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Here is How to Make Sense of Conflicting Startup Advice

Both Sides of the Table

People like Vinod Khosla, Keith Rabois, Brian Singerman, Marc Andreessen and others have all made head-scratching private comments to me that sounded so foreign to what I thought other people were doing in VC that they caused me to challenge and ultimately change some of my own views. Draw from Frameworks. Triangulate.

advice 407
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How to Handle a VC Presentation with No Deck

Both Sides of the Table

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. But take prompts from the VC.

VC 299
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How to Improve Your Odds of Getting to Yes with a VC — “Land and Expand”

Both Sides of the Table

In order to understand how to “get to yes” with a VC you first need to understand how VC partnerships make decisions and then you can understand how to increase your odds of closing a deal. VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching. Reciprocity is equally destructive.

VC 314
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How Many Investors are Too Many?

Both Sides of the Table

When this first ran on TechCrunch I got the greatest comment in the world that I had to repeat here, “VC’s are like martinis: the first is good, the second one great, and the third is a headache.&# I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table. I love that. And it’s kind of true.

VC 314
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What's your hero story?

This is going to be BIG.

His story of overcoming child abuse, a missing arm ligament, a decade in the minors and going on to reinvent himself in his mid-30's using a pitch few have mastered is nothing short of inspirational. Oh, did I mention it turns out he's been pitching with a torn abdominal muscle all season? The movie centers around a lawsuit.

pitching 265
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Don’t be a Grin Fucker

Both Sides of the Table

McKinsey had their “ 7S framework &# and BCG had the “ BCG Matrix &# with cash cows, dogs, stars and question marks. I mean Porter’s Five forces is a useful framework but it’s basically microeconomics with a pretty wrapper. I found that most VC’s never gave me any feedback when I was pitching.

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Is Strategic Money an Oxymoron?

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series. So I thought I’d try to lay out a framework for how you should think about it as many you will inevitably be faced with this experience. OK, I know this is true with VC also, but to a lesser extent. The topic of &# strategic&# investors came up.

advice 279