Do’s and Don'ts of Pitching for Funding
The likes of the Social Network movie have left may founders and tech start-ups with some skewed ideas of what it takes to pitch for, and secure, funding/venture capital. Conventional wisdom tends to suggest venture capitalists (VCs) are looking for high energy, enthusiastic and eccentric pitches from people wearing hoodies and jandals (that’s flip flops in Kiwi for international readers) when in reality nothing could be further from the truth. I was talking with a friend over coffee about why New Zealand has a funding/VC problem the other day and that got me thinking about writing this blog post - I wanted to get insights and experiences down in a blog post so that I could point people looking to secure funding at some ‘pre-canned advice’.
First and foremost there are a range of what I call ‘hygiene factors’ like: knowing your audience, having a coherent story to tell, having rehearsed your pitch etc. which I won’t cover here. Those are the basics and I assume you have those ducks lined up. Google ‘pitching venture capitalists’ (or similar) for hundreds of checklist and tools to help with those basic.
The most important thing to consider is that VCs invest in people first and foremost. A calm and composed pitch based
on solid numbers and robust market research/understanding conveys far
more leadership strength (and invest-ability) than someone trying to
wing it based on a passion-filed presentation. The character of the
founder is probably the key deciding factor when it comes to
investment - technical skills such as financial management can be taught
or hired in but changing the founder to be someone who they aren’t is
almost impossible, irrespective of how good the idea is.
The
ideal founder knows their space well, has done their homework when it
comes to the pitch and can be coached/mentored as their business grows
through it’s various phases. That’s what VCs are looking for; it’s
certainly what I’ve always looked for. Someone with business experience
(and some scars to prove it) in their 30s & 40s is far more likely
to secure funding than a jandal wearing 20 something year old grad straight out of university - again,
contrary to popular wisdom or perception.
Having skin in the game is important - no one wants to invest in someone who can simply walk away to their next idea if things go bad without hurting. How much of your own money have you got invested in this and what happens if things go pear shaped? Venture capital has always been about managing & balancing risk and some risk sharing between the founder and the funder is important. It focuses everyone on success and doing what it takes to achieve it.
Something thing to consider - which can be a hard pill to swallow for
founders - is whether (based on what I’ve described above) you are the
right person to be doing the pitching. Perhaps you want someone who has
more business experience to do the pitch to improve your chances of
securing funding? That’s a whole conversation in itself and something I
have helped founders through in the past. It requires a certain degree
of self awareness and ability to check your ego.
One of the key questions you need to be able to
answer categorically is ‘why now?’. There are few unique ideas or
things which haven’t been tried before if you look wide/far enough so
what will make this venture a success? I know it’s a bit old fashioned
but I like to see a SWOT analysis as part of pitch - it shows a sense of
awareness of not just the opportunity but any associated threats or
constraints that need to be navigated. If there are things or conditions
which success hinges on then be upfront and transparent about them. It puts more credits in the ‘founder character’ column of the ledger if you know what hurdles you’re likely to encounter.
Hand
in hand with that goes a realistic valuation and idea of market size.
So many pitches are so caught up in energy & enthusiasm that founders
have 'oversold’ themselves on the value of what they are pitching. The
reality is that the growth rates experienced by Facebook, Whatsapp,
Twitter and a handful of others aren’t common - they are the exceptions
and chances are almost guaranteed your idea won’t experience that rate
of growth or market size. If things take off like Facebook then we can all buy that
second jet but let’s be conservative at the beginning and actual secure
the funding.
The world (especially the tech world) is full of competitors and copy cat products so what defenses can you put in place to protect this idea from the army of people who will inevitably try to get a share of the action. I look for founders who factor competition into their plan, not simply pretend it’s not a reality of today’s world.
I personally believe that pitch days and demo days don’t work. They are a tired format akin to speed dating which leaves everyone feeling exhausted and somewhat disillusioned. If you talk to start-ups who secure funding you find that almost none of their long running funding relationships started at a pitch or demo day. My biggest issue with pitch days is that the format favours the smooth talkers/presenters with polished elevator pitches rather than the true highest potential ideas & investments.
They tend to also further other biases too - for example, research has found that the same business pitched with a man’s voice got considerably more interest than when it was pitched with a woman’s voice. The pitch format needs to go the way of the dodo in favour of VCs and founders/startups spending some time together having proper dialogue and gaining an understanding of each other.
You are far better off to spend time doing some research & market scanning and targeting your pitches to VCs who are best aligned to where you are heading. Focus on building last relationships with a select few VC - it’s not just about getting a cheque handed to you but also an opportunity to tap into the VCs network to help you grow and optimise your idea/business at each stage of growth.
One last tip; having a trendy office space with all the mod cons is irrelevant to raising capital. Visiting your office won’t sway any VCs decisions - in fact very few bother to visit - and if it looks like you’ve overcapitalized on furniture and office space they may question your judgement. For me running start-ups was all about finding the cheapest airfares, staying at budget places or with friends and ensuring the team were comfortable but not trying to emulate Google.
I’m really passionate about helping kiwi start-ups grow - and there are an increasing number of resources available which is awesome - so drop me a line if you want to talk more.