Thread by @davidlee

Fundraising tip:

Immediately after a meeting, write down every question that was asked - to the word. It feels tedious but it's the fastest way to improve your pitch.

Second fundraising tip:

Number your slides. Not even joking.

Third fundraising tip:

Prepare for questions more than you prepare your "pitch." You're not giving a TED talk.

Fourth fundraising tip:

Write a 1-2 page executive summary in Word/GDocs and send that instead of a deck. A good template is the "Prospectus Summary" in any S1. Dropbox S1 is a good template: see pp 1-5 sec.gov/Archives/edgar…

Note: Dropbox summarized 1. what they do 2. its progress 3. its business model 4. why it needs the $$ 5. its strategy and 6. its vision in less than 5 pages

Subtip:

If there were no good questions, they aren't investing.

Subtip:

If an investor doesn't follow up within 48 hours, the chances of their investing decreased by 50%. With each additional day of non-response, those chances decay exponentially. Better to have peace of mind that someone has passed.

The investing climate is way too competitive for a good investor to not follow up within that time frame if they are super interested.

And that interest will wax or wane with the process. Very rarely do I see an investor go from "kind of interested" to "super interested." If they're not super interested after first meeting, it's basically a pass.

Some disagree with this tip.

My argument: great writing doesn't happen in 30 minutes. It takes many drafts to make it concise and tight - much better process than making a pitch TED-like. And, some Bezos social proof: businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jef…

This tip was inspired by @SHO_Billions btw. Like Homer S, I learn everything from TV.

cc @briankoppelman