4 ms·

Ask HN: A VC firm wants to meet. should they pay for the flight?

• andrewstuart 16y ago
  Are you sure you know if it is them, or if it is you that wants to meet? If someone called me and said "I love your company I'd like to meet", I'd say "well you can come into my office Friday if you like". If they said "we're too busy to come to you" then I'd say "I'm pretty busy too, let me know when you're in town next and we'll meet." The fact that they have said "let's meet" and you have rushed to buy a ticket to go to them probably means you want to meet them more than they want to meet you, therefore they will not pay for the flight.
  • jayzee 16y ago
    I have not bought the ticket yet. But I am not talking abt my specific case. What is standard/typical? I thought that they should pay and the fact that they have not brought it up would imply to me that they are not that interested and they are just fishing. But may be I am reading too much into it and vc's don't pay. Which is why I want to know what is typical. Thoughts folks?
    • andrewstuart 16y ago
      I'd ask them what they want to meet about. Why have they contacted you? Do they have specific questions? What would they like to cover in the meeting? Can it be covered over the phone? Who initiated the contact? If they contacted you then you have the "hand" and can ask all these questions. If you have been chasing them down asking for a meeting then probably you have to do as they ask.
    • keefe 16y ago
      Well, there's a class of people in the world that have sufficient agency they don't really care about the cost of the flight. If it's a big VC firm that MIGHT end up negotiating terms with you, then just showing up at their office and not mentioning trivial amounts of money too early is a sign of strength. if it's like a grand to get to them well fuck it but if you can do it for a few hundred bucks and meet with other people in sfbay or wherever too? That's probably what I'd do. Just turn up.
  • jayzee 16y ago
    by the way I think your comment abt meetings is related to general meetings. If you actually have vc partners troop into your office to invest in you then you are way too cool!!
• IAMSpirituality 16y ago
  How much have they seen already? Have they reviewed the business plan and the projections? Have they seen the slide deck of your investor presentation and want to meet you? Do they invest in your vertical, and have other portfolio companies that would compliment your business strategy? To answer your question, your expenses for meeting with VCs both on a road show and/or individually are typically on your dime. It's a cost of potentially doing business. If you don't think they are serious, you can always request to present the slide deck to them at a predetermined time over the Internet with GoToMeeting or something similar. That said, as a warning, funding deals go slow (sometimes to run you out of cash to make you even more desperate), and are only done through face to face interaction. FYI, investors typically make decisions on whether to fund based on their confidence to make your business plan work, and then whether they can hang out with you (are you easy to be and work with?). But there are also a lot of tire kickers who will waste your time with face to face meetings just to stay busy and learn what you know. Lastly, who in the org are you dealing with? A junior partner or associate who's job it is to get prospects into the office, or a partner / principle who has his own 7 digits on the line? All good things to know. Be picky. Turn them down by telling them you're not sure they're serious, and that you're talking to other folks who are. It makes you more attractive, and will get them off their ass if they are actually interested.
• ra 16y ago
  Or are they not interested and just wasting our time? You can expect to have to meet lots of investors, many of them several times over before you actually manage to secure any funding. The ones you meet that don't work out aren't wasting your time any more than you are wasting theirs. If they've agreed to meet you then it's probably because they see potential, either now or at some point in the future. To reduce the signal/noise ratio be sure not to overstate the progress you have already made as a company. The value of honesty in self-representation can not be over stated.
• bdclimber14 16y ago
  Lot's of VC firms do fish for information. I don't have much experience, but I would say "We're very busy right now and as a bootstrapped startup, all available funds are funneled into improving our product and delighting customers. Airfare isn't an affordable option right now, but I would love to meet the next time you are in the area." If they really are interested, they will offer to pay for the tickets right there. If they aren't serious, then they probably won't.
• damienbasile 16y ago
  Take another approach - set up other meetings with other VCs in the same city around the same time to justify the trip. Taking a trip on your own dime for one VC firm isn't as cost effective with your time, unless you're in the later stages of talks and even then if it's going well then they will fly you out with their money. My initial thoughts are to either do that or search close to home. If they're really interested they'll make it happen at all costs. It's a HUGE red flag that they're reluctant or ignore the questions in the email thread a couple of times. If it's not a policy of theirs to pay to fly out a prospect then that's fine, but say it up front. I personally wouldn't want to have anyone invest in my company that hems and haws around a pointed question.
• gojomo 16y ago
  Everything's negotiable, but also everything's a signal. If springing for your airfare was the key to making a investment they really wanted, they could do it easily (even if they've never done it before). But also, asking for the airfare makes you seem a bit desperate for what (to a healthy business that just needed expansion capital) would be a trivial expense. I like the "why don't you come visit us" response, especially if the travel distances make it a potential morning-out, evening-back trip for the VC who's interested in your business. It expresses interest but not too much, openness but also confidence. If you do take the time and expense yourself – and presumably this is to visit the valley – then be sure to meet many investors on the same trip. See all the Venture Hacks stuff on setting up a time-compressed market for your fundraising... though you could also view your initial visit as just a testing-the-water/getting-feedback exercise, figuring you'll return with a more focused fundraising agenda later.
• pclark 16y ago
  Erm, the VC should come to you.
• petervandijck 16y ago
  I don't think that's done. It's not good for them (they would have to pay heaps of tickets) or you (you show weakness).