Bill Reichert built and sold software and ed-tech companies before becoming an investor, and he's long pushed to open up venture capital to more people, having helped launch conferences and an online business-plan application that drew about 100,000 submissions. He now teaches founders that pitches need to win over investors emotionally, not just explain things clearly, and he's known for telling founders to drop buzzwords like disruptive or world-class in favor of plain, believable claims backed by evidence.