♞ Should you make small talk?

Sponsored by

Should you make small talk?

When meeting with investors, many founders are uncertain about how to converse with them. A significant mistake that founders can make is to engage in discussions about the company informally while walking to the meeting room or waiting for someone to jump on a Zoom call. This can be a major mistake because you often start to tell a story or narrative about your company that can conflict with the narrative in your pitch. In short, you want the first impression and perspective from which they view your pitch to be the one you’ve prepared at the start of your pitch and not one you stumble upon in casual conversation before the pitch.

So, what small talk should you engage in?

Before a pitch, the small talk you engage in should be about establishing your social status. You want to use this opportunity to establish that you are someone whose pitch they should dedicate 100% of their attention.

Here are two ways of doing this:

1. Direct the conversation towards your areas of expertise. While you shouldn’t talk specifically about your company, talk about the industry and share your knowledge of the industry. The social status that you gain

2. Set the agenda for the meeting. Taking control of the agenda can help establish your status and asset authority, which commands attention.

Remember that the entire interaction determines whether you raise funds, not just the pitch.

Hire Ava, The AI Sales Rep From $225/mo

Looking to generate B2B leads on autopilot? Ava’s your new best friend. 

Onboard Ava with a 10-minute conversation, and she’ll:

• Find relevant leads

• Do in-depth lead research

• Write hyper-personalized emails

• Contact 1000s of leads per month

• Get you qualified sales meetings

Ready to supercharge your outbound? Hire Ava today.

Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:

📢 Promote your startup to 2,000+ VCs including investors from a16z, YC, Techstars, Rarebreed, Sequoia and more.

📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)

📺 Access FundraiseOS, the ultimate fundraising course with video lessons and practical worksheets helping with everything from deciding how much to raise to understanding a term sheet.

💸 Promote your product or service to 100,000+ entrepreneurs.

🌐 Connect with me on LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter) to get access to new content about startups, fundraising, venture capital and more every day.

Liam’s Exclusive Partner Discounts:

• Startups get six months free of Zendesk's industry-leading customer support solution that's scalable and easy to use.

• Get 20% off Keap's automated sales and marketing solutions, tailored to boost business growth with automation tools and coaching.

• Get 40% off Mobly's lead capture app that enriches data and pushes to your CRM instantly for their first year, worth up to $3,000 in savings.

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill