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> If the CEO is the only person meeting with investors or only trusts one or two other people to meet with them that is another big concern. I know you said 'c
by coffeemug 12y ago
> If the CEO is the only person meeting with investors or only trusts one or two other people to meet with them that is another big concern.
I know you said 'concern' and not 'problem', but I generally do this and have a totally different motivation for it.
Our guys and gals are really busy. There is a lot of work (often very specialized work) that needs to get done, and it's important to shield them from distractions. Investors generally tend to helicopter up -- they see our world/company from thirty thousand feet. It's a totally different perspective that takes some time and experience to get used to. Even most CEOs have trouble shifting into this mindset. It requires an enormous context shift. For people who don't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, it can be dramatically harder to do it on a whim.
A minute ago you were sitting at your computer, trying to figure out a C++ boost error message, and now someone asks you "how do you think the feature you're working on will impact the company's revenue in the next quarter?" That can really throw people off. They might feel like they should have had a better answer. Investor conversations can seem extremely important to people who aren't used to doing it on regular basis, and it can distract them from critical work. I think it's good general practice to try and avoid it.
That doesn't mean undue paranoia -- if someone wants to talk to the investor (or the other way around), they're welcome to. But I think being thoughtful about protecting your people that are neck deep in work from distractions is usually a good policy.
- grandalf 12y agoI think at a certain point a company reaches a size where there are functional units that generally do independent work and the founder has little to do with it -- if an investor has an interest in that area (or ideally experience/advice to offer) it makes sense for some members of the team to be involved in the dialog, though probably not the guy writing the algorithms in c++.