Allen Morgan, one of the General Partners of "Tier 1" west coast firm Mayfield, has just finished his "10 Commandments" series of posts. Any first-time entrepreneur planning to seek VC financing at some point will find worth reading and reflecting on Allen's interesting insights. I always say in such circumstance that no one should take "VC Do's and Don'ts" literally because each startup and each fund are particular. However Allen's points are often practical, and sometimes candid, and can be applied to many (first timer's) situations. Here they are:
- Do
your homework, and contact the right person
- Be
on time
- Tease,
don't overwhelm
- Know
your audience
- Create
the "Aha" early
- Explain
the idea by analogy to, or contrast with, older ideas
- Go
with 13 or less slides
- Know
what you don't know -- and admit it
- Be
like Goldilocks, when it comes to competition
- Control the meeting -- but be smart about it
Congratulations to Allen for taking the time to put these thoughts "on paper", they are a great complement to Brad's own contribution on clarifying financing terms that are found in typical US termsheets. I should also have mentioned the three part series on "Saying No" that Bill Burnham has recently published. Why ? Because it is critical for entrepreneurs to "read" through Yes, No's and Maybe's. Ross provided the entrepreneur perspective with which I agree.
Cross-post from Software Only.
Comments