As a VC and an angel, one of my main jobs is making key introductions to other investors who might be a fit. I love doing this, and in general one of my personal strengths as an investor in helping you come up with a strategic fundraising plan, and then helping you find the right people to fill out your round. It’s good for my personality, given my large network of randoms I like to send awful holiday cards to and propensity to go off about Real Housewives on Twitter. (If these do not seem like relevant skills to venture investing in your mind, I have nothing to offer you here.)
That said, as a startup founder it is essential to make it easy for an investor like me, and taking the time to make sure I am putting your best foot forward, is, uh, critical? I mean, to remind you, I have dozens of companies in my portfolio I care about and at LEAST three children (sometimes it feels like more) and one guinea pig and honestly the mornings that I can remember my own maiden name (Williams) are good days.
That’s where Gayle Wilkinsin at Vitalize VC and her magic tweet comes in!
Erase all the other things you’ve been told and please just do this. Send me the below (so I can send for you!)
The Magic VC Introduction Formula
- A quick intro sentence w/ your your company name, value prop, + link to deck.
- 2-3 bullet points with key traction/revenue + info on the raise (amount seeking, valuation if known, $ committed from the most noteworthy investors)
Got it?
Let’s look at a real-life example:
Spankyliciuos is the #1 pink guinea pig food that all pet owners love. Did we mention it’s pink!? See our deck here.
Some highlights:
Fundraising–> Raising a 40M seed (35M closed) on a 50M valuation from Sequoia, Hustle Fund, and Rarebreed VC.
Traction–> Pre-launch. Founders from Stanford GSB, PETCO, and Buckingham Palace. Advisors include Adam Neumann’s former college roommates.
Get it?
With the above introduction, there is literally NO LIMIT to the number of investors I could get in on this exciting opportunity.
Guinea pigs forever!
