Southeast VC

Advice for Job Seekers that Engage with VCs

Like any other VC firm, we get a lot of people that call us looking for their next job. Some of them come in cold and some are referred to us. Given the economy, the number of requests for help has definitely increased over the past couple of years. With the increase, it has become very obvious that many job seekers are very unfocused in their approach. That has been very frustrating for us since we really want to be helpful. But the job seeker comes to us without any criteria. No mention about industry, size of company, role/responsibilities that would interest them most. In fact, I would say over 50% of people that approach us come without ANY criteria at all. They just say "What companies should I talk with?" But instead of help, they usually get blank stares back from us. It ends in being a very unproductive meeting and we both probably feel like it was wasted time.

So, let me share what I think works best for people that want to approach us for help. I will use a very specific and recent example since I think it worked so well. I will try and keep things generic.

• Individual in NYC is interested in moving to NC - no surprise there :)
• He is interested in a senior level finance role at a tech startup in NC and has the background to match
• He finds a person that knows us and asks that person for the introduction and they do it
• He researched & did his homework on companies in the region that interest him most - by going to places like this,this and this.
• He talked about his background and asked us for introductions for two companies here in NC that he knows we have strong ties to. He knew A LOT about each company already. The internet makes that easy. We talked about other companies in the region, but he stayed focused on those two.
• He sold us on the value he could provide to those companies, which made us more interested in making the connection. It got to the point where we knew that the company would want an introduction to him.
• He sent us a customized & short email for each of those two companies attaching his resume to each. This is important and makes it really easy for us to forward to those companies.
• One of those companies is now talking about hiring him!

Good story, right? Well, I guess better when he gets the job. :)  But my point is the process worked a lot smoother and could end in a positive result. If he called and just rambled on and on about his background and asked us to connect him around, I don't think we would have ever matched him up with those two companies. It wouldn't have crossed our minds. He was very prepared and ran a very focused process. By him doing the extra research (and not relying 100% on us), it makes the conversation much better for everyone.

For a VC Firm's Differentiators, Ask their Entrepreneurs

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.