Ask HN: How to get VC/investor to take notice?

[tamle]

Hi all -

Mitch Kapor gave an interview the other day on CNN where he states that the purpose of a pitch is to get the investor to learn/walk away with 4 or 5 key things.

My question is - How do you get to the pitch?

If you're not in an incubator, and are just starting to build your network, you're most likely reaching out to investors/investment groups via e-mail. Is there anything an entrepreneur can do to improve their chances of getting their company past the initial screening and raising the attention of investors?

Thanks!

[rcavezza]

Before reaching out to a VC or investor, reach out to founders of companies they invested in. Get some feedback from them - founders love helping other founders.

If a founder is really interested or intrigued with what you are doing, and offer helpful feedback, ask them for an intro to one of their investors when/if they think you are ready for funding.

1.) This will give you high quality feedback before you get in front of investors.

2.) This will give you warm intro's to investors and investors are much more interested in warm intros than cold calls.

[tamle]

rcavezza -

Thanks for this tip. It's pretty clever.

When you reach out like this do you reach out with specific feedback in mind?

Again, thank you.

[rcavezza]

It really depends. Ideally, these guys you are asking for advice would either be potential customers or have some sort of interest in your application. Don't email the star street sports guys about a financial startup (unless it's a B2B product they may be interested in).

You'll want to cater specific feedback to each person you email Don't ask Alexis Ohanian technical questions - ask him about branding or design. Also - what do you honestly want feedback on? Don't think of this as a stepping stone towards VCs/Angels, you can get honest feedback about your application that may help you tremendously.

And don't forget to reciprocate. Introduce them to people you know that may be helpful in their business.

Email me if you have any follow up questions rcavezza[at]gmail [dot]com