THE ENTREPRENEURS REPORT:
Private Company Financing Trends
Winter 2008
Perfecting Your Pitch
By Brad Feld, Co-founder, Foundry Group
As a venture capitalist, I’m constantly on the
receiving end of pitches from entrepreneurs
looking for capital. Over time, I’ve found that
these pitches fall into three categories:
(1) The Introduction, (2) The First Shot, and
(3) The Full Pitch. The same mistakes regularly
appear in each category—following are
some of the common ones and what you can
do about them.
The Introduction
Don’t spam 157 VCs with a “Dear Sir”
email. It’s bad enough to receive a generic
email from someone; it’s even worse when
they include all 157 recipients in the “To”
line on the email. Remember to target your
audience first and then personalize your
emails to them. Oh—and if my name is
“Brad,” please don’t send me an email that
starts off “Dear Fred.”
Don’t forget to know your audience.
I invest in early-stage software and Internet
companies in the United States. There is a
lot of information about me (www.feld.com)
and my firm (www.foundrygroup.com) on the
Web. I’m always amazed when someone
reaches out to me to invest in a telecom
company, a retail products company, a clean
tech business, or a biotech company. Do
your research and make sure the VCs you
target invest in the products or services your
company provides.
Don’t send a 73-page business plan via
the U.S. mail.While this might have been
the right approach in 1972, these days you
should start with a short email that includes
two or three paragraphs introducing you and
your company. If you must, attach a short
(less than four-page) executive summary.
Make it easy for the VCs to either engage or
say they aren’t interested.
(Continued on page 7)
Feature Articles
Perfecting Your Pitch
By Brad Feld, Foundry Group ................Page 1
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