How to Pitch to a VC? Part II on Communications
June 4 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Pitching your start-up company to a venture capitalist is a tough experience and its important for entrepreneurs to have a clear elevator-pitch when presenting to a VC, as we described in Part 1 of our series for "How to Pitch to a VC".
There is a funny, yet somehow very true blog by Guy Kawasaki about what a VC thinks about the things a startup says to him. The overall lesson of his post is to communicate clearly about what you do. Don't waste their time or your reputation with lines that make VCs want to cringe.
Two excerpts from Guy's article:
- Start-Up says: "I'm sure you are aware of the growing need for security. Web 2.0, Open Source, whatever." Investor thinks: "If you're sure I'm aware, why are you telling me you're sure I'm aware."
- Start-Up says: "If you sign an NDA, I'll tell you my idea." Investor thinks: "You are clueless. How can you not know that venture capitalists don't sign NDAs?"
This lesson is something we see time and time again when interacting with security startups. If you want someone to invest in your company, take the time (or hire someone else to do it) to answer some fundamental questions about your company and then don't be shy about sharing this insight when you have the chance.
Previous articles
August 2008 - 2 article(s) | show
July 2008 - 18 article(s) | show
June 2008 - 21 article(s) | show
May 2008 - 20 article(s) | show
April 2008 - 12 article(s) | show
March 2008 - 7 article(s) | show
February 2008 - 8 article(s) | show
January 2008 - 9 article(s) | show
December 2007 - 1 article(s) | show
November 2007 - 8 article(s) | show
October 2007 - 11 article(s) | show
September 2007 - 6 article(s) | show
Leave a Comment