5. Show Some Passion!
“Yes, you need to appear professional if you are going to be starting a serious business, but you need to show some passion and enthusiasm. Start-ups are hard, and they take a long time, and you will need to show that you have the inner drive to get through the highs and lows. This doesn’t mean you have to jump up and down and wave your arms. Perhaps it’s a story about what is driving you to get into your business, why it’s personal, or why there is nothing else you would rather do than spend the next 5 to 10 years living and breathing this idea of yours.” —Deepak Kamra, General Partner, Canaan Partners, Menlo Park, Calif. Investment Focus: Early stage Internet and enterprise software
6. Know Your Financials
“Know exactly what you want to spend your money on. Don’t tell me how long it will last; tell me what you want to prove. The most impressive entrepreneurs communicate the value of their businesses through numbers. A conversation centered on a company’s revenue growth, sales funnel, and customer churn causes an immediate connection with investors because when entrepreneurs position themselves as metrics-driven, it’s as though they’ve entered an investor’s mind. “A CEO’s leadership and marketability can’t be understated either. Sometimes a company looks terrific on paper, but if the CEO doesn’t inspire confidence in the first meeting, this shortcoming will doom the investor’s appetite.” —Mark Patricof, Founding Partner of Mesa Ventures and Founder of advisory firm MESA Global, New York Investment Focus: Early stage Internet and enterprise startups
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7. Convince Me
“There are many standard attributes that venture capitalists look for from an entrepreneur’s pitch. As entrepreneurs get better at making pitches, I’ve found myself engaging with the founding teams that convey the following: (1) a personal story regarding the start-up’s concept; (2) their own market validation, be it customer traction or proof points addressing market gaps; and (3) a sense that they’ve done their homework on my firm, my role, and our potential value-add. The bar has been raised for entrepreneurs to impress venture capitalists, so it’s the extra mile that can make or break the first impression.” —Michael Yang, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures, Palo Alto, Calif. Investment Focus: Consumer Internet applications and services. Particular interest in start-ups and business models that disrupt how offline industries historically have functioned.
8. Show How It All Stitches Together
“I am always impressed by entrepreneurs who can articulate a compelling and credible case for how the combination of their product vision, market opportunity, team, and go-to-market strategy will coalesce into a unique and disruptive opportunity for their business. Successful growth companies are the byproduct of a well-developed plan executed by a passionate team. In my experience, great entrepreneurs are terrific at showing how their performance to date hews to their vision for the business and its potential.” —Phil Dur, Partner & Co-Founder, PeakSpan Capital, Burlingame, Calif. Investment Focus: Exclusive focus on growth stage business software companies
