Mutual 'pitching'
Georgi Kadrev
Advancing the standard of vascular care via accessible & rapid non-invasive diagnostics based on thermography AI | Forbes Bulgaria 30 under 30 | TEDx speaker | Technology Entrepreneurship lecturer | Visual AI pioneer
Since Kelvin Health started to gain more and more visibility in the last two years, we have quite some inbound investor interest.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, despite the fact they've reached out, it’s not uncommon that the investors are not very willing to 'pitch' us their funds. Some might even get angry, literally, when asked to pitch us their thesis, LPs, and what metrics they optimize for. Even things like how do they define a stage, i.e. what they call 'pre-seed', 'seed', 'series A', as in practice this is one of the most vague terminology in the industry and everybody has their own flavor.
It’s an interesting cognitive bias that the less experienced among a VC fund employees, especially if not previous founders, might consider themselves of higher power than the startups 'applying for funding'.
I believe it’s a very wrong view of the venture (capital) dynamics, and not even a plane that is sensible to compete on. At the end of the day closing a funding deal is a great opportunity for both parties - startups get the chance to boost operations and leverage hopefully relevant network, investors got a 'cheap early bird ticket to a rocket ship'.
To test if a VC is really interested or just pretending and sniffing for information, and also how ego-driven are they, make sure to ask them right off the bat about:
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Do not try to 'impress' them. Rather look for a strong match, or lack thereof. Very importantly, do not be a free insight source while trying too hard to sell ourselves and our potential.
There is an illusion, especially in Europe, that if we are a 'good guy/gal' our chances to get VC funding are better. We can’t be more wrong about this, and it’s a guaranteed permanent ticket to the 'friend-zone' of the VC.
We better test the resilience of the VC to get along with us sooner rather than later, to save everybody’s time. If they are not okay to 'pitch' us as well, this is a huge red flag revealing an unproductive, sometimes even malicious, mindset.
The Venture Contemplations is a newsletter where I share my daily reflections on topics moving me as an entrepreneur and lessons learned the hard way, on a dusty but rewarding 15+ year long journey towards making positive impact with Imagga and more recently - Kelvin Health .
Corporate Social Responsibility, Fundraising & Development, Employer Branding
1 年The same goes when interviewing candidates for a job. Regardless of who is in a position of power, treating people with integrity and respect always goes a long way.
Shemha Health, Co-CEO & Founder | Projects & Public Affairs Lead @ Bulgarian Joint Cancer Network | Market Access Advisor @ Kelvin Health | Future Healthcare Hacker | Healthcare Ecosystem Convergent & Advisor
1 年?? Being a true open-story, taking courage for objectively analyzing it toward more openness for, how many times these challenges were faced...? ?? From simple questions tending to thought: and to what extent does the receiving party have knowledge about the need, or willingness to look in, or are they in depth in the stakeholders' challenge particular solution trying to solve, do they have a vision for perspective, development or not of a specific sector...? ?? ...to existential ones when the talking point is to potential partnership: how familiar they are with the team's experience beforehand, or how they want to generate rapid traction in togetherness for instance? I have loved examples for, and sometimes we have feeling for we are wrong not to demonstrate our deep-knowledge and capacity, especially in proofed history behind - HOW must be happen was predictively described. ?? Appreciate to sharing that as a learning dear Georgi Kadrev
co-founder @rhea | international event management platform | 3xfounder | sales, marketing & operations
1 年The conversation completely changes when you want to learn about their perspective. Honestly, this is the best approach if you want to understand quickly if you would like to work with the VC. The best ones are aware of all the questions you've stated above and the Golden Star goes to the VC who will introduce you to one of their portfolio companies to exchange some knowledge. Thanks for sharing, Georgi Kadrev, valuable as usual!
Lev Fin Director | Writing about investments, tech, VC and startups | 8+ years in investment banking & management consulting | Mathematician
1 年Georgi Kadrev thank you for sharing! I feel that another important part in the equation is where we are in the cycle, i.e. whether investors or founders have the upper hand, which highly influences the dynamic you mentioned.
Advancing the standard of vascular care via accessible & rapid non-invasive diagnostics based on thermography AI | Forbes Bulgaria 30 under 30 | TEDx speaker | Technology Entrepreneurship lecturer | Visual AI pioneer
1 年Sincerely curious to learn Michael Jackson’s take on the topic :)