{"id":609,"date":"2014-09-30T17:51:43","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T17:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.thinkapps.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2015-04-16T19:40:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T03:40:26","slug":"pitch-perfect-tips-raising-funding-vcs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/entrepreneurship\/pitch-perfect-tips-raising-funding-vcs\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Perfect: Tips for Raising Funding from VCs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve got your idea. Your concept has been validated. Early adopters are onboarding and dishing the feedback you\u2019re craving to make this the best possible product. You know with a little extra cash, you could hire the right talent and actually have a marketing budget to go from startup to sustainable business.<\/p>\n<p>Before you walk into the room asking for the financial support to get you standing on two solid feet, it\u2019s imperative to ensure you\u2019re prepared.<\/p>\n<h3>So what exactly are VC\u2019s looking for?<\/h3>\n<p>Dan Gawronski of the Venture Best Group at Michael Best &amp; Friedrich LLP works with\u00a0early stage startups providing a variety of resources. From leveraging additional insight on the market or connecting startups with other industry experts, to learning how to place a realistic value on your company at it\u2019s current stage. Simply, to ensure the business is considering all facets of their product and industry prior to walking in the room with the check-writers.<\/p>\n<h3>Here are a couple tips he passed along:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018<strong>A\u2019 Teams Hold The True Value<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cEvery startup puts so much emphasis into their idea (thinking their idea\/secret sauce is the next big thing), but most VCs evaluate companies based on their team. We firmly believe that an A team with a B idea will find better success than a B Team with an A Idea. VCs want to know the co-founders have prior experience of both startups and success.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Funds Have Life Cycles<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cEntrepreneurs need to realize that the dollars they ask VCs need to fit the fund, or they need to show VCs what type of investors will invest in follow up rounds. Funds have life cycles that entrepreneurs need to understand the timing of.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Know Your Product and Know Yourselves<\/h3>\n<p>Get to know your competitor\u2019s product so well that you can nearly guess their next move. Understand what they\u2019re offering, from the product to their brand, and how you\u2019re different. Don\u2019t tell us, show us. Prove to your early adopters and customers that you\u2019ve truly set yourselves apart from the rest through your customer support and features.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, what\u2019s the big picture? What are you ultimately attempting to accomplish with what you\u2019re offering to the masses? It\u2019s so easy to get caught up in the right now and the time-sensitive tasks, that we can lose sight of what we\u2019re really trying to do in the grand scheme of things. Ask yourself, \u2018could this potentially be used to serve another market?\u201d \u201cWhat other players are in that space and is the sand box big enough for us to enter as well?\u201d Investors will love that you\u2019ve thought about the longevity of the product, and how after you\u2019ve claimed and controlled one market, there\u2019s additional potential to utilize pre-existing technology in new ways to ultimately lead them to their desired ROI.<\/p>\n<h3>Practice, Practice, Practice<\/h3>\n<p>Getting yourself out there early and often when you have a validated product that\u2019s gaining traction, is a great way to not only perfect your pitch, but to also spread the word.<\/p>\n<p>When you can\u2019t make it to an event, try <a title=\"GoPitch\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gopitch.co\" target=\"_blank\">GoPitch<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Every startup gets 35 seconds to record their pitch<\/li>\n<li>Once submitted, other users provide feedback\/insight on pitch and concept<\/li>\n<li>Search by \u2018Most Popular\u2019, \u2018Plays\u2019, \u2018Recent\u2019 to hear and learn from other pitches<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s Free<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Just like your product, obtaining feedback on your pitches will help fine-tune the information and delivery to best equip you for that big meeting or next competition. From there, the only thing you\u2019ll need to focus on is ensuring you have a pen close by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obtaining feedback on your pitch will help fine-tune the information and delivery to best equip you for that big meeting. Here are tips for raising funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[69,111,98,173,231,70],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pitch Perfect: Tips for Raising Funding from VCs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Obtaining feedback on your pitch will help fine-tune the information and delivery to best equip you for that big meeting. Here are tips for raising funding.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/entrepreneurship\/pitch-perfect-tips-raising-funding-vcs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pitch Perfect: Tips for Raising Funding from VCs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Obtaining feedback on your pitch will help fine-tune the information and delivery to best equip you for that big meeting. 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