1. Mastering the VC Game:
How to Raise Your First Round of Capital
Jeffrey Bussgang
Flybridge Capital Partners, General Partner
Harvard Business School, Senior Lecturer
October 1st, 2013
2. General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, early-
stage VC firm based in Boston and NYC
40+ active portfolio companies, Fund III: $280M
Senior Lecturer at HBS – Launching Tech Ventures
Former entrepreneur
Cofounder Upromise (acq‟d by SallieMae),
VP at Open Market (IPO „96)
Author: Mastering the VC Game
Blog: SeeingBothSides.com
Context For My Perspective
5. 9
Scope out the firm –
size matters, as does
the individual
Arrange for a warm
introduction
Prepare, be brief
(VCs Blink)
Don‟t downplay risk
Mutual due diligence
is fair play
04/09/10 9
Raising $ from VCs: Find the Sweet Spot
6. 8
Why Raise Money from VC?
Deep Pockets:
High risk tolerance
and additional
funding for follow-
on rounds
Swing Big:
VCs don’t invest in
niches, they invest in
transformative ideas
that can build large
companies
Experience Matters:
VCs have “seen the
movie” over and over
again and can help
avoid pitfalls to find
the path to success
Value-Add:
VCs provide domain
experience, industry
contacts, and
strategic planning
7. VCs vs. Angels
Will want some control (voting,
board, veto)
Will want to own 20-30%
Very actively engaged (they
get paid to do this!)
Can add tremendous value
and be great business partners
Can be total disasters
Typically rational actors,
commercially-driven, but if
inexperienced…
Will want no control (“send me
an annual email”)
Will want to own 1-10%
Maybe engaged or not (often a
hobby, sometimes a personal
mission)
Can add tremendous value and
be great business partners
Can be total disasters
Typically rational, but if
unsophisticated: naïve
irrational, emotional
8. Most VCs and Angels have ADD – operate on
“BLINK” instincts
Want to SEE everything, but DO very, very few
deals
Make their decision within the first 10-15 minutes
Typical VC and angel will invest in one out of every
300-500 deals they see
Long odds – you need to really stand out
Like college applicants – triage quickly
Context About VCs and Angels
9. Ideas are a dime a dozen
Having a world-class team is golden
Laser focus of the young entrepreneur is very
powerful
E.g., Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Mark
Zuckerberg
1004/09/10 10
The Right People: an Unfair Advantage
10. Investor‟s Decision Tree
Worth 3 minutes
(email, phone)?
Worth 30 minutes
(phone, in person)?
Worth 60-90 minutes
(in person)?
Worth 2nd mtg
(in person)?
Ignore
Pass
gracefully
Pass but stay
In touch
Serious due diligencePass but be helpful
No
No
No
No
11. Elements of the Pitch
Intro who are you, why are you here and why are you special?
Problem what is the customer pain?
Solution what‟s your disruptive, breakthrough compelling
solution? Is the “Gain vs. Pain” ratio 10x?
Opportunity / market size top down and bottoms up
Competitive advantage what is your unique differentiation?
what‟s your “competitive moat”?
Go to market plan how are you going to reach the customer?
Business model how are you going to make money?
Financials what‟s the bottom line, what are your key
assumptions? How are you going to make ME money?
The ask how much do you want, how long will it last you and how
much will you achieve?
11
12. Top 3 Things To Do
Be gracious and personable
Say something that makes you smile…authentically
Tell your personal history, tell a story
Be crisp and on point
Personal intro should take < 5 minutes
Team introduction 5-10 minutes
Make it relevant – don‟t go off on tangents
If you can‟t show good summarization skills,
how will you handle a board room?
Know your stuff
They will push you to test you
John Doerr/Upromise case study
13. Top 3 Things To Avoid
Do not exaggerate
Assume everything you say will be verified in due diligence
Assume the listener is a cynic and a professional BS detector
There‟s no “I” in team
If you are self-aggrandizing, investors will assume you can‟t build
teams
Do not name drop
No one is going to be impressed
with who you know unless
the relationships are both real
and relevant.
14. Typical Investment Criteria
Tangible things investors like to see:
Very big market (> $500m)
Unfair advantage (why you? why now?)
Attractive business model (recurring, high gross margin)
Unique technology or business model approach
Intangible things investors like to see:
“Pied Piper” – an ability to recruit and retain a great team,
partners
Interpersonal chemistry
Movie, not a snapshot
15. So You‟ve Had a Good Meeting…
Then What?
Treat fundraising like a sales process – build a pipeline,
work people through the pipeline, build up to crescendo
VCs get distracted – typically only pursue 2-3 high
priority new investment opportunities at any given time
Stay connected, top of mind, build a sense of momentum
Need to sell the individual “champion”, then the help
them sell the partnership
Address objections with specific data
Make the investment case for them
Give them tools/materials to share with their partners
15
16. Then, Expect More Due Diligence
Customers / partners
Team
Technology
Business model
Market size / analysts
As with sales, package up the information, make it easy
on the VC – provide reference list, financial models,
detailed market size analysis – all in readable form
16
17. The Vote
17
A B JB D E Average
Market 4 4 4 4 4 4.0
Team 4 4 4 4 5 4.2
Product/Tech 2 3 4 4 2 3.0
Business Model 5 4 5 3 3 4.0
Competitive
Landscape 4 3 3 3 4 3.4
Finance/Cap Markets 4 3 4 3 3 3.4
Disruption 4 4 4 4 4 4.0
Network Effects 2 4 3 4 4 3.4
Total 29 29 31 29 29 29.4
18. Expectations and Milestones
Have well-documented milestones that represent what
you expect to achieve during the initial funding period
Team building
Technical progress/product development
Customers, revenue
Budget
Talk to the investor about the next round before you
close this round
Expectations, amount, price
18
20. Mastering the VC Game:
How to Raise Your First Round of Capital
Jeffrey Bussgang
Flybridge Capital Partners, General Partner
Harvard Business School, Senior Lecturer
October 1st, 2013