10 Quick Startup Lessons from Venture Atlanta 2011

At the Venture Atlanta 2011 conference this week I had the opportunity to talk with a number of investors. One of the things I asked several attendees was “which startup was your favorite and why” in order to look for trends, and more importantly what excited people. This led to some observations and lessons.

Here are 10 quick startup lessons from Venture Atlanta 2011:

1. Presentation coaching works (most pitches were great)
2. Comedy during a pitch works well, but needs to be performed at a high level
3. Slides shouldn’t have more than 20 words, especially with 650 people in the audience
4. If you’re pitching in place of the CEO don’t waste 20% of the time explaining why
5. Props, including nine-year-old daughters, really get the audience’s attention
6. Presentations from founders are more passionate than hired-gun CEOs
7. Make it easy for investors to follow up (e.g. give a short email address in your last slide)
8. Surprises, like a custom event app already approved in the AppStore, make an impact
9. There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness (be cognizant of the two)
10. Pre-recorded video, including product demos and animations, are effective, but should only be a small part of the pitch

This was easily the best Venture Atlanta to date based on the quality of the startups and the number of attendees. I’m excited about the future of the event.

What else? What were some lessons learned from Venture Atlanta 2011?