I was on a IsraelNetSphere panel last week about Web startups and Angels. The moderator (Yaron Orenstein) asked an interesting question – if we could give a piece of advice to new entrepreneurs what would it be.

Not surprisingly the first was to come prepared to meetings, don’t just assume that you can win over an investor off-the-cuff. Now of course this is hard for someone who has never done it before (since you really have no idea how to prepare), but if you want to succeed - prepare. Present your ideas to friends, family, classmates – refine and hone your pitch as much as possible. Sort of like the old joke about “how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” – practice, practice, practice. I think that young entrepreneurs see people doing these types of pitches and assume that it is simple – it isn’t. In my experience the people who make something seem really simple are the ones who spent to most time preparing.

That doesn’t mean be long winded – be short and to the point. Some investors like presentations, other like discussions. You probably won’t know until get into the meeting, so prepare for both.

The second piece of advice was to listen – and that two of you should go to every meeting. Whenever one speaks, the other should listen. Intently. Think of every meeting as a way to prepare for the next one (and 99% of your meetings will be a prelude to another meeting).

Finally – persevere. You will hear a lot of “No’s” before you hear a Yes. You are going to meetings where people aren’t giving you the benefit of the doubt, and are essentially testing you, and your ideas.

Now if you think the preparation is hard – wait until you actually have the money and need to deliver…..

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 9:54 pm and is filed under VC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.