The Top 20 Things We Heard at the NY Venture Summit

Yesterday was the 2024 NY Venture Summit and my first visit to an event in the Venture Summit series.

The panel discussions were *awesome* — so much insight and perspective shared from a huge variety of VCs. Here are the top things I heard from those panels.  (These are in no particular order, and roughly paraphrased as I was taking notes on my 📱.)

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➡️ General Advice

1. "You should have tried *everything* you can to get funding BEFORE you approach VCs. If you're approaching a VC, you'd better be ready to scale." 📈

— Alison Perez, PhD of Lockheed Martin Ventures

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2. "With the acceleration of AI, we will see the first one-man unicorn emerge within the next 5 years." 🤯

— Fred Campbell, Managing Partner at TRAC

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3. "Being building your relationships with VCs *way in advance* of your first raise. Send them monthly updates as though they're already invested. And most importantly, I want to learn something from you." 📬

— George Krautzel of MissionOG

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➡️ On raising angel/seed funding.

4. "If you're raising an angel round, there is zero proof of your value. It's a trust-based relationship at this stage. Build trust." 🤝

— Hemant Elhence, 3Lines VC

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5. "At this stage, we're looking for founders to have realistic and grounded expectations of the future with evidence to back up any claims. We want to see that you have an outstanding team and the ability to manage the money you're asking for." 👭

— Daria Abbaei, Naples Technology Ventures

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6. "We don't expect a seed stage company to have any/many customers. If you can introduce us to potential customers to understand what they see in you, that goes a long way." 👋

— John Dauer, Helium-3 Ventures

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7. "If you're emailing us, especially cold, your subject line should be the most amazing proof-point you can share. Too many people waste that space with 'Coffee?' or something similar. Use it to get my attention." 📩

— Julia Gudish Krieger, Pari Passu Venture Partners

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8. "If you're excited about pursuing a 50 million dollar exit for your company, don't bother reaching out to me. That type of return doesn't align to our business model." 💸

— Gary Benerofe, Mu Ventures

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➡️ On getting VCs to sit forward and notice you.

9. "At the pre-seed or pre-revenue stage, financial models are meaningless. We're interested in how you're thinking about generating revenue: your GTM strategy, your ICP, and the future alignment of needs and features." 📢

— Zach Ellis, Jr., South Loop Ventures

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10. "A financial model matters a lot at the pre-seed, pre-revenue stage. We know it will be wrong, but it's a window into how you view progress. It helps us assess your revenue expectations, your assumptions, on cost, and what needs to be true tomorrow to reach 50MM or more in revenue." 👀

— Karim Gillani, Luge Capital

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11. "There are two types of CVC investors: those who care about strategic investment and the advantages you bring to the parent co. and those who want to gather intel on potential competitors."

— Susan Akbarpour, Candou Ventures

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12. "In contrast to many VCs who don't really care about advisors, I believe that advisors are indicators of who believes in your vision enough to support you. And you'd better believe I'll reach out to them."

— Kelauni Jasmyn, Black Tech Nation VC

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13. "I'm interested in 2 things from early founders: Tell me a story about how you're going to change the future in non-obvious ways. And be transparent...to a fault. I'd rather learn about your skeletons in the first or second meeting than right before I wire money."

— Karim Gillani, Luge Capital

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14. "Finding an investor is a lot like dating. Never change who you are or what you believe in to fit what you think the investor wants."

— Kelauni Jasmyn, Black Tech Nation VC

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15. "Do everything you can to find a warm intro to an investor. Remember, we invest in roughly 1% of the opportunities that cross our desks. We're looking for a reason to say no."

— Doug Zingale, Blue Goose Capital

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➡️ On Strategic/Corporate Venture Capital

16. "We're looking to invest in partners that can help us go further, faster. We know that we can't build all of the necessary new technology ourselves."

— Philippe Daoust, NAVentures

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17. "Our corporate leadership is focused on quarter over quarter growth. Our investments allow us to look to the future."

— Rachel Weiss, L'Oreal Ventures

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18. "Working with a big brand can be complex and frustrating. One of the advantages we bring to portfolio companies is the ability to unlock doors throughout the organization."

— Ben Daniels, IBM Ventures

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19. "Don't underestimate the value and credibility that a huge corporation will bring when they show up on your cap table."

— Anuj Bhardwaj, Experian Ventures

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20. "10-12 years ago, the CVC space looked very different. It wasn't as sophisticated. Strategy outweighed everything else."

— Lutz Stoeber, Evonik Venture Capital