4. Tips for Pitching
Who you pitch to is the most important thing
Don’t confuse product pitches (or sales pitches) with
company pitches
Key points often overlooked
Customer acquisition strategy
Unit economics
Take a look at bestofangel.com
It is not about checking boxes. It is about getting the
investor excited
5. "You are too early” and other excuses
Most investors do deals when they get excited. But they don't
like to say “I am not excited", so instead they use an easy
excuses, such as:
- You are too early
- The deal is too small
- I want to see more customers/revenues/technology
Be careful about trying to solve address their excuses, because
once you do they are likely to find others. Instead, figure out
how to get them excited.
Investors like to keep their options open.
6. It is not a Black and White distinction
between Angels, VCs, Private Equity
There are many shades of Grey...
-Full time professional angels.
-Angels with funds.
-VCs that focus on seed investments.
-VCs that participate in seed rounds.
-VCs with Private Equity growth funds
What matters most is the individual, not the firm!
Do your homework to identify the best possible people.
BTW, “Signaling” risks are exaggerated
7. International Companies have better
chances of fundraising elsewhere
• Silicon Valley is the only region with too many good deals.
Investors elsewhere HAVE TO invest outside their region,
but we don't. So the bar is much higher...
• So non Silicon Valley companies might be better of
fundraising in places such as London, New York or Boston.
• Of course, a few Silicon Valley investors do invest abroad,
but the bar is higher and the choices scarce
8. Series Seed vs Convertible
Note vs SAFE?
• Who cares???
• Whatever works best for the investors
• If a note, make sure it has a cap (and one everybody likes)
10. You can’t follow all the advise
that you get – including mine
There are many ways of building companies
You must find the approach that works for you
Advise should help you gain insights and to experiment
It is the same for competitive athletes…
11. Speed is overrated!
What good is going fast in the wrong direction?
The better you understand where you need to go, the
faster you can move
But, never stand still!
If you have money you will spend it… Get it when you
know how to use it
12. Risk is your friend
Make big bold bets. All of the most successful
entrepreneurs do!
Use time to diversify: focusing on one thing at a time
But it is OK to experiment with different things for a
while until you decide what you want to focus on. But
just for a while…
13. Don’t believe what you Read
Most success stories are made with 20/20 revisionist
hindsight
It often takes time, e.g. StumbleUpon and Twitter were
not overnight successes as some people think…
20/20 Hindsight gives great strategic vision. Realistically,
successes are built incrementally.
So, don’t obsess over your world domination vision. Just
make sure you have a vision for a small success – from which
you will be able to build a larger one. To use a baseball
analogy, start by getting to 1st base.
14. Help me Help You
Do your homework
The right people to talk to
The topics you want to discuss
Be Specific
Add value
