My First Meeting with the Big Scary VC

I showed up late to my first VC pitch and felt totally unprepared. But he actually gave me the confidence to hit it out of the park.

EVERYTHING STARTED OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT

You know that feeling you have right before you take your last final of the semester? A ball of nerves, completely questioning whether you studied enough; self-doubt x 1000? Well that’s how I felt as I went to my first meeting with a VC. My good friend Hillel Fuld made an intro for me to Kevin Baxpehler, Managing partner of Remagine Ventures. Kevin said it may not be the best fit right now, but he’d love to meet and offer any help he can.

Everything started off on the wrong foot. My nerves kept me up til about 1:00am and I woke up later than I wanted. I rushed davening (morning prayers) and checked my Waze app to see how long it would take to get to Tel Aviv from where I live in Beit Shemesh (Normally 45 min.) An hour and 15 minutes. Ughhh…

I rush out the door and drive there, going over and over and over my pitch, missing important parts, fumbling over my words, sweating in the 93 degree heat. I enter the parking lot to the Azrieli Sarona Tower, just to be told it’s the wrong lot, and need to back out. Go straight, make a left and a right. Ok got it.

I find the elevator, enter floor 58, and I’m told it doesn’t go there. So I go up to the lobby. Give in my license, get a pass to enter into the main building, and eureka(!), I find the elevator going to the 58th floor. I walk into LABS, and incredible office space overlooking the mediterranean, look at my watch and… 30 min late. WTH?!?! (I messaged him saying it would be about 15. 😔)

Before I completely freaked out and lost my mind, I said to myself, “There will always be another one. If it doesn’t work out this time, you’ll get ’em next time.” (Blood-pressure stabilized).

AT EASE AND IMPRESSIVE

Here comes Kevin, with a big smile. Zero sign of frustration or disappointed on his face or in his demeanor. (Really!?) I apologized profusely, and he said “No problem!”, meaning it. (Nerves, once at a 10, now at an 8). He walked me to his office, and on the way explained he was very impressed with what we’re doing. (Nerves at a 6). He offered me a cold drink with or without carbonation, my choice. (Nerves at a 4). We start with some small talk, just shootin’ the breeze. (Nerves at a 2). Now it was time to get down to business.

He asked me where we’re holding, and I explained to him I wasn’t 100% prepared for a pitch, but was hoping to gain as much info from this meeting as possible. So I start giving my semi-pitch, being as authentic honest as I could. He listened intently.

I explained who we are at FashionTek, what problem we’re solving (low conversion rates, high returns and unsold inventory) and sat next to him to show off our demo. Before I opened the app, he asked me what our advantage was over one of our competitors. That one was obvious to me, we offer accurate fit and 360° visualization, they don’t. He was happy with the answer. When I placed the demo in his hands, he said, “Yea, this is better than your competitors”. (Did he really just say that?!)

THE BREAKDOWN AND TAKEAWAYS

After finishing the presentation, Kevin broke things down. He said he was impressed with the product. He felt I had the passion, knowledge and confidence worth investing in. His only concern was to make sure our tech team was properly organized, in place, and showed clear ownership of the IP. He even offered his guidance to help us solidify our tech team. He also wanted to introduce me to a rep from a major global brand, as well as connecting us to a potential collaborator in our space. (WOW, ARE YOU FLIPPIN’ SERIOUS?!). To end things off, he encouraged me to set up a following meeting to continue discussing how to move forward.

Things couldn’t have gone better. I met with the big scary VC, and found out he was just a teddy bear. Are all VCs this way? I doubt it. But from what I’ve learned over the past year, when given the opportunity, people want to help each other. It also reinforced within me, that when the spotlight’s on, I can rise to the occasion.

Me with Kevin Baxpehler, Managing Partner of Remagine Ventures

So here are some takeaways.

1. Prepare as much as you can several weeks in advance, and make sure your pitch is polished.
2. All the preparation in the world pales in comparison to actually being in the spotlight and going through it.
3. Schedule to be there at least 20 min early.
4. VCs are human beings.
5. Be yourself, be authentic and be confident in who you are.