Do you take VC meetings even if you aren't fundraising? Pros: - establish relationships - possible customers - possible intros to other VCs - product feedback (though quality is debatable) Cons: - time consuming - doesn't get you closer to pmf - VCs can be good at wasting your time
Only speak with VCs who you know can help you move the needle (either by recommendation or gut feeling)! Your attention should be on product and growth.
imo: if you're not funded yet, it's not the best use of your time if you're in-between rounds, i think it's a net positive
I will value any feedback they can give me. There should always be a take away from that conversation anyway, tacit knowledge and such.
I do not personally, except for very few exceptions. When you're not fundraising, you should be heads down building. And, corollary, when you're fundraising, you should stop building (easier said than done!) and be heads down fundraising and talking to as many VCs as you can in as little time as possible.
Yes but sparingly, and not for product feedback. Only with funds I’ve wanted to meet/who wanted to meet us that came in through the immediate network.
i avoid taking vc meetings when not fundraising. the cons outweigh the pros.
Currently accepting all the intros from VC’s but we just stopped it until product launch (our time is sssooooo limited)
My filter on this was replying to any inbounds with "not interested, but I'm happy to talk to a partner." The serious ones respond, the associates usually ghost.
The space my product is in has no VCs even interested in it. That being said, I have had *some* meetings and I find them super useful for demystifying assumptions I've had about people caring about DNS and TLDs. These meetings have saved me spending too much time on a pitch deck. I'm now focused on just building.
if the VC is asking for the meeting make them earn it!
As a first timer pre-funding, I resist the urge to make “vc meetings” a vanity metric. I take one or two here and there for accountability and nothing more.
Time better spend w/ users, future users, clients, or ur service providers, etc, aka who’s directly relevant to ur biz at the moment
depends on the VC. mostly yes. once a VC just came in as a spy of competitor. (when i was a founder)
lmao send some our way, securing meetings is taking up way too much time. Don't take them for granted if you plan on fundraising anytime in the future.
No, been in too many of them which ended up being VCs trying to extract information and/or using it as due diligence for funding a new competitor
Depends on how you're getting the meeting (warm intro or cold outreach) and the VC's role at their fund. If I'm not actively raising, I would only take meetings from a warm intro and if it's a partner+ at the fund. Otherwise, it's mostly analysts collecting data