Funder and Founder interaction research

In May 2024 I’ll be launching a research project on ‘funders and founders’ based on my own experience.

“I am a meticulous note keeper and data junky.”

Over the coming weeks, I’m publishing the raw data from my pitching process from – 342 VC firms and 9 “yes’s”, a 6% hit rate from the meetings but 3% if you consider the full total. Is that good or bad? I’ve presented this high level information in a Sankey diagram that I will update every month with more insight based on my meticulous notes, and be discussing important items like:

1. What the numbers mean: how many meetings, how much prep, how much time and duration-stats.

2. Choosing the right market - European fundraising in context: Sitting next to the biggest pile of money, Europe is not it.

3. Down-selecting: How I selected who we emailed for meetings and pitched to from 1,800 potential VC firms

4. Warming Leads - the No’s and the Yes’s: How a warm lead is most definitely a better strategy than cold outreach (what my data suggests).

5. Wrong questions, wrong time: the importance of asking, and being asked, the right questions for the stage and thesis.

6. Preparation: I used DocSend, and here are the numbers of when VCs would go into the document, and where they would spend their time.

7. First and last pitch analysis: Of the 143 pitches that I made, further analysis of the process to reach the final lead and follow on investors.