VC tips #2: The meeting
So you’ve landed that pitch meeting you wanted. What’s next? How do you make the most of the opportunity? How do you ensure it’s plain sailing?
Preparation:
You know what they say, business plans are useless but planning is essential. This is equally true for a pitch meeting. It’s just as much about thinking that it is making the plan. And be selective. Identify the most important parts of your business and make sure that this comes across well. I always prefer to look at a pitch deck. It shows that you’ve put some real thinking into it. You’ve already asked yourself the important questions about the market, the product, vision etc. The deck also gives the meeting some focus, and steers it.
So what should a pitch deck include? (Not necessarily in this order)
* Team — show that you have the right competencies and background to build this business. Why you will succeed, be better and grow faster than anyone else. Another thing I like to understand here is if your team has some sort of unfair competitive advantage (will be another blog post at some point).
* Product and product roadmap — where are you now in terms of product and what are the next improvements? (as of right now — this could change very quickly)
* Market — and especially addressable market — show that the addressable market is big enough and if it’s early — show that it’s growing
* Competitive landscape — who are you competing with and even if it’s not head-to-head competition talk about substitutes
* Status now, what you’re going to achieve in the next 6–12 months as well as the long term vision
* Financials and metrics — regardless of stage, we want to know number of users, retention, engagement etc even though it might only be a private beta. Which KPIs will you use to measure success
* Financing round — how much are you raising, how are you using the proceeds, which milestones will you hit based on this financing round
If you’ve covered these parts decently, there will at least be room for a healthy discussion during the meeting and you’ll be prepared.
Last thing though, look through the deck a few times to make sure you haven’t made any silly mistakes like using multiple currencies, made any typo’s etc. It just makes it a lot more professional.
Also, don’t forget to look up what the VC has invested in before. There might be an overlap and/or companies you would like to get to know.
The meeting:
I’ll give you an overview of what I think is important here but others might disagree with me. So first of all, never ever let anyone other than management hold the presentation. Sometimes founders bring people along to the meetings. The CEO should lead and the rest of the team get involved where their areas of expertise are relevant. And don’t ever bring an external advisor to lead the talk — it only rings alarm bells about leadership.
Secondly, I prefer (and I know I’m not alone) confident yet humble entrepreneurs. The most impressive are confidently knowledgeable about their business and industry but still humble enough to understand that you don’t know what you don’t know. Investors have the luxury of sitting through numerous meetings and getting to know tons of companies. See this as an opportunity. They can sometimes help guide you during these meetings and make you see a different perspective.
Thirdly, make sure that it’s a dialogue and a discussion around what you’re presenting. If the investor is being too quiet — make sure you know why. Was there something unclear, are you talking too much/too fast? Don’t leave investors with burning questions.
Fourth and final, make sure to ask what the next steps are and if you want introductions to someone, ask. Most people in this industry try to help as much as possible.
There. I think you should be ready now. Remember, the more you know about your investor, the better the meeting will go. If you understand investment thesis they’re looking at, you can steer the conversation into this direction. And you’re hopefully a lot more knowledgeable about your domain than the investor.
Have I forgotten anything? Feel free to tweet at me @Ldahg
