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Any suggestions? After a while, we could say that we had 2nd round mtgs with VCs and that we had so and so committed, but in the beginning, there wasn't too mu

by hippo33 14y ago

Any suggestions? After a while, we could say that we had 2nd round mtgs with VCs and that we had so and so committed, but in the beginning, there wasn't too much else to say.

patio11 14y ago
With regards to the etiquette of when you can drop people's names into the conversation, I would ask somebody over there in the Valley as my understanding is there are thorny social norms there and I'm only barely conversant on them. With regards to expressing urgency, maybe something like: "I appreciate that you've got a busy schedule. Boy, can I empathize, it seems like I have to slide the actual running of the company in between the fundraising. But, you know, the market's the market right now. I'll tell you the same thing I'd tell everyone else: we'd be happy to pencil you in for X but our situation is evolving and there may not be an open window for this by X." (I've never raised money, but when I sell consulting gigs, I typically throw in a true observation like "I have N weeks of availability. My experience is that I usually book up." Ask the 500 crew, but it seems to me like "We're a 500/YC/etc startup. Historically, the rounds sometimes close out quickly." is absolutely true, conveys urgency, leverages social proof, and doesn't say anything you wouldn't want retweeted.)
- hippo33 14y ago
  I think we are generally in agreement -- I just used the pipeline line to convey this urgency. I'm not a big fan of name-dropping in this case, because from what I see, lots of founders do this all the time, and it's not worth anything IMHO. I can pull out lots of cards: 500/Google/Stanford/MIT/Harvard, but one of the things that I'm trying to convey in this post is that even in the Valley with all of those cards -- and I talk with friends from all these networks all the time, there is still a lot of hustle that goes unreported. The streets aren't lined with gold just because you are a 500company (or YC/TechStars/AngelPad). For most companies, people are not just throwing money at you because of your networks or who you know/talk with. It is true that some rounds close quickly, but the majority don't. Also, most of this post refers to the beginning of the process. Once you start bringing investors in, it closes more quickly from that social proof, and that's how rounds accelerate faster in the end. But, that's in Part II. :)

by hippo33 14y ago

Any suggestions? After a while, we could say that we had 2nd round mtgs with VCs and that we had so and so committed, but in the beginning, there wasn't too much else to say.

patio11 14y ago

With regards to the etiquette of when you can drop people's names into the conversation, I would ask somebody over there in the Valley as my understanding is there are thorny social norms there and I'm only barely conversant on them. With regards to expressing urgency, maybe something like: "I appreciate that you've got a busy schedule. Boy, can I empathize, it seems like I have to slide the actual running of the company in between the fundraising. But, you know, the market's the market right now. I'll tell you the same thing I'd tell everyone else: we'd be happy to pencil you in for X but our situation is evolving and there may not be an open window for this by X." (I've never raised money, but when I sell consulting gigs, I typically throw in a true observation like "I have N weeks of availability. My experience is that I usually book up." Ask the 500 crew, but it seems to me like "We're a 500/YC/etc startup. Historically, the rounds sometimes close out quickly." is absolutely true, conveys urgency, leverages social proof, and doesn't say anything you wouldn't want retweeted.)

hippo33 14y ago
I think we are generally in agreement -- I just used the pipeline line to convey this urgency. I'm not a big fan of name-dropping in this case, because from what I see, lots of founders do this all the time, and it's not worth anything IMHO. I can pull out lots of cards: 500/Google/Stanford/MIT/Harvard, but one of the things that I'm trying to convey in this post is that even in the Valley with all of those cards -- and I talk with friends from all these networks all the time, there is still a lot of hustle that goes unreported. The streets aren't lined with gold just because you are a 500company (or YC/TechStars/AngelPad). For most companies, people are not just throwing money at you because of your networks or who you know/talk with. It is true that some rounds close quickly, but the majority don't. Also, most of this post refers to the beginning of the process. Once you start bringing investors in, it closes more quickly from that social proof, and that's how rounds accelerate faster in the end. But, that's in Part II. :)