Though I may write about ways entrepreneurs can improve in their efforts to woo and pitch VCs, make no mistake about it: Entrepreneurs are the Customer in this relationship and VCs are merely the service providers. 

I say this because even though a regular part of our job involves saying no to highly qualified entrepreneurs, the process of deciding what VC firm to work with is a mutual one.  It’s not enough that we might want to work with you. You, as the entrepreneur, have the decisive voice in this matter.  It’s a significant decision, much the same way a marriage is.  And you should only enter into this relationship if you think the VC you’re committing to is one you want to be partners with for the long haul. 

(Fred Wilson and Rick Segal have also written great posts about the topic of “Entrepreneur as Customer” on their respective blogs.)

I attend about 30+ pitch meetings a week.   The reason why I bring up this topic of entrepreneur-as-customer is that a pitch meeting is a good chance for you to ask YOUR questions of the VC as well - something many people don’t do. 

Here’s a list of the most common mistakes I’ve observed entrepreneurs make when presenting:

  • Talk about the team and your backgrounds as early as you can in the presentation.  This helps us understand why you are particularly well suited to solve the problem you’re tackling.  Who you are can be more important than what you are building.  This is even more true for very early stage companies.   Also, it’s very helpful if you tell us where you think you need to add to your team to round it out.  Being able to realistically inventory your personal strengths and weaknesses as well as understanding how to fill in these gaps is attractive. 
  • If you have a working product or prototype, please demo it!  Don’t just mention the fact that you have a working product on a slide.  If you do demo your product, try to do it earlier in the presentation rather than later, because this gives us valuable context for the rest of the meeting. 
  • Don’t forget to mention what the financing opportunity is.  How much are you raising? What milestone will it get you to?  Why is this the right amount? Why is this milestone the right milestone?  The amount you’re raising shouldn’t be arbitrary - it should be driven by some well formed assumptions you have about why X milestone is the logical first step to winning in this market.  And by the way, the actual milestone is less important than the thought process you used to reach that conclusion. 
  • Do research on the people you’re meeting with.  You should know the backgrounds of the people you’re meeting with so you can better tailor your presentation to their worldview.  Be familiar with the firm’s portfolio companies.  Read up on any interviews the person you’re meeting with might have given recently about their investing style.  If you’re coming in for our QuickStart program, read up on the terms that are published on our web site. 
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance.  If you’re uncertain in which direction to take your presentation midway through - don’t be afraid to ask your audience what they would like to hear more about.  (e.g. “I could take you through a few slides about the technology infrastructure or we could spend more time on the partnership strategy - which would you find more valuable?”)   
  • Don’t be afraid to rein in your audience.  If your presentation gets sidetracked by too many questions that you don’t think are critically important to understanding your business, don’t be afraid to say, “I would be happy to answer those questions offline, but since we only have 15 more minutes, I want to make sure I get to the really important stuff about X and Y.”)
  • Don’t spend too much time on generic market trend data.  This is especially true if you have done research on your audience.  For example, if you know that the person you’re meeting with has already invested in an advertising arbitrage play, you probably don’t need to spend a lot of time telling him/her that the online advertising market is growing at X% a year.
  • Be careful of using too much extraneous material in your presentation.  Making heavy use of props such as press clippings or professionally produced videos deters from the primary goal of getting to know who you are.  Unless of course, these props convey something about you or your business that you can’t convey yourself.  We want to hear from you - dynamically and in real time - why your business is so exciting.