VC Minute – quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better
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Happy Friday, everybody. Allyson’s episode from yesterday sparked a thought for me. When a start-up comes into my inbox cold or through another investor, there are really only two things I’m trying to figure out. First, is this for me? Second, is this interesting?
For the first question, is this for me?”I’m running down a mental checklist. Is this in the right industry? Is it in one of our focus areas? Is this the right geo? We only invest in the US. Is this the right stage? Somewhere in the seed phase.
And second, is this interesting? This is where Allyson’s point about specificity comes into play. To evaluate if this is differentiated and truly transformational, I need to understand the problem and the solution. I love Allyson’s example about specifying the benefit to your customer. Leaning on a phrase from my sales days, focus on WIIFT: What’s In It For Them? I need to understand the problem and the solution. The latter can be demonstrated through outcomes.
Other things that make our start-up interesting are our incredible team—not just faces with logos, but why you? And up-and-to-the-right traction always makes a startup more interesting. You often just need to flip the switch that lights that light bulb above the investor’s head and get them to say, Oh, well, this is interesting.” That switches them from skimming into reading.
If it is for me and it is interesting, I’ll read more and most likely take a meeting. And that’s really all you want from an intro email and an intro deck: the first meeting.
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And thank you for joining us. Time is our most precious asset. And I’m grateful that you would spend some of it with us. Have a great long weekend.
About AVL Growth Partners
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