Based on my conversations last week at TechCrunch Early Stage, VCs are very open to first-time founders who can demonstrate more than enthusiasm.
But making deals is idiosyncratic: Some investors may be content to cut a deal over coffee, but early-stage teams still need a strong presentation or memo they can put behind them.
Similarly, one VC might encourage new CEOs to eat ramen and ride the bus, while another might suggest a six-figure salary, depending on geography, income, and other factors.
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I asked five early-stage investors to share candid advice for beginners.And I’m going to save you some time: Many if not most of you probably aren’t ready to pitch to an investor yet.
If you haven’t already spoken to dozens of clients or created a contact spreadsheet for at least 25 investors who have backed companies like yours, it’s too soon.
And if you’ve added “AI” to your pitch pad just to make it more appealing, I’ve got more bad news: FOMO is out of style and due diligence is the new black.
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to respond! If you are an early stage investor who would like to be included in future columns, please email guestcolumns@techcrunch.com with “How to pitch” in the subject line.
These are the ones who participated this month:
- rudina seserifounder and managing partner, Glasswing Ventures
- patrick salierPartner, Mayfield Fund
- joseph constineventure partner, SignalFire
- Alexa de TobelManaging Partner, Inspired Capital
- oren yungerPartner, GGV Capital
Thank you for reading,
walter thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist
10 years of fintech failure: 3 more ideas that did not live up to initial expectations
Image Credits: TommL (Opens in a new window) / Fake Images
Do you remember P2P loans and on-demand insurance? If not, there’s a good reason: Despite the hype, they’re just two of several fintech innovations that have failed in the past decade.
For his latest TC+ column, fintech consultant Grant Easterbook examined three more ideas “that initially seemed promising but largely failed to change the financial services industry.”
According to Easterbrook, these failures offer valuable lessons for today’s founders and investors: “Fintech entrepreneurs need to remember the essential tenet that the average consumer doesn’t like to think about money and often wants someone else to take care of it.” he”.
Precision Fermentation Ability Madness: Have We Missed The Plot?
Image Credits: andrea ate (Opens in a new window) / Fake Images
Foods produced through precision fermentation are found in the frozen aisles of supermarkets and fast food restaurants, but when will bioprocessing production surpass traditional farming methods?
“Leading industry and academia scientists and technologists tend to tell me, often quietly and sometimes only off the record, that the economics of food-grade precision fermentation are nowhere near competing with dairy or the eggs,” says Blake Byrne. , a Cambridge University graduate who is building a new bio-manufacturing company in stealth mode.
Instead of “extending legacy systems,” the precision fermentation industry should invest in applications that produce “radical rather than incremental process intensification,” he writes on TC+.
At 0.69% in Q1, the drop in funding from black founders “no longer evokes an emotional response.”
Full length of young woman pulling large green helium balloons with string against white background
Including seed, corporate venture, private equity, and venture capital, black founders typically receive about 1% of all funding.
Recently, however, entrepreneurs in this cohort saw a significant decline: In Q1 2023, “Black founders raised approximately 0.69%, or just $312 million, of Crunchbase’s roughly $45 billion total in quarter,” reports Dominic Madori-Davis. .
During the same period last year, they raised $1.26 billion.
With such an uneven playing field, it’s legitimate to expect some players to take a different tack, which is why some black founders are exploring alternatives like government grants, “CVC funds, and Middle East startups.”
Aventurine helps early-stage founders find their footing
Image Credits: ivanastar/Getty Images
Odysseus wandered for 10 years trying to find his way home, which is also about how long a founder can expect to work on building a successful startup.
Like an epic poem, the journey is beset by pitfalls and self-made setbacks. It’s not for everyone, which is why Aventurine Capital Group “gets involved early to support people who aren’t natural entrepreneurs,” writes Haje Jan Kamps.
“These people are university professors and asking them to put down roots and come to where we are, where there is a studio, is not going to work,” said Joe Maruschak, managing director.
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