Business Standard - Storyline on VC Funding in Disruptive Models
Inside guide to vc funding
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Transcript of Inside guide to vc funding
Inside Guide to VC Funding
Peter Jones General Partner
But a techie really! CompSci, Cambridge; UNIX/C Programmer; wrote an RDBMS from scratch! (Why?); Founder/CTO of Metrica; CTO of SignalSoO; Strategy Director of AcQx; plus others that didn’t work so well!
You have an advantage – VCs generally like techies!
Be brutally honest with yourself – is this really a big opportunity?
Is it a global market?
Is the potenQal market size measured in $1bns?
Is it growing rapidly?
Inside Track VC Blockbuster Economics... £90m fund with goal of 4x; Return of £360m; 25 companies – 85% fail or low return, 15% succeed; Bulk of return from 4 companies 25% on exit, so need £1.4bn of exits; PotenQal £360m exit per company => Market must be big!
Be brutally honest with yourself – do you have the ambiQon and is this the right Qme for you to do a startup?
Is your goal to create a big business and serious personal wealth?
You can’t create a lifestyle business with VC money
There are a lot easier ways to make a £1m!
Even with the best product, huge market, compelling business case, it’s a massive task...
... But can be incredibly intellectually, emoQonally and financially rewarding.
Be brutally honest with yourself – stress test your idea really hard
Can you express the core of the proposiQon simply and concisely?
Is it solving a real problem where there is real pain?
Is it a must-‐have or just discreQonary for your users?
Are you really solving the problem and adding value?
StaQsQcally the chances of raising VC money are low...
In the current climate it is probably harder!
You should assume that it will probably take six months to a year (or longer)
But you can improve your odds by working smart ...
Inside Track Typical Deal Flow Metrics
700 Plans/Decks
100+ MeeQngs
10 Serious
4 Deals
Improving the odds – start building the team
The best thing you can do is build a kick-‐ass team around you
Ideally a balance of skills – technical, markeQng, bizdev
Ideally a team of peers – with equally aligned moQvaQons
Prior success (i.e. Making money for investors or yourself!) in a startup probably gets you through the first filter in one go!
Inside Track Bet on the horse or the jockey? Almost all VCs would choose the jockey – despite Harvard research!
Improving the odds – genng the first meeQng
Inside Track VCs depend on their networks A warm introducQon from a trusted contact will probably get you a meeQng. “If X can’t find one person in my network and convince them why would I see them...”
DON’T PRESS THIS! (cat >/dev/null) SHOTGUN IS WEAPON OF LAST
RESORT
-‐ Meet porqolio companies -‐ Go to events like this -‐ Find Angel investors -‐ Consider an advisor
Improving the odds – qualify the VC Always ask, “Am I wasWng
my Wme?”
1. Do they have any money?!
2. Do they invest in my stage of company?
3. Do they have a specific interest in my sector?
4. Have they invested in compeQQve businesses?
5. Can I get to the right person?
Source: Ben Holmes, Index, Slideshare.net
Inside Track Roles inside a typical VC – who you have to convince Associates – act as gatekeepers, source and qualify deals Partners – champion the deal, make the investment case, manage the investment subsequently, you need to like him/her Investment CommiZee/Partnership – formally agree the investment
Improving the odds – developing the pitch/deck
Source: Dave McClure “How to pitch a VC”, Slideshare.net
-‐ You don’t need a 200 page business plan
-‐ A slide deck plus demo/video is ideal
-‐ Keep it simple and concise
-‐ Goal of meeQng #1 is to get meeQng #2
Secret sauce – the importance of technology
• Technology is one of the key vectors of disrupQve innovaQon
• Today comes in lots of shapes and sizes – Scalability of a social media or web service – UX of a mobile app – Deep tech of a semanQc search
applicaQon • Pproprietary is good!
– At least for the secret sauce – Standards, open source for everything else
• VCs like technology because of the defensibility from compeQQon it brings – Its also something to sell if things don’t go
too well!
Making progress on the business – execuQon is everything!
-‐ The importance of numbers -‐ Define key metrics (traffic,
retenQon, conversion) -‐ Track and show progress
-‐ The importance of evidence -‐ Find evidence for your market
size -‐ Find evidence of customers
desire to buy (ideally sell it!) -‐ Validity of business model
-‐ Develop proof points -‐ What do you need to show to
get to the next stage -‐ Tie proof points to funding and
business plan
“A good idea is just a mulQplier on the value of good execuQon”
Idea
Poor = -‐1 OK = 1
Good = 5 Great = 10
ExecuWon
Poor = $0 OK = $1m
Good = $10m Great = $100m
So am I wasQng my Qme? -‐ Recognising a “slow no” is hard! -‐ Investors are always “interested” –
only valuable if they are doing work -‐ Don’t waste Qme trying to persuade
someone who said “no” (instead thank them – see #1 above)
-‐ Don’t take it personally!
-‐ Don’t drink your own kool aid! Constantly re-‐assess your proposiWon in light of criWcism
You can get there! Good teams with good ideas and execuQon will get funded