The massive returns needed to succeed in venture capital is one of the key drivers of the TAM obsession. Bigger markets offer bigger opportunities for growth and bigger exits. Or at least, that’s the commonly held belief.

Building a business is extremely hard. There are risks all along the way. I dig in on this and offer some questions to ask investors to gauge their risk assessment of your business.

We invest in risky businesses, which means that we feel we’ve got a good grasp on the odds of different types of outcomes, including a zero return outcome. When we hit on uncertainty, that’s when it becomes hard to get to a yes, because uncertainty is where we’re unable to assess the risk.

I asked my teammates for their least favorite thing to hear from startups and it’s, “six months after this seed round, we’re going to raise a Series A.”

FOMO, in the VC Minute playbook, is a subtle knife that cuts through silence to elevate you in a fund’s process.

Don’t say your pro forma financials are “conservative.” They are complete fabrications! And that’s OK.

If you call your funding round a “Bridge Round” it puts you in a defensive position. Listen to today’s #VCMinute for what you should say instead.

This week I’m covering things NOT to say to investors, starting with… exits. Talking about an exit strategy at the seed stage is ridiculous.

Happy Friday, everybody. It’s a Friday in July, and do you know, what’s the perfect thing for a hot summer day? A pool party! All the reasons investors say “no” can wash away when the pool party is packed.

There’s a big reason that funds pass or ghost on investments, but they would never share it with founders. It’s entirely subjective and often just based off gut instincts.