I was glad to be the guest speaker last week at RTP New Tech Meetup. Three local companies also were given an opportunity to tell more about themselves. More details here.
For my part, I quickly introduced myself, SCV and then went right to Q&A. And I got a lot of questions that night which kept the conversation lively.
One of the questions an entrepreneur asked that night is what differentiates our firm. This is a common question and something my partners and I think a lot about.
Every VC has their "pitch" about what makes them special. We do too. But what I mentioned is that I continue to think the most important way to find out a firm's differentiators is to directly ask the companies they have funded. For us, many of our companies/entrepreneurs are local so that's easier to do for entrepreneurs based here. Many of our CEOs are also repeat entrepreneurs that have worked with other VCs before us. So they have a lot different experiences to compare us.
And if an entrepreneur is in due diligence with a VC firm, the importance of speaking with other entrepreneurs they have funded becomes a must! I know for us, if an entrepreneur isn't networked with the rest of our portfolio before we go to due diligence with the company (which is rare), then we will push to make it happen. We give them 100% of the names and numbers of our CEOs and they can then select who they want to call. No one is off limits. We think that is important for them to choose rather than us pick "the best three." This way, they can hear absolutely everything. Hopefully, the more people they call, the more good things they will hear! :)
I really had a lot of fun participating that evening. Thanks to Roger Smith (for putting this event together), to Adam Smith (for hosting everyone and picking up the bar tab for everyone afterwards) and most importanly to all the entreprenuers that came out that night. I hope to attend the next one.
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