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You want to pitch to VCs who you can get to believe you're solving a real problem that exists (or will obviously exist) in the market, the solution to that prob
by im_down_w_otp 7y ago
You want to pitch to VCs who you can get to believe you're solving a real problem that exists (or will obviously exist) in the market, the solution to that problem that you're providing scales super-linearly when money is added to the pot (i.e. is a product, not a service), and that the actual market opportunity is huge in total Dollars.
It helps then if they're familiar-ish with the markets you're addressing so they'll be aware of some of the challenges and sizing considerations (we talked to many, many VCs who just had no idea how big markets were outside the ones they were familiar with, like the enormity of the "Operational Technology" market compared to the IT market), and also that you can clearly articulate what you're making is an actual repeatable product to sell.
The most important thing to remember is that VCs want to make money, your ideas are just a path to making money, so your #1 job is to show them how they're going to make lots of money, not show them how clever your ideas are.
- ablekh 7y agoI appreciate you sharing your opinion. So, essentially, you don't seem to think that potential cons of approaching VCs with domain knowledge that I mentioned above (inherent "bias" and lack of belief in possibility of certain solutions) outweigh relevant potential pros. Regarding other aspects, I certainly realize VCs' market size and financial upside considerations.
- im_down_w_otp 7y agoIt could present issues if you're speaking to a particularly disagreeable VC, but you're unlikely to convince that person anyway. They've decided they've got an axe to grind and they're going to use you as the grindstone. If you're in a situation where you're having to overcome objections in your pitch, most of the time you've already lost, and you should just move on. The goal for your pitch is to figure out how to sidestep or head off at the pass any of the objections you've heard before.
- ablekh 7y agoUnderstood, thank you. I agree with your points. However, just to clarify, the basis for my original question is whether it is possible to predict VCs' "(dis)agreeableness", based on their domain expertise or lack thereof. I appreciate your opinion and look forward to hearing more thoughts from this community.
- im_down_w_otp 7y agoThat I don't think is likely to be any kind of stable predictor. It has more to do with their personality than their background as near as I can tell.
- ablekh 7y agoFair enough. Keeping this in mind, I think that I should do my best to refocus on working more on validating my ideas as opposed to over-analyzing potential funding issues that might or might not happen down the road. :-)