4 ms·

Hi all, Shawn Carolan here, partner at Menlo. I highly recommend talking with associates and analysts at firms, every funding starts with one internal champion

Hi all, Shawn Carolan here, partner at Menlo. I highly recommend talking with associates and analysts at firms, every funding starts with one internal champion and especially when you have a smart energetic guy like vineet get excited about a deal the partners listen! This is a major myth of the VC industry that anyone besides a partner is a waste of time. Most shops are pretty small so every fan counts. Good luck!

jdp23 16y ago
Yeah really. Associates' enthusiasm (or lack thereof) has a huge influence on how well your interaction with a VC firm goes. And 'access' isn't the only value from a call like this. I got very lucky and it turns out that Vinny knew a lot about the space I'm in. So he laid out what Menlo thinks are the two big strategic questions. If I have good answers for those, they'll be a lot more interested (and y'know what, so will other VCs). We even had time for me to try out potential answers to the questions, and get some quick calibration whether or not I was on the right path. Hugely hugely valuable.
alain94040 16y ago
So many of us have dreamed of a chat roulette to match VCs and entrepreneurs... My initial reaction was very positive, but then I checked the site, and I saw that there were only 3 slots of 10 minutes each. That doesn't sound like much. Can't you at least dedicate an hour to this, once? That would be 6 slots. I hope if it goes well, you'd start having a repeat system. I'm all for every possible way that people can connect with each other, especially beyond email :-)
- vrikhter 16y ago
  So this was just a start. We built the product over the last couple weeks and had a few people volunteer their time to try it out. Moving forward you'll see more dedicated times from folks. We had another listing out a couple days ago, but the 6 slots of 20-minutes each disappeared quite quickly. Btw, if you don't mind. drop me an email vladik dot rikhter at gmail. I've been meaning to connect with you in regards to your current startup. Thanks!
hack_rohan 16y ago
I registered never got a call from the associate received a email about confirmation about the meeting
- vrikhter 16y ago
  Do you mind dropping me an email vladik dot rikhter at gmail? We had a slight issue this morning with registration...

jdp23 16y ago

Yeah really. Associates' enthusiasm (or lack thereof) has a huge influence on how well your interaction with a VC firm goes. And 'access' isn't the only value from a call like this. I got very lucky and it turns out that Vinny knew a lot about the space I'm in. So he laid out what Menlo thinks are the two big strategic questions. If I have good answers for those, they'll be a lot more interested (and y'know what, so will other VCs). We even had time for me to try out potential answers to the questions, and get some quick calibration whether or not I was on the right path. Hugely hugely valuable.

alain94040 16y ago

So many of us have dreamed of a chat roulette to match VCs and entrepreneurs... My initial reaction was very positive, but then I checked the site, and I saw that there were only 3 slots of 10 minutes each. That doesn't sound like much. Can't you at least dedicate an hour to this, once? That would be 6 slots. I hope if it goes well, you'd start having a repeat system. I'm all for every possible way that people can connect with each other, especially beyond email :-)

vrikhter 16y ago
So this was just a start. We built the product over the last couple weeks and had a few people volunteer their time to try it out. Moving forward you'll see more dedicated times from folks. We had another listing out a couple days ago, but the 6 slots of 20-minutes each disappeared quite quickly. Btw, if you don't mind. drop me an email vladik dot rikhter at gmail. I've been meaning to connect with you in regards to your current startup. Thanks!

hack_rohan 16y ago

I registered never got a call from the associate received a email about confirmation about the meeting

vrikhter 16y ago
Do you mind dropping me an email vladik dot rikhter at gmail? We had a slight issue this morning with registration...