How to Tell Your Company's Story The co-founder of Thumbtack, a service that matches local professionals with customers, talks about pitching your company when fundraising.

By James McKinney

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Marco Zappacosta is the co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack, a service that matches customers with local professionals. In this clip from an episode of "The Startup Story" podcast, Zappacosta talks about fundraising and shares tips for pitching venture capitalists. His tips are:

  1. Know your audience and their goals
  2. Make your pitch a story with a narrative
  3. Ground the audience in the significance of the problem that will inevitably be solved — and that you and your company are the best solution, and why
  4. Start with the problem, not the product
  5. Communicate clearly that you understand the market, the dynamics, the competitive landscape and how your approach speaks to those specifics

Related: How to Turn Your Idea Into a Business

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James McKinney

Creator & Host, The Startup Story

James McKinney is the Founder & Host of The Startup Story, a multi-channel brand platform that brings the lessons of highly successful founders directly to the everyday founder. Whether it is through The Startup Story podcast or via the Startup Story LIVE event series, entrepreneurs everywhere can receive tactical and practical guidance from founders who are a few steps ahead.

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