You know what I find really, really, really frustrating?
When VCs pitch to you, they talk a lot about how much they provide more than money… it’s sometimes true, oftentimes it’s not. But what is really damning is when I am trying to contact a given company for a business development deal and contact a VC to have them make an introduction and nothing, nada, zilch.
Funny thing is VCs brag about 9 out of 10 of my investment fail, and 1 is a grand slam. Well, well… maybe if you tried to provide more than money, then the others would not fail…
Any self-respecting VC should at least:
- respond to confirm that they got the email, and say that they have sent it in to someone at the company you are trying to reach.
Any proactive VC should:
- reply to you, thank you for reaching out, then add a contact at their portfolio company and have you follow up with one another.
I won’t call anyone out… but when you get an email from someone saying they are looking for a contact at a given company, for the love of all things holy act man, act!
You only ensure that we don’t take you seriously when you tell us a few months later that you bring more than money to the table.
In fact, you as a VC look foolish because it’s not like I won’t find a way to reach the company down the road anyway? And when I do, I’ll mention: “did so and so at VC X tell you I was trying to reach you guys? No… I am sure they meant to…”
All right, I feel better… back to work…