Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams

I have zero experience with entrepreneurship, but I know a heck of a lot more now than I did prior to reading this book. It’s amazing how much you can learn from 225 pages. Prior to reading this book, I envisioned entrepreneurship and the relationship between entrepreneur and investor to be about one thing - money. After reading this book, I realize that the monetary agreement between entrepreneur and investor is the byproduct of a relational connection, or friendship, not the other way around. The authors are masters at explaining how to initiate and foster those friendships. As the authors explain, those friendships are fostered through the entrepreneur having a sense of modesty, being humble enough to ask for the investor’s suggestions, being willing to listen instead of speak, and once that relationship is established, being confident enough to ask the investor to join in the venture. In almost any profession, getting your colleagues to buy-in to a plan or vision is something of great benefit, and something that is likely only going to happen if genuine relationships are established. These guys understand that and explain how to make that happen in the book. A large portion of this book focuses on the reasons for creating a pitch deck (as opposed to a business plan) and gives the reader step-by-step instructions for what to include in the pitch deck and how what’s included should be displayed. One of the great things about this book is that the authors include actual pitch decks from successful start-ups so that the reader has real-world examples to follow. Quite frankly, I’ve never seen such beautiful, and modern, presentations. I regularly deliver presentations for my job and these pitch decks make my slides look antiquated and dull. I plan to adopt the authors’ approach. Less words, more beautiful images, and tell a story. If you’re an experienced entrepreneur who has already raised millions of dollars for successful start-ups, you should read this book. You’ll learn something and refine your craft. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur that has a great idea but is clueless how to get started, you should definitely read this book. It’s an A-to-Z road map for how to put your idea into action and make it a reality. If you’re an intellectual or genuinely curious person who wants to know how to more effectively communicate a great idea, how to get others on board with that great idea, and how to establish genuine friendships through that process, this book is also for you. And lastly, if you’re a Friday evening Shark Tank watcher and stare at the screen mostly confused, read this book. You’ll feel smarter. Plus, Barbara endorses the book on the front cover. Enjoy.

Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis have written a book that will no doubt be table stakes for any entrepreneur looking to convince others to invest money, time and reputation into their venture. As the authors themselves admit on Page 3 of the book, there is no shortage of advice out there on fundraising. But what I think makes Get Backed both unique and worth reading is its focus on personal experience, practical advice and parsimonious delivery (the alliteration is a coincidence, I swear!) Rather than simply discussing ideas or theory, the authors relate all of their lessons to specific examples from their own careers and those of the many founders and investors in their respective networks. What they advise is actionable and useful wisdom, laid out in a structured, data-driven manner that feels incredibly intuitive. Lastly, I found this book to be informationally dense; the authors do not waste ink on superfluous details or anecdotes. Everything serves a purpose: help you launch the venture of your dreams. P.S. The book is also extremely well designed and aesthetically appealing. It will look great on any coffee table.

What a remarkable book. I got this book on a Saturday morning, and by that evening I had finished it. I was so impressed, I immediately ordered 9 more to distribute to the competitors of an entrepreneurial pitch competition I'm organizing. The authors have a way with telling a vivid story while weaving in real world lessons that will be useful for any current or aspiring entrepreneurs. Featuring actual pitch decks from successful fundraisers sets this book apart. If you want to build a compelling deck and raise venture capital, this should be your first stop.

This book is a great guide if you're getting ready to raise capital for your startup or even if you're in between rounds and your just looking to build a deck as an exercise to think more deeply about your business. Our team has used it multiple times to build new versions of our deck and I always take something new away when going through it. Its strengths are its simplicity and practicality. It provides a great series of template slides and the examples are useful. The startup financing primer is a decent intro as well. Definitely buy the physical copy!!! The Kindle version is fine, but you'll be missing out on 50% of the value if you don't have the actual book. I see a few student reviews on here. This book is not for you. This book is most valuable if you're actually building a company and in the middle of raising a funding round. For people who are not in that position, I get that it can be fun to learn this stuff but you'll be better off spending your time gaining experience. If you're a student who enjoyed reading the book, then here's a challenge. Take the insights from the book and create your own Personal Pitch Deck (treat yourself as a startup seeking investment). Then find 10 growing startups you'd like to work for and pitch them on yourself. The pitch deck will blow away all the boring resumes hiring managers come across. This is an ideal tactic for either landing the unpaid internship or entry-level position with minimal relevant experience.

I found this book extremely easy to read. All the ideas and knowledge was presented very well. This book not only gives you good insight into preparing and presenting to investors for capital but also for other investors in your company such as staff and customers.

This book was in good condition, when it came.

A great book for preparing to pitch for your craft. Also helps in teeming the business with a host of doable ideas and suggestions.

This book is indispensable for those seeking funding, it gets straight to the point and has real world examples which has been useful when preparing my own pitch deck. I have used a number of templates before and these ones are the best I have seen. As a result of using the templates I was recently successful in my seed round. I opted to buy the printed version, over the kindle version as I wanted to see and appreciate the design of this book in full colour. I would highly recommend this book as it will enable you to hit the ground running with seeking funding.

the pages on the chapter i was working on started to detach and fall from the book around the third or fourth time i opened and moved around them in this specific chapter. I mean; this is a new book, it seems that the glue used for the binding of the pages to the cover is not strong enough or there was enough pressure. you can witness in the pictures that the pages where not accidentally ripped off. the detachment is intact and super clean straightline. Honestly i dont know what has happened here, but im deeply unsatisfied. now i have to pay more to get someone craft a hard cover and glue everything back again.

This one simply rocks. I warmly recommend it!