1. Show your product within the first 60 seconds
Don’t spend five or ten minutes "setting the stage" or "giving the background." If you don't have a product to show, don't take the meeting.

2. Take less than five minutes to demo
All the tiny little features, you don't have to show them. Larry and Sergey wouldn't open up the advanced search.

3. Leave people wanting more
It's up to you to make such a compelling core product that they are intrigued enough to explore it.

4. Talk about what you've done, not what you're going to do
Steve Jobs doesn't waste time on what Apple's going to do. Weak startup leaders immediately start talk about "what's next.” What really matters is the core functionality.

5. Understand your competitive landscape—current and historical
I've had three or four companies pitch me on [products that unknowingly re-implemented] Third Voice—the controversial "Web annotation" service from Web 1.0.

6. Short answers are best
Answer questions with the most concise answer. [Then stop talking!]

7. PowerPoint bullet slides are death
Slides that are not boring include charts, product shots, feature set tables and the like.

8. How to use this new device called the phone
When presenting over the phone use a handset and a land-line only! Mobile phones and speakerphones sound horrible, disrespectful.

9. How to handle questions you don't know the answer to
No one has an answer for everything, except b.s. artists. Feel free to say you don't know.

10. Always confirm the time of your meeting/call, and always be 15 minutes early
[Start off on the right foot.] Send a simple email saying "Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at your offices at 123 Main Street at 3pm. If anything changes you can reach me on my mobile at 310-555-1212." Show respect by being in their lobby or on hold on the conference call five to 15 minutes ahead of time.

Habitat

• Dark room — allows focus, rests eyes
  
• Headphones — get deeper into the zone
  
• Desk organization — pristine or cluttered, it's intentional. Touch nothing.

• Perfectionism — "good enough" isn't good enough
  
• Gadget lust — latest gizmo is badget of honor
  
• Intellectual curiosity — figure out how things work, absorb info from multiple channels at once
  
• Systematic thinking — nothing is magic, it just needs to be problem-solved
  
• Wrong? Never! — hoo boy, no kidding. Wrong = failure
  
• Competitive nature — being smartest is important

• Recognition — take them to lunch and let them talk about latest accomplishment
  
• Playtime — Google's "20% Time" policy leads to huge R&D breakthroughs

• Try to gain basic understanding of technology
  
• Provide context — Not "will it work?" but "will it work by June for 1,000,00 hits per day?"
  
• Cross-pollinate IT with other departments

• Wait until you need their help to befriend IT people
  
• Add a tiny last-minute request without bumping deadlines
  
• Let non-tech employees bypass proper channels for IT requests

(Photo of Not Yours Pony courtesy of dev.splunk.com)