Traction is Your Key Slide: Buffer Shares the Pitch Deck they Used to Raise US$500,000

We were lucky to have Buffer co-founders Joel Gascoigne and Leo Widrich here in Hong Kong right after they raised this money in late 2011, and to share their experiences growing their social media tool to startups in Hong Kong – if you missed those sessions at the original BootHK you missed some amazing information. The guys are doing amazingly no matter where they are based out of (they went to Tel Avaiv after HK and are now in the Bay Area again) and now they are sharing one of the key weapons in a startups artillery: the pitch deck:

One of the big no-no’s we’ve learnt about early on in Silicon Valley is to publicly share the pitchdeck you’ve used to raise money. At least, not before you’ve been acquired or failed or in any other way been removed from stage. That’s a real shame, we thought. Sharing the actual slidedeck we used (and one, that’s not 10 years old) is by far one of the most useful things for others to learn from. In fact, both Joel and I have privately shared the deck with fledging founders to help them with their fundraising. On top of that, our case study is hopefully uniquely insightful for lots of people. Here is why:

Half a million is not a crazy amount: It’s therefore hopefully an example that helps the widest range of founders trying to raise money.
Both Joel and myself are first-timers: We couldn’t just throw big names onto a slideshow and ride with it. We had to test and change the flow and deck a lot.

So without further ado – have a look at their pitch deck and read the details over – and especially the comments – at OnStartups.com Do NOT miss reading their blog either!

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Dave McClure Coming Back to Hong Kong on May 31

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UPDATE: Please note that due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, the event featuring Dave McClure, Founding Partner at 500 Startups has been changed from its original Thursday evening time slot to FRIDAY, May 31, 2013 from 4-6 PM. The venue remains the same at HK CoCoon.

As the event is sold-out, we appreciate that if you cannot make this new time slot, that you kindly remove yourself from the attendee list to make room for others on the Wait List.

Thank you for your understanding and enthusiasm and we greatly look forward to meeting you next Friday!

We will provide a livestream of the event for those who cannot attend in person at http://www.livestream.com/500startups

Our founder-in-spirit Dave McClure of 500 Startups is finally coming back to see us – after our historic Startup Saturday event in 2011 – Dave is coming back for a 1-night only talk at CoCoon on May 30.

Register here.

If you miss him here – he will be at Echelon 2013 in Singapore the following week.

Ah, this is a great video that Marco Sparmberg made that we want to share it again with you:

Echelon 2013 Brings The Best Internet Minds to Singapore June 4-5

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A star studded line-up for Echelon 2013 and we sincerely hope that if you missed Startup Asia in March that Echelon 2013 is on your calendar for June.

  • Our friend and founder-in-spirit Dave McClure will be there with Geeks on a Plane.
  • Sahil Lavingia, CEO and Founder – Gumroad
  • Razmig Hovaghimian, Founder – Viki
  • Hironao Kunimitsu, Founder and President – gumi Inc.

Check out the agenda and book your tickets now!

Also come out and support Perpetu who is representing Hong Kong as the winner of the Echelon Satellite and will compete against regional startups to take the grand prize!

StartupsHK will be there and will be organizing a meet-and-greet networking event with SoftLayer Catalyst for Hong Kong startups heading down for the event. Hit up our Facebook page to see the details on venue and time.