Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Investors reveal what grabs their attention--and what makes them cringe. For a certain kind of tech start-up founder, the pitch contest offers a thrill that few other events can deliver: You have only a few terror-filled minutes to successfully demo your product (using shaky wi-fi, no less) in front of a firing line of judges who can—and will—find holes in your idea big enough to drive a truck through. I've spent the last two days camped out at this year's Launch Festival , a tech start-up competition in San Francisco founded by entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis, where more than 40 start-ups competed for more than $1 million in prizes and seed capital.

There's one simple thing entrepreneurs need to do to get a banker on their side.

There's one simple thing entrepreneurs need to do to get a banker on their side.

Have a lot of war stories from your start-up days? Here's how to get a byline in a high-profile publication -- no experience required.

Most of us have something to pitch. You may be pitching your startup to a VC to secure funding

If you’ve seen Eminem’s movie 8 Mile, you surely remember the scene of an industrial basement packed with hip-hop fans assembled for the battle between rival rappers.

Got great ideas? Channel your inner Seth Godin and start spreading them around

If you are starting up a company and find yourself pitching everything that walks upright these days, please watch this video called "Hardly Working, Start-up Guys." Clearly the folks at CollegeHumor are embellishing for the sake of parody, but boy do they offer a reality check. So how about you? Are you a start-up jerk

Each year , I help fellow entrepreneurs and investors judge the MBA business plan competition at Harvard Business School. This year, I noted which pitch approaches seemed to work best and which tactics fell flat. Here are five things that worked in this year's presentations—and that you should consider including in your next business plan pitch: 1