My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Anchor Your Vision to Recognized Winners
Position your company as 'we're doing what [successful company] did for [known market] but for [your bigger market]' to help investors quickly understand the opportunity size.
Decision Rule
Find successful companies in adjacent or similar markets, then frame your opportunity as that proven model applied to a larger or underserved market.
How It Works
Investors understand successful business models faster than novel ones. By anchoring to proven successes, you reduce cognitive load and help them pattern-match to positive outcomes they've seen before.
Failure Modes
Choosing anchor companies that aren't actually similar to your business model
Picking anchor companies investors don't respect or understand
Making market size claims that aren't credible
Over-relying on analogy without explaining key differences
Example Decision
“Instead of explaining behavioral therapy apps from scratch, position as 'what Calm and Headspace ($2B and $1B companies) did for meditation, we're doing for insomnia/depression/anxiety - markets that are 50x bigger than meditation.'”
Related Knowledge
Pitch decks should focus on building investor confidence, not explaining product features
Structure pitch around evidence that reduces investor risk perception rather than technical product details
The Investor Pitch Narrative Arc
A 16-slide sequence that builds investor confidence by answering their core questions in logical order: Are you credible?
Lead With Credibility Rule
When you have meaningful accomplishments, put them as slide 2 to establish that you're worth listening to before diving into your business details.
Create a problem slide that makes investors immediately understand the scale and urgency of what you're solving
Investor reads your problem slide and thinks 'wow, this affects way more people than I realized and I can see why they c
Clearly communicate your competitive advantage in a way investors immediately understand
Investor finishes reading and thinks 'ah, I see exactly how this is different and why that difference matters'
Save Good News for the End
Take 15% of your good news and hold it back until the final slides to create a positive lasting impression and additional momentum.