For OCV Companies: Track investor meetings here.
OCV will introduce the CEO to VCs within our network 3-6 months after CEO onboarding. Prior to this, please use this 🔗 template reply for inbound VC intros and note interest in this 🔗 shared doc (OCV & OCV CEO access only). Friendly VC Group will be introduced one quarter prior to others.
We recommend not sending decks without a meeting scheduled. It’s ok to send a deck 24 hours ahead of a scheduled meeting. There may be exceptional circumstances where you should send a deck without a meeting scheduled . Discuss specific situations during Office Hours.
Inbound Requests from VCs
For an early stage company, receiving an inbound intro meeting request can be exhilarating. No matter how “informal” an intro meeting can appear, it’s important to keep in mind that all meetings with VCs are inherently pitches. Even if you’re not presenting a pitch deck, VCs are evaluating you.
All meetings with VCs are inherently pitches. Even if you’re not presenting a pitch deck, VCs are evaluating you.
Outbound Outreach as Part of the Pitch Process
See suggested processes at How to Interact with VCs.
Resources:
- Early stage investor database: https://www.findfunding.vc/
Best Practices
- Review pitch deck and practice pitches with OCV team
- Review pitch deck and practice pitches with Friendly VCs group first
- Include both co-founders on the pitch call (CEO & CTO)
- Showcase your passion for the project and company, don’t be afraid to go deep in your answers to investor questions
- Demonstrate your domain expertise in your space
- Know who your customers are and what they need - synthesize your conversations with customers
- Know your addressable market and competitors / competitive landscape
Additional Resources
https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/4-things-you-should-do-before-meeting-with-venture-capitalists/
Aaron Harris (YC Partner): “The mistake that a lot of founders make is that they are constantly fundraising while building product and trying to do both things at the same time. What we did with Demo Day was say, ‘No, no, no. You do one thing at a time.’ You basically take your product work and you make that X number of months until it's good enough, until you have customers. Then, at some point, when it's good enough you switch over to fundraising because fundraising takes all of your time and energy and effort. To do it well you really need to work on it and you can't work on your company and your product and your customers at the same time.”