Kauffman Founders School

This is a free educational video series that offers an as-needed curriculum for entrepreneurs at every startup stage, served up by leading experts covering often overlooked topics. Tapping the potential of online education to teach entrepreneurs best practices in areas not typically covered in other training programs, the Kauffman Foundation has unveiled the Kauffman Founders School, free of charge, no sign up required!

This video series is a 17 part series of Kauffman Founders School featuring Powerful Presentations with me, Intellectual Property with Peter McDermott, Founder's Dilemmas with Noam Wasserman, Entrepreneurial Selling with Craig Wortmann, Startups with Steve Blank, and many other recognizable names in the startup world.

Powerful Presentations: Introduction

This Kauffman Founders School series will show you how to break through the massive amount of noise by communicating and presenting your ideas, businesses, products, and services in more compelling ways.

Time: 1 minute 32 seconds

First Impressions

Captivating any audience is something everyone can do. This lecture will show you how!

Time: 6 minutes 16 seconds

First Impressions: Bonus Tools

Captivating any audience is something everyone can do. This brief video will add bonus tools to your pitch portfolio.

Time: 6 minutes 52 seconds

Crafting your Wow! Statement

Getting someone to say "Wow! How do you do that?" is a matter of crafting a concise and evocative WOW statement.

Time: 7 minutes 14 seconds

How to tell Visual Stories

Visual stories can get people to take action much faster than any reading material ever will. 

Time: 8 minutes 19 seconds

Presentation Categories

As an entrepreneur, there are many types of presentations to prepare for ranging from 30-seconds to 10-minutes. You need to be ready when pitching to investors or customers based on their needs and goals.

Time: 3 minutes 50 seconds

Top Mistakes

With preparation, a lot of rehearsal, and a few clever communication strategies, you can create presentations that avoid typical mistakes and engage your audience. 

Time: 19 minutes 3 seconds

Mastering Q&A

Questions are typically the one thing you can count on happening as soon as you finish your formal presentation or product demo. These videos will teach you how to answer questions more effectively, especially the most difficult ones and those for which you don’t have ready answers at hand. You will learn several techniques to make Q&A sessions more memorable (in a good way) and to build effectively on the strength and credibility established during your presentation.

Time: 1 minute 3 seconds

How to Run a Great Q&A Session

Running a smooth Q&A session all starts with letting the audience know when you will take their questions.

Time: 2 minutes 22 seconds

Body Language Matters

As with most personal communications, your body language, especially your facial expressions, may be giving you away. Be aware of how you're presenting yourself on all fronts.

Time: 2 minutes

What Not to Do

You may have people asking you questions you’ve heard a million times, and this might cause you to speed through your rehearsed answer. Remember, this is probably the first time they’re hearing it. Slow down and be conscious of your pacing.

Time: 1 minute 41 seconds

The Power of the Pause

Answering a question too quickly can sometimes lead to the opposite impression you are trying to make. Learn how pausing before answering can be very powerful.

Time: 1 minute 52 seconds

Dealing with the Unexpected

You may have people interrupting, grandstanding or dragging you down the rabbit hole in the form of questions. Learn how to deal with these types of interruptions in a calm and collected way.

Time: 3 minutes 2 seconds

Tough Questions

You are always going to be asked tough questions that you may not want to answer or genuinely don’t have an answer for at that moment in time. Learn how to deal with these situations effectively and with confidence.

Time: 1 minute 27 seconds

Thank you Dr. Wendy Torrance and Amanda Schneiders, for giving me this unique opportunity to share the stage with such amazing people. I truly appreciate the amount of time you have dedicated to this effort. Hopefully, the word will spread quickly and the help we provide will be seen in current and future entrepreneurs from around the world.

But wait! There's more...

In addition to my two video series, The Kauffman Founders School continues to add more and more free educational series for entrepreneurs and startups. These short-form videos will certainly save you time, money, and effort in learning how to run a successful startup.