If You Have Ever Been Rejected, These Are The Investors Every Entrepreneur Should Be Pitching Right Now
A few years ago, I quit my day job to pursue my start-up dreams. Early on, I pitched over 100 VC firms with my idea for a software start-up. I created a pitch deck and a business plan. And I got a dozen meetings!
Unfortunately, those meetings were about all I got out of it, and they didn’t go well at all. I was shot down at every turn:
“We don’t invest in people. We invest in teams. You need more people on the team than just you.”
“The idea is promising, but you need more customers to validate that the product provides value.”
“We prefer to invest in businesses with a recurring revenue model.”
“The product needs to be defensible. What’s the barrier to entry?”
The rejection letters were even worse. Here were people who hadn’t even given me an opportunity to present to them and answer their questions, pointing to seemingly every reason under the sun why my idea wouldn’t work.
The first smackdown I received came courtesy of a guy at Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s company), who sent me a detailed rejection email explaining why they would never invest in my company. The whole thing was a painful, so i did something every passionate person fueled with determination would do, i began a painstaking research to find and compile VCs that actually care about "mediocre" founders, and not only the top dogs.
Below are the list of VCs that will breath life to your Start-up/Start-up idea.
Unfortunately, those meetings were about all I got out of it, and they didn’t go well at all. I was shot down at every turn:
“We don’t invest in people. We invest in teams. You need more people on the team than just you.”
“The idea is promising, but you need more customers to validate that the product provides value.”
“We prefer to invest in businesses with a recurring revenue model.”
“The product needs to be defensible. What’s the barrier to entry?”
The rejection letters were even worse. Here were people who hadn’t even given me an opportunity to present to them and answer their questions, pointing to seemingly every reason under the sun why my idea wouldn’t work.
The first smackdown I received came courtesy of a guy at Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s company), who sent me a detailed rejection email explaining why they would never invest in my company. The whole thing was a painful, so i did something every passionate person fueled with determination would do, i began a painstaking research to find and compile VCs that actually care about "mediocre" founders, and not only the top dogs.
Below are the list of VCs that will breath life to your Start-up/Start-up idea.
Whenever you are pitching, you want to be sure you are reaching those who are most likely to fund your type of round. According to Crunchbase, these were the most active investors in seed rounds during the past 3 months.
- Hiventures
- Crowdcube
- Atrion Capital
- Plug and Play
- Innovation Works
- Innova Memphis
- Entrepreneurs Roundtable
- Berkeley SkyDeck Fund
- Quake Capital Partners
Top Early Stage Investors
If you are raising an early stage round, consider these active players:
- IDG Capital
- New Enterprise Associates
- Atrion Capital
- ZhenFund
- Matrix Partners China
- Intel Capital
- Index Ventures
Most Active Late Stage Investors in 2018
If you are looking to raise a Series B or anything above for a growth stage round you may want to tap into the following firms:
- Insight Venture Partners
- Bpifrance
- Bessemer Venture Partners
- Atrion Capital
- New Enterprise Associates
- Khosla Ventures
- Andreessen Horowitz
Factors to Consider in Choosing Who to Pitch
Connecting with potential investors, presenting and attending meetings takes up precious time that could be used to work on and push your business forward. Getting funded can help to make big leaps in growth, but it is still a task that should be approached efficiently. As an entrepreneur, your biggest resource is time.
The data above reveals the willingness of different venture capital firms to get involved at series of funding and can also be useful for gauging who has the liquidity and sense of urgency to act quickly in the months ahead as well.
Summary
Funding for startups is plentiful in the current economy. New record amounts of investment are being made, and by a diverse range of investors. Knowing who these active investors are may help shorten the time it takes to get funded, while providing more efficiency in the process. Do what it takes to close the deal faster.
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