VCs Are Human Beings
Things You Didn’t Know About Fundraising
In the eyes of an average startup, VCs are the money-keeping monsters from the other dimension. They do not want to share the wealth, support amazing ideas and celebrate inevitable success. They refuse to admire entrepreneurial creativity. They ask the strangest questions and demand peculiar information. Or at least… this is what lots of entrepreneurs, that I’ve met, think about them.
Why?
An average startup does not get VC’s money. An average startup dies causing grief of an average entrepreneur.
Various stats (thanks Homebrew) shows that only 1% of startups that try to raise money actually manage to do that. 99% failure rate creates an emotional tension that results in a twisted image of an investors as a cruel being living on entrepreneurial blood. Twisted and in most cases — unfair.
I was rejected more than once. Fundraising for my sweetheart UX Design Platform — UXPin took me 12 months (9 months for the first closing, 4 weeks for the second) and about 80 meetings/calls.
Yet, whenever I’ve got the rejecting call/e-mail, I felt that there’s still a lot that I can do in order to win. I didn’t blame the other side of the table. After all they’re just human beings trying to succeed. They want to win. They want to understand the opportunity. They want to be excited.
The only thing to blame when you’re loosing this game is the sad mixture of you, your business and the circumstances (bad weather, problems at home, traffic, series of bad investments…). At least two of the ingredients depend on you. So quit whining and be awesome.
Think about VC’s motivation. Think about the reason they keep saying “no” to you. Find holes in your business and fix them. Find holes in yourself and… well you already know what to do.
VCs are human beings, so don’t be afraid. Stand up and fight for your life.
