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Five Worst Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching Angel Investors
- mvkel 15y agoThis post sounds great on paper, but in my experience, the investors themselves ask about all the items you forbid talking about. Maybe that's the mark of a crappy investor, but I think an entrepreneur should be prepared to answer the question, or NOT answer the question where appropriate. 2) I've had investors ask for very obscure numbers and forecasts related to user base, revenue, etc. thirty minutes into a meeting. 3) I've been scolded by a VC for not putting, literally, a graph with tiny letters of revenue forecasts. Absolutely silly and impractical, but they wanted it. 4) A business plan is there for a reason -- to outline the strategy of your business. It's often sent to an investor before you even meet them. If you're going to do other stuff right from the gun, why isn't it in the business plan? An investor's confidence would be lowered if half of your presentation contradicts what's mentioned in the plan. 5) Without fail, all the investors I met with asked "how much do you want to raise?" with a quick follow-up "how much do you think your company is worth?" Now, I don't think you should EVER answer the second question, but I just wanted to mention that the question WILL come up, and you need to be able to block/bridge appropriately. Just saying "I will not answer that" won't suffice. I think, ultimately, you need to balance what makes sense to present and what the VC/angel actually wants to see, no matter how impractical.