The 5-Step Blueprint to Transforming a PowerPoint into a Multi-Million Dollar Business

I found a second brain note-taking product called Mem.ai that I liked. Before committing to the product, I wanted to ensure the company was well-funded and not running on the brink of insolvency. I dug a little and discovered they were very early stage but initially funded by a Silicon Valley VC for $4mm.

This level of funding for a startup with two guys and a PowerPoint presentation does not happen in Atlanta. I needed to know more. That is why I contacted Dennis Xu, a co-founder, and asked if he would allow me to interview him for the Paparelli Podcast.

Dennis quickly agreed. I caught him early in the promotional process. He was talking about Mem.ai to everyone. His job was to share the vision and get people to the site.

I wanted to understand how they got so much money from a credible source with only two guys and a PowerPoint. What I learned was that and something even more valuable.

I asked the co-founder, “How did you land on this idea for a business?”

His story started with a brief description of his background. And then he answered my question.

Dennis is a Stanford University graduate with a degree in computer science. After graduating, he went to work for Google. This was his start.

But he knew he wanted to start a company in Silicon Valley when he graduated. The problem was he had no idea what this new company might be. He then answered my question on how he got to the idea and the eventual funding.

Here are the five steps he went through to get to an idea, a co-founder, a PowerPoint, and $4mm in seed funding.

1. Collect and organize your network.

While working for Google, he lived with five other young, highly educated tech professionals. These roommates had friends who also wanted to start a company but were also "flat-footed" as to an idea for a real business.

2. Meet regularly with people who want to start a company—people who are exactly where you are.

This group of future new business owners met every week. They had a laser focus and an agenda to get there. Being busy and geographically dispersed, they met on a Zoom call. No wasted time. No missed opportunity to get to a new business idea as soon as possible. These weren’t dreamers. They were entrepreneurs with everything they needed to create a new business, except the idea.

3. Meet in person with someone from the Zoom call.

This would be a person you admired and were beginning to trust. A person who seemed to be interested in the same idea you were interested in and had complementary skills.

Dennis reconnected with Kevin Moody. Kevin was a brilliant programmer who always had a side gig while attending Stanford. Dennis was a natural promoter even though he was pursuing a degree in computer science.

4. Go deep on ideas that begin to pull you both along.

This is the very early stage of business formation. It starts with business ideation and begins moving to vision and, finally, a problem and a product. You find yourselves finishing each other’s sentences and getting excited about the progress from each meeting.

Dennis and Kevin were all over this idea of a personal central depository of ideas. A place where ideas were stored with zero friction. Then, using artificial intelligence, your ideas could be mined and presented when needed for whatever project you were working on. This was the beginning of Mem.ai.

5. Put together a business plan as a seven-slide PowerPoint.

This is the business. The PowerPoint is a logical presentation of the problem, the market, your vision for solving it, the people who have it, and why they would pay to solve it. Finally, an estimate of the prospect’s ROI for shelling out the cash to solve the problem. A financial projection of how big this might be in 5 to 10 years.

This is what this co-founder did to move from "I want to start a business," to finding a co-founder and formulating the business idea, to presentation, to strategy.

Their last step was to network with friends, other entrepreneurs, and educators who could introduce them to a VC in the valley who loved to encourage raw startups. They found a partner at Andreessen Horowitz who would write the first check. He granted an audience. He liked what he saw and heard. He believed in the founding team.

Over my thirty years as an angel investor, I met entrepreneurs focused on the goal of starting a business. Some never get there. Others get impatient and start something they don't care about. And then there are Dennis and Kevin. They hit on an idea they would dedicate their lives to. Those are the co-founders who get funded.

The steps I outlined got them there. Maybe these steps will work for you, too.