Marshall Hargrave’s Post

7 Common Mistakes First-time Founders Make When Pitching Investors

7 Common Mistakes First-time Founders Make When Pitching Investors

7 Common Mistakes First-time Founders Make When Pitching Investors

12 Reasons why VCs decide to take a meeting with founders 👇

Founders: are you struggling with fundraising? It’s usually hard. It may be harder now. Here are insights to improve your odds. Guillermo Flor breaks down key reasons VCs take meetings. How do respected VCs think and evaluate you? Learn how they think, what they look for, and how to prepare.

Top Ten Term Sheet Tricks: Navigating term sheets is a crucial skill for startup founders. Here are key takeaways to help you secure better deals: 1) Leverage Multiple Offers: Create competition by getting multiple credible investors. 2) Board Control: Remember, valuation is temporary, but control is forever. Structure your board wisely. 3) Option Pool Shuffle: Adjust the option pool to maintain equity. 4) Vesting Terms: Standard is 4 years with some credit. 5) Protective Provisions: Pay attention to the fine print protecting minority shareholders. Follow All Chance to learn from more innovative insights.

For stakeholders that can’t do without each other, VCs and Founders are at opposite ends of the spectrum on most issues One reason for this is lack of empathy ▶️ Few founders understand what VCs job is about ▶️ Few VCs have built businesses On a recent post on founder fraud, the comments were split in two Founders: blame VCs who ask for too much Investors: founders should pay the price for deception It helps to understand the other side so this is a one page summary of VC’s job. I believe this helps founders understand their options and pitch VCs better

Dear Founders, your pitch deck cannot save you. Once you're in a VC meeting it doesn't matter anymore. VCs never invest because of your deck. They invest because of what you say. So if you consistently get meetings with investors. I'm going to say this slowly. Put. The. Deck. Down. I'm serious. Stop touching it! You already know what VCs want. You now have 1 mission. Figure out how to persuade VCs that you are what they want. This is easier said than done. But because VCs all have the same criteria. There are ways of presenting things like your market size, team, traction etc. that work every time. The problem? Most founders learn what works by burning VC meetings. And the majority run out of VCs to talk to before they figure it out. So to fix this, I've built a resource which shows you how to convince VCs you meet their criteria. It's based on insight from seeing 1000s of cottages as a VC. You can check it out here - https://lnkd.in/dE6Adnxd

What makes pitching to investors such a challenging task for founders and what’s the first step in crafting a perfect pitch? Every founder, including me, has faced the agony of pitching their company, especially during the seed stage. It’s a painful process that often involves a lot of rejections, and many founders remember each investor who said “no.” The key to a successful pitch is simplicity. Investors need to understand what your company does in just two sentences. Clear, concise, and easy to understand. GLOBALIFY

Many of you might disagree, But if you’re an early-stage founder building a pitch deck… Skip the exit strategy slide. Investors back founders, not just businesses. They want to know you’re in it for the long run—not planning your exit. Talking exits too soon can make your vision seem small. Show them the vision, not the finish line. Thoughts? Let me know if you have another uncommon tip. (We'll test it) --- I help founders get in front of investors, and part of that is ensuring they consider each aspect of their pitch. Don't waste that meeting. B Found, Raise Fast. 🤪 Follow and I'll rant more on your feed (Daily, I promise)