This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 31, 2014

Even if you haven''t gotten offers yet, your time is valuable and you can''t pitch everyone. You feel like you have a decent shot of successfully raising, so you want to prioritize who to pitch to first. When you pitch, tell a firm how they can be helpful. How did you pick who to pitch? 5) Who helps you before a yes.

VC 377

VC pitching venture capital capital 377

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible.

VC 417

VC pitching networking venture capital 417

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. ” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

Dream It

MAY 29, 2019

Startup pitch meetings are pretty predictable. You walk into a venture fund’s conference room or Zoom room (if they’re progressive), pitch the partners, offer to answer their questions, maybe ask them a bland question or two, and then leave the meeting to await a response. Steve Barsh.

pitching 284

pitching VC investing investment 284

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder. I don’t have enough traction.

advice 446

advice pitching venture capital VC 446

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The short answer is that you should have multiple versions of your “pitch deck” (a short, visual presentation in Keynote, PPT or similar and shared as a PDF) and each occasion has a specific goal. The VC will smile, thank you, and later pass. The key is WHAT you send.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. I think the issue I have always had with investment bank pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. They know how to build pitch decks. International money.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The NVCA and Pitch Book are out with their Q3 report on the VC industry and what they report is that the VC industry continues to be very active throughout the pandemic. Deal counts and deal values are stable to up over last year. The massive expansion of later-stage private capital continues unabated.

ventures 362

ventures VC pitching innovation 362

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every potentially good VC previously worked for Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman. Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. So what about a Techstars-like program for new VCs? But what about investors?

accelerator 368

accelerator mentorship VC incubation 368

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

While most of the money that goes into VC funds comes from institutions that are highly experienced in the asset class, some family offices and high net worth individuals also invest in VC. They’re trying to get exposure and diversification at the same time, while potentially seeing co-investment deal flow.

VC 267

VC investing investment strategy 267

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model. It just feels like the VC wasn''t that interested in the first place and so they''re not sure what the interest was in the first place. If an entrepreneur is going to invest their time pitching me or having a meeting--I''ll do my best to invest my time to have an opinion.

pitching 364

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 364

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. mention about themselves. Generosity.

venture capital 376

venture capital capital pitching ventures 376

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

The main driver of the skew towards men getting venture capital, statistically, is that far more men are pitching. That means you actually have a *better* shot, statistically, of getting VC investment at these firms, statistically, once you actually pitch. Once again, that''s all stats and doesn''t really explain anything.

founder 390

founder pitching venture capital mix-use 390

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. I don’t want any formal pitches. VC Industry' It’s exhausting.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 10, 2020

VCs are notorious for kicking tires. VCs take a meeting just to learn about an area. If deal flow is slow, a VC will take a meeting if you and your team seem mildly interesting even if your product isn’t. Some VCs have no money left in their funds, but they still like playing VC. Do you have dry powder for this?

VC 408

VC pitching opportunity founder 408

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

If I had to put a number on it I’d say 1 in 20 pitches – maybe 1 in 30 – are by an entrepreneur who comes across as truly passionate about her project. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC. But the two can of course go hand-in-hand.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. VCs don't go later and angels don't go earlier. Ask them for an intro to a VC.

advice 419

advice founder pitching VC 419

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

Then, they need to figure out a way to project that brand up above the venture community, like a Bat signal calling for the best founders to come and pitch them. This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients. The question is what to focus on.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin presents his view on the right way to answer it after hearing hundreds, if not thousands, of founder pitches. Make the specific amount you are raising and corresponding milestones clear at the beginning of the pitch, and do not give a range. The amount you're raising is your ask.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

TechCrunch

JULY 2, 2021

Founder of Unicorn Capital and Minimal Capital, Evan Fisher 's pitching and investor strategy has helped startups raise more than $2.5 Not even a senior VC. Even if the only benefit was that other investment committee members heard the story direct from the founder, that alone would make your video pitch worth it. Evan Fisher.

pitching 122

pitching VC venture capital capital 122

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. Ask your VC to send a critical email to a contact.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers. Get paying customers and they''ll tell you to get bigger, enterprise clients.

venture capital 390

venture capital pitching health VC 390

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

The first pitch I got was from someone who didn''t intend on staying with the business as an employee. Everyone I''ve ever gotten pitched from can''t wait to quit their other jobs to work on what''s being pitched. I''m a big fan of transparency, but if you''re going to go far and wide on a pitch, organizing your story is key.

pitching 348

pitching consulting VC venture capital 348

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. But … we had committed to setting up an EIR program where we would fund people to work on their ideas in our offices and also get the dual experience of working inside a VC. Come to entrepreneur pitches. He texted me and offered to give me a ride down there. But nothing major.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. How many more investments could I do? How where things going? That''s also why I''m finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc.

pitching 413

pitching board VC opportunity 413

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

The perverse nature of raising capital is that “no’s” almost always precede “yeses” because it’s very easy for a VC to tell you that you’re not a good fit without doing any real work to evaluate your company so you hear “no” far before others start doing more work. By the end the buyer forgets why they loved your presentation.

pitching 238

pitching VC mix-use entrepreneurs 238

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. If you haven’t read the other VC fund-raising posts I’ve done as part of this series you can find the whole outline and this first in the series here.]

VC 239

VC pitching strategy investing 239

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2021

For years, he went on to advise other founders about how to generate VC interest, which really could have amounted to, “Be a warm body with a pulse in a sector that firm got shut out of a deal in.” Sorry buddy, but no, I don’t have any other VC friends whose thesis is trying to lose money as fast as possible. You pitched a jerk.

founder 317

founder pitching VC advice 317

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I have sat through countless pitches with Ivy League grads spewing off intellectual descriptions of the details of their product or service and why it will win in the market. In a VC pitch this type of messaging will do just fine. These messages need to pass the cocktail party pitch. And I think this is a mistake.

entrepreneurs 370

entrepreneurs pitching startup education 370

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

I see this time and time again—a founder pitches a VC or an angel and they say to come back when there’s more traction. We create a blind panel of 10 investors from venture funds who rate you anonymized pitch across multiple categories, providing you with a detailed report on how fundable and workable your idea is.

pitching 364

pitching VC opportunity founder 364

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Case in point: only 1% of 2022 VC dollars went to Black founders, a marked decrease year over year. We sourced and received applications from hundreds of Black, high-growth startup founders from all over the country and held workshops and discussions about the challenges they face, all of which culminated in a virtual pitch competition.

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Keep reading for some more of the most common mistakes startups make when pitching and for Steve’s tips on how to fix them. Investors want to hear, “Our unique insight is __”… in your pitch 2. VCs are judging your ability to sell If you are running a B2B company, investors know that you need to “sell” to potential early adopters.

startup founder 397

startup founder founder startup pitching 397

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. Half the time, founders were pitching a completely different idea than what took off--so the VC who looks brilliant for funding the latest viral app really funded a B2B product that never took off. So why bother showing up?

advice 416

advice startup VC strategy 416

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

When I’m scanning a pitch deck I’m basically looking to put it into one of two buckets – Traditional or Different. If you’re a VC raising your first fund, and you think you fit either of these descriptions, please let us know. of them, often as their first or second largest investor.

peer-to-peer 86

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 86

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Most of USV’s big wins have been in companies where we were the first institutional VC to talk to the company or where we had way more conviction about the opportunity than other investors at the time of our investment. ” He was surprised and said “You are the first VC to say that.”

VC 254

VC pitching investing investment 254

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2021

Below is a link to the pitch video. There wasn’t any context around it—not exactly something I’d call a “pitch”. I explained that this wasn’t really a pitch because it lacked all sorts of context. Having been called out, I set up a meeting—but I didn’t do it to take a charity pitch. Who was the team?

pitching 243

pitching transportation consulting creativity 243