Sunday, February 04, 2007

Me and VC

We've been meeting with quite a few venture capitalists lately in the endless quest for funding. New York, Boston, Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and back home. You start to dream about the pitch at this point. The feedback comes back. Too early, too late, too far away, market is too small, market is too broad to stay focused enough. All the usual no's that come with the territory. The one I can't stand is geography. Why would you even meet if you knew geography would be an issue? I know the real answer to that question is that it's an easy way to say no but it's also a very lame way to say no.

Please give us REAL feedback. We spend a lot of time traveling and discussing our business with you. We deserve a straight answer!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim,
I can't but agree with you. I'm in an early stage at fund rising, I'm just starting.
This means that REAL feedback can be very useful. That's the less that one deserves after traveling.

Good luck in your quest!

Erik said...

What's worse is when they say "maybe".

If you're going to say no, just say it. While I'm passionate about what I do, I don't have time to educate you if you already know in advance you'll never get there.

Anonymous said...

love it! its all such posturing...I can't imagine 'real' feedback exists

Anonymous said...

VCs almost *never* give open and honest feedback (unless you know them well).

Now, there's various conclusions you can draw from that. However, the bottom line is this: VCs chase the deals they're after. Anything other than them picking up the phone and hassling you after your first meeting means you're not a hot deal.

As long as entrepreneurs know this, it's easy to read between the lines...

Anonymous said...

Excellent post but you should be happy to be in the state !
Because Europe for the same quest in a lot more painfull.
The answer i love best is tell me you else is interested !
Any way, quest is part of the game and as you said it's mainly very insightfull feebacks.

PS: for your list of books you should try the widget of My company U.[lik] is available on my blog.

The Lal said...

A maybe is a NO

Just keep thinking "They're not that into you"

What a waste going 2 Seattle/wherever and its a "your 2 far away". What PITA

Lal

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