9 Ways to Answer when a VC Asks How They can be Helpful
The old adage goes, “when you ask for money you get advice, when you ask for advice you get money.” This proves especially true when fundraising for your startup. VC meetings are short and to make them valuable, you need to make the right asks. The value will not only lie in the answer or solution to your current problems but also the genuine relationship you are starting to build. So what do you say when your VC inevitably asks you, “How can I be helpful?”
Here are 9 ways to answer to get you off on the right foot.
1. Ask them to be your customer
You need early customers. Early customers validate if you are actually solving their problems. They will encourage you to keep going if you see real dollars coming in. Paying users of all kinds (even the $5 kind) make you much less likely to give up. You kill two birds with one stone by asking your VC to be your customer. Even if they say no, if they are in your market, you can at least get a helpful user interview out of them.
2. Ask them specific strategic advice
If you had a crystal ball what would you ask? Would you ask about market risks, about competitors, about previous startups going down a similar path? What “unknown unknowns” might you be missing? If the investor has expertise in your market, they may know better than you what both successful and failed startups did right and wrong.
3. Ask them to intro you to subject matter experts
Most likely, you have a few unknowns that you would love to address within your product/space/industry. Is there some legal risk in your product or a complex system that needs to run smoothly? Sometimes, the people that know those answers are very difficult to find. This is an amazing opportunity to ask the VC if they know anyone who might intimately understand your problem space. You would not believe the amazing experts I have been introduced to by simply asking.
4. Ask them to intro you to your future senior hire (experienced operator)
Who would you want to hire after closing your next round? Usually, someone with previous experience building out a process and managing a team in product or customer acquisition. Bonus points for doing it in your market. Of course, if you are an early-stage founder, you should almost never hire a senior manager without first building out the process yourself and building out your own. Paul Graham’s, founder of famed startup incubator Y-Combinator, gave us advice once that founders (that’s you) are the only ones who hold the entire problem and potential solution in their head at the same time. That means that in the beginning, you are your startup’s best person in both product and sales. For later-stage founders, VCs may get you warm intros to new sources of invaluable candidates.
5. Ask them to intro you to a customer or channel partner
You need more users and revenue. Ask them to be helpful by identifying who in their network is most likely to experience the problem that you are attempting to solve and then, ask them for the intro. If you are very early, ask for an intro to “understand their specific pain point and how they currently solve it.” This gives you the opportunity to speed up your sales discovery and get to market much faster. Who knows, you may learn about a new ideal customer profile you wouldn’t have even thought of before.
6. Ask them to intro you to another VC that has market experience
You may find the conversation doesn’t go well. Not all VC conversations do! Figure out if the context and market understanding is there. If it isn’t, ask if the VC in front of you knows a VC who isn’t that might have experience in your market. This is a great way to meet more VCs that will better suit your vision.
7. Ask them how they think about capital
As a startup, you will sometimes be trying to grow at an unnatural rate to capture the market before others. This requires capital. Sometimes, it means enormous piles of capital (think Uber and WeWork). Other times, outside capital, makes the business less likely to succeed (e.g. if it forces your business model to change) or they just require it. That’s not a bad thing. Ask the VC what their take on it is, what kind of strategies they have seen work and fail. How would they prioritize the allocation of your capital? Some VCs are great at thinking through capital strategies and are a great resource for you.
8. Ask them what they see as your biggest risk
While optimistic about the future, a good VC will have enough experience to know the myriad ways things can go wrong. They might be able to sniff out holes in your model and assumptions. These holes may be risks you need to start mitigating and could potentially require immediate attention. No matter their answer, your new knowledge just made your go-to-market and business a whole lot more investible.
9. Ask to continue the conversation
Haven’t figured out how this VC can be helpful yet? Don’t just cut them loose. Ask them if they would be open to keeping the conversation going. Chances are, as you get to know both the problem, market, and your potential solution better, you’ll come up with more specific ways you can ask for help. I like to send monthly update emails with VCs I have met and want to keep a relationship — this keeps me on their radar and keeps my foot in the door so I can ask the right questions when the opportunities present themselves.
There you have it. 9 ways you can build deeper relationships with VCs and utilize their extensive networks more quickly. While I am not a VC, If I can help with any one of those 9 please don’t hesitate to reach out at oli.takach (at) gmail [dot] com
Thank you to Stedman Hood and McKenna Mitchell for reviewing drafts of this.
