As a founder you have to pitch your idea, constantly. Whether it’s through a university competition, at a dinner party, or part of a fundraising pitch to investors. To help founders prepare for the latter, we invite friends from the NYC venture community to hold office hours at the Leslie eLab and meet with NYU entrepreneurs.
While most of the participating startups are not actively fundraising, Office Hours provide teams in programs like Ignite and Summer Launchpad with the opportunity to receive expert advice from venture capitalists who work with (and meet even more) startups. Below are 3 insights shared by investors from RRE Ventures and Flybridge Capital based on their visits earlier this month.
On Pitching:
"...When walking into the room, assume that the person on the other side of the table has no idea about your industry. Establish how big the market is before talking about your technology, etc. As investors, if we are struggling to understand how large the market is we probably aren’t fully focused on the rest of your pitch. With early-stage startups, investors are often generalists and do not have deep knowledge. To successfully pitch to investors, you have to assume they have no knowledge of your space. Get them excited first before going into your service/product." -Grace Ge, RRE Ventures
"Make sure to be prepared before pitching a VC. Research the backgrounds of who you are pitching - do research before going into the meeting." -Henry Toole, RRE Ventures
On Forming Relationships:
"There’s often a misconception that founders should start conversations [with VCs] when they’re ready to fundraise. Founders should really be building relationships with VCs early - we want to stay up to speed with your progress." -Adriel Bercow, Flybridge Capital
Thank you to Grace, Henry, and Adriel for your time, feedback, and support of entrepreneurship at NYU!
About Office Hours:
Office hours are by invitation-only and a chance for startup teams to receive expert coaching on specific issues and challenges they face. Priority access to office hour signups is given to teams participating in programs including Ignite Fellowships, $300K Entrepreneurs Challenge, Healthcare Makerthon, Prototyping Fund, J-Term Startup Sprint, Summer Launchpad, and those recommended by Blackstone Launchpad coaches.
Interested in participating but not involved in one of the programs listed above? Sign up for a coaching session with a Blackstone LaunchPad coach and learn how to access entrepreneurial resources at NYU.
