Venture Capital Meetings and Conferences

When working to get your startup off the ground, there are lots of meetings with potential investors, not to mention the occasional venture capital conferences. At times, the meeting is usually as simple as a get-to-know-you session. Regardless, you need to be ready for it.

VC meetings usually are more personal and more one-on-one than VC conferences so you need to be at your best.

Getting Ready for a VC Meeting

Doing your homework before the actual meeting increases your chances of establishing a connection and making a memorable first impression. Keep this blueprint for every consequent VC meeting or VC conference and you will always get something out of every meeting.

Here is how to prepare for a VC meeting:

Conduct Extensive Research

The very first step is researching whoever you are meeting with. Always remember that research is your friend. Research whoever you are meeting in terms of their background, their history as investors, the type and size of investments they have made in the past… and so on.

Find out if they have been successful at investments in the past and if they have had any exits. Research on the exits in terms of their nature and who they sold to. Their investment history doesn’t necessarily have to exactly match your company today although it preferably should be more or less related.

Here is what I mean: your company may be in the software as a service business and the investor primarily does consumer internet. It isn’t a great fit and it is good to point that out early enough so there aren’t any surprises.

Find a Connection

As I had mentioned earlier, VC meetings are more personal than venture capital conferences so a common connection certainly doesn’t hurt. Dive into your network – as deep as you can – and see if you can get an introduction – a real one at that. The connection needs to be real in the manner that it is strong and genuine – not like one of your LinkedIn connections who you don’t know well.

Connections are only helpful if they are legitimate and the connector can get you an introduction. Investigate your wider network into who knows who and how. Find out the specifics of their relationship like a shared alma mater or shared work history.

Understand the Firm’s Focus

Understanding a venture capital’s firm focus will give you an idea of whether or not your company fits its bill of potential investment opportunities.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t fit the bill though. It is very okay to just set up a meeting to let them know who you are although you aren’t exactly what they are looking for or you are in too early a stage.

Getting them aware of you will keep them in the loop as you keep scaling and maybe just maybe at some point they may want to invest.

Plant the seeds for a strong relationship so as your company grows, so does the relationship with the investor. When the timing is right, they may jump in.

Point Out the Differences

Israeli VC firms and every VC firm for that matter are a bit different. Have a look at their portfolios, both past, and present. Go into details like who is there now, who was there before, who have they invested in before, and what makes the firm unique among other key details.

After your due diligence on the issue, you will be able to tailor your questions better to get into specifics. This is likely to score you some points with most Israeli VC firms or any other firm you’re meeting and will help you get the insights you need.

Have an Objective

Before stepping into any conference room, establish an objective. On top of setting an objective, have in mind some clear expectations about the desired outcome of the meeting you are about to go into. This will give you something to work towards in the meeting.