4 ms·
I suggest emailing up-and-coming VCs who are more eager for any kind of dealflow. Look for people/funds who just raised their first fund. They are hustling, li
by the_economist 10y ago
I suggest emailing up-and-coming VCs who are more eager for any kind of dealflow.
Look for people/funds who just raised their first fund. They are hustling, likely not drowning in leads like Michael Siebel is, and willing to do just about anything to make their LPs happy including spending countless hours evaluating investment opportunities from complete strangers.
- callmeed 10y agoSo, how do you find such people?
- HappyTypist 10y agoLook up recent funds and cold email them.
- ci5er 10y agoMaybe I'm old, but why not call them? "I'm looking for 5 on a 25 pre - can I have 15 minutes of your time face to face?"
- hooo 10y agoA lot of people would find that annoying: - it forces them to stop what they're doing - it puts them on the spot forcing some kind of response
- ci5er 10y agoYour point is that the answer to the $5M ask is "no"? Fine, I guess. Do I care? I've got a company to build. Or is your point that I might hurt somebody's feelings?
- morgante 10y agoUnless you're a hot company, the power imbalance favors the VC. This means you should be communicating on their schedule, not yours. Email is async and hands down beats phone calls (which are synchronous). Also, a lot of people really just hate phone calls. I won't even talk to recruiters on the phone—if they try to call me, I tell them to send me an email.
- onion2k 10y agoCalling requires them to be free to talk at the time you call, and interrupts whatever they're doing. Emailing doesn't.
- Kiro 10y agoWhat does 5 on a 25 pre mean?
- fudged71 10y agoraising a $5M equity round on a $25M pre-money valuation
- erikb 10y agoI would disagree. Yes, this way you get "easy money", but what you actually want is "smart money". It's like with building your unfair advantage. It shouldn't be too easy, otherwise it won't have the required value.
- someear 10y agoI think Michael Seibel says it himself somewhere else - yes you do want smart money. But the reality for 95% of the time you just need money. The founders make or break the company, and optimizing for just the best investors is optimizing for the 5%. The other reality is that majority of startups will fail to raise money. So unless you're truly hot s*, raise from anyone including so-called "dumb money" as long as they dont add negative value by pestering you or doing something similar. Startups die cuz they can't raise or run out of money. Usually a symptom of something else, but don't die cuz you only chased smart money.
- erikb 10y agoI would assume that if you need money you don't want to take it. Starting a company is also investing, but something more than money: your health, your time, your personal relationships. I wouldn't do that if the money I need wouldn't come to me easily enough. Really, if you can't focus on finding the smart money, better have a main job and treat the business as your side project, at least for now.