Looking back on 2015, VC-platform VEECEE pulled together memories from the 1,000+ meetings they held with young companies looking for money, and selected the 15 ‘worst’ things they were – often repeatedly – told.
This blog originally appeard on VEECEE (currently closing a modest funding rounf of their own that will enable them to finance their activities in 2016!)
15 Things Not to Tell Your VC in 2016
- We expect to close this round Friday next week (said during the first Skype interview)
- We focused on product and not on sales (company has had two full time sales employees on the payroll for the last twelve months)
- An IPO is the most feasible exit strategy (company was raising a first round)
- This is our last round in Europe. Investors from the U.S. are already trying to pull us in (user engagement was only visible with a microscope)
- When asked about customer acquisition: ‘our product will go viral. Facebook too never advertised’ (surely didn’t the recent tractions prove this mechanism)
- We got a call from a high-profile tier-1 U.S. investor (silence …)
- We are planning our next round in December next year and plan to raise € 4,510,467
We are the Spotify of cyber security - I am a serial entrepreneur (wrote a newspaper at age 11, and sold that newspaper to mum and neighbour. Note: we didn’t speak to Richard Branson)
- We are active in 10 countries (translated the website for 10 countries but generate 97% of revenue from the Netherlands)
- We just need 1 million users (had one hundred users at that moment)
We outsource all tech (always a good one!) - Our valuation is at least 100 million
- We expect three term sheets next week
- We have no competitors
A final word of wisdom from VEECEE: unless you’re being asked about a specific choice that took lots of consideration, never ever respond to a question with: ‘that’s a really good question’. Being told you’re asking good questions makes any VC feel miserable.