What VCs look for in startup pitches
1–10 of 25 posts
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#2I mean that's great and everything. I love it. But. If the past and the present was so great, I wouldn't need money. I think Mark Hsu's paragraph on "Avoid overusing buzzwords" was pretty good; I think the avoid "Netflix for Pandas" thing is commonsense now but the notion that should actually use specific numbers when making your pitches can't be shouted enough.
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#3I get two different stories from different crowds on this issue.
From many VCs and angels themselves - at least the ones that get their articles upvoted on this site - I get the impression that they dislike being bullshitted at. They hate people who are disingenuous. They don't care too much about projections or future plans. They just want to see how good your team is.
From everyone else in the industry (those looking for investment, those who have found investment, executives in large companies, etc.) I hear a completely different story. Tell them the world. Make projections bigger than you think is realistic. Talk yourself up. Show interest in things that the VCs are interested in - even if you aren't. Create a story of the future that will please the investors. This is not always exactly the same story you really want to go with.
Now I really prefer doing the former to the latter. I just don't know how effective it really is and I hear different stories about how to behave when searching for investment. VCs and angels aren't mind-readers, they aren't super-human, and they have the same failings as everyone else. If you can get away with the latter without appearing dishonest, you might have a better chance at bagging the investment deal.
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#4I mean that's great and everything. I love it. But. If the past and the present was so great, I wouldn't need money. I think Mark Hsu's paragraph on "Avoid overusing buzzwords" was pretty good; I think the avoid "Netflix for Pandas" thing is commonsense now but the notion that should actually use specific numbers when making your pitches can't be shouted enough.
If the past and the present was so great, I wouldn't need money.
Not to put words in anybody's mouth, but given that one can reasonably deliver a production-quality software product for hard costs lower than a college student has in their checking account these days and also pound the pavement selling it and/or have customer acquisition channels proved viable in microscale, you don't necessarily have to be rolling in it to a) have numbers which demonstrate traction while b) not having nearly enough to make the next big steps like bringing on multiple people at market salaries.
I'm only a mentor at 500Startups and don't have decisionmaking authority, but I'd predict that if you had a story like "We built a $WIDGET for doctors offices, cold called 100 people, got 10 meetings, and sold two systems for $1k a month each. To take this to $1 million a year we need a) a customer acquisition specialist, b) two engineers to firm up the feature set, and c) money to play with more scalable channels. That costs holy-OMG more than $2k a month." the answer would be "That is intriguing and we want to hear more."
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#5I get two different stories from different crowds on this issue. From many VCs and angels themselves - at least the ones that get their articles upvoted on this site - I get the impression that they dislike being bullshitted at. They hate people who are disingenuous. They don't care too much about projections or future plans. They just want to see how good your team is. From everyone else in the industry (those looki…
Recently on a date with a non-tech person I described my company as "not likely to be a billion dollar company, but a good one nonetheless." She was shocked that I would even mention the b-word. I need to get out more. :-)
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#6I get two different stories from different crowds on this issue. From many VCs and angels themselves - at least the ones that get their articles upvoted on this site - I get the impression that they dislike being bullshitted at. They hate people who are disingenuous. They don't care too much about projections or future plans. They just want to see how good your team is. From everyone else in the industry (those looki…
I know what you mean. In my limited experience ones who raise funds are the ones who know how to bullshit. Maybe VC's are exposed to soo much bullshitting they do not know what honesty is anymore?
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#7I mean that's great and everything. I love it. But. If the past and the present was so great, I wouldn't need money. I think Mark Hsu's paragraph on "Avoid overusing buzzwords" was pretty good; I think the avoid "Netflix for Pandas" thing is commonsense now but the notion that should actually use specific numbers when making your pitches can't be shouted enough.
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Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#8I mean that's great and everything. I love it. But. If the past and the present was so great, I wouldn't need money. I think Mark Hsu's paragraph on "Avoid overusing buzzwords" was pretty good; I think the avoid "Netflix for Pandas" thing is commonsense now but the notion that should actually use specific numbers when making your pitches can't be shouted enough.
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Yep. The problem becomes more acute if you have more typical numbers like a customer lifetime value at, say, $3k over 2 years and a cost of acquisition at $1k. That's a very worthwhile business but going cashflow negative for the first ~8 months of the relationship can get very unfun.
If you were actually at $10 CACA and $10 monthly revenue you'd give a phone call to either a) Bank of America credit card customer service (ask for a $25k++ credit limit) or b) your advertising channel (and ask for Net 30 payment terms).
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#9I get two different stories from different crowds on this issue. From many VCs and angels themselves - at least the ones that get their articles upvoted on this site - I get the impression that they dislike being bullshitted at. They hate people who are disingenuous. They don't care too much about projections or future plans. They just want to see how good your team is. From everyone else in the industry (those looki…
I think you're supposed to be ingenuously hypomanic. You're supposed to talk yourself up, promise the world, etc., but it's important that you sincerely believe it and are not just a bullshit artist. This requires you to be a little crazy.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/160/bill-nguyen-startups
Re: What VCs look for in startup pitches
#10I get two different stories from different crowds on this issue. From many VCs and angels themselves - at least the ones that get their articles upvoted on this site - I get the impression that they dislike being bullshitted at. They hate people who are disingenuous. They don't care too much about projections or future plans. They just want to see how good your team is. From everyone else in the industry (those looki…
Recently on a date with a non-tech person I described my company as "not likely to be a billion dollar company, but a good one nonetheless." She was shocked that I would even mention the b-word. I need to get out more. :-)
In tech (especially SF bubble) we forget billion dollars is lot of money.