Founders, please remember you are constantly dropping clues for investors.
I like to call them breadcrumbs.
I was talking with a founder and started to ask questions about customers and pricing. The answers I got were all consumer-type responses.
“5,000 customers”
“19.99/month pricing”
So, I stopped them and asked “I thought this was a B2B business.”
Their response: “It is.”
Me: “So how are you getting 5,000 customers in the next 18 months?”
Conversations like these are why you aren’t getting investment.
You are going into meetings and speaking about your business in a way that is incongruent with your industry and investor expectations.
Not understanding how to talk about your business shows naivete, poor research, and industry knowledge.
Founders, please remember everything you say is being judged against a laundry list of bullet points, assumptions, and expectations an investor already has about you, your business, and your industry.
Do not give them any reason to say no by not following the general rules of your industry and business type.