear in our eyes. We had just met a Silicon Valley god who said he would back us when we were ready. Getting ready meant total disruption of rather comfortable lives. We both were managing businesses that were good business.
Oh dear. What had we just done. Unlocked Pandora’s box? This meant giving up order for chaos, stability for a roller coaster, and comfort for major discomfort. It meant risking everything. And yet, how could we not, after that meeting! Oh dear, indeed.
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