Lessons on how to how to fund a company, wow investors, manage the diligence process, and manage VCs post investment. Slides taken from a class taught by Ambar Bhattacharyya is a Senior Associate at Bessemer Ventures, the oldest VC firm in America. Learn more from the experts by visiting http://intelligent.ly/learn.

1. presents
AMBAR BHATTACHARYYA
@AmbarBh
NOTE: Advice in this deck is distributed by Ambar Bhattacharyya,
and does not reflect the views of Bessemer Ventures.
How to Raise
Money 101

2. • How venture firms work – roles, responsibilities, process, timelines
• The setup – how to get a meeting
• Delivering the pitch – what to say, what to avoid
• The follow-up – what to do after the initial pitch
• How to deal with an immediate “no”
• How to think about diligence
• Q&A
Agenda

3. Relevant characteristics of VC firms – identify your target
1. Size
2. Location
3. Round
4. Sector
5. Business model
VC Firm
Characteristics…

4. • Partner?
• Vice President/Principal?
• Associate?
• Analyst?
• All of the above?
Understand everyone’s roles and responsibilities.
Who should I talk to?

5. • Investment champion
• Internal communications
• Monday meetings
• Types of decision-making processes
1. Seed rounds
2. VC rounds
What is the investment process
like within a VC fund?

6. • Investment memos/presentations
• Q&A
• Valuation discussions
• Process
• Selling, selling, selling
Entrepreneurs have to give VCs the
information become internal sales advocate of
your company even when you aren’t there.
What happens
behind the scenes?

7. Where can I meet a
VC?
Happen-Stance
• Conferences
• Office hours
• Panels
• Cold email
Warm Leads
• Through people you know
• Through people you meet
• Through trusted
entrepreneurs
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

8. • The pitch!
• No one reads business plans…but everyone flips through a 10-15 slide
deck
• Tips
– Prepare 2 decks – short version (for use in initial pitch) and long version (for follow-on
diligence or to call upon during Q&A)
– Know what your ‘ask’ is
Ok, so I got a meeting with a
VC…now what?

9. SLIDE 1: WHAT WE’RE DOING
Two sentences, 22 words, plain English. One buzzword, but used appropriately. Immediately conveys the idea.
SLIDE 2: TEAM
SLIDE 3: THE PROBLEM
Plain English describes the problem and why current solutions are a pain in the ass.
SLIDE 4: THE SOLUTION
Clear description of what this product/service would allow me to do. Concise, but makes it intuitively obvious why this solution would offer real value.
SLIDES 5-8: 2 EXAMPLE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Very discrete real world illustrations of how I might experience the problem in the course of my life and how the app would solve it. In the absence of a demo,
the slides describe how the app works and why I would like it.
SLIDE 9: MARKET
Tell me what markets you’re going after, what the different segments are, and which ones you’ll target first and why. As well as who you will be competing
against.
SLIDE 10: BUSINESS MODEL
Tell me how you think customers are willing to pay and how the business scales.
SLIDE 11: INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY
How much you want to raise and why?
SLIDE 12: USE OF PROCEEDS
And key milestones. Tell me how long the money will last without any revenue.
*Thanks to Mike Hirshland for the broad framework
What to say in your
deck*

10. • Passion, passion, passion
• Know the details
• Describe customer/user pain point & and how you can solve it
• Talk up the team
• Show what you’ve tried that hasn’t worked - “lessons learned”
• Capital efficiency – who doesn’t love scrappiness?
• Demonstrate at least one thing that you’ve accomplished in this (or a past
business) that shouldn’t have been possible
• Urgency, urgency, urgency!
What to touch on
with VCs…

11. • Not mentioning the competition (VCs know!).
• Use a hockey stick, but not a crazy one. What matters are margins
at scale.
• Market sizes that are so large that they are unbelievable. What
matters - market segments and different products.
• Use humor…but not too much.
• Your dedication to your other full-time job.
What to avoid
talking about

12. VCs are notoriously bad at following up.
So how do you get them to prioritize you?
Recent wins
New data
Press
Competitor action
Create a sense of urgency, momentum - and
scarcity!
The Follow-Up

13. • That is OK!
• This means “not now”, not “never”
• What can you do to keep in touch?
1. Quarterly updates
2. Bi-annual check-ins
3. Updates on other investors who are ‘engaging’ you
Raising money can be a multi-step process that takes time – you can use that for your advantage
What if they say no?

14. Diligence process
• Think in advance of what data they might want and arrange it in advance (model,
web stats, cohort analysis, etc.)
• For questions that they don’t have answers to, have ways to find out quickly –
and cheaply!
• It is a process, so managing it with care – over-communicate, spoon-feed, and be
willing to listen
Always keep the ball moving forward
• If you get to a ‘no’, understand where the lack of comfort is.
• It’s not easy to get people to take a leap of faith now, but think back to the last
slide – it can be overcome with time (baby steps)
If you get to a ‘yes’, congrats!
• Sign up for Negotiating Your Series A Term Sheet J
What if they are
interested?

15. Course Title
Course Title
INSTRUCTOR NAME