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- Bad Advice: Pitch Lower Tier VCs First
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Should you pitch to lower-tier VCs first?
Read time 0.6 minutes.
Everyone wants to raise money from a Tier-1 VC like Sequoia, a16z or Greylock. Because of this, many founders follow the advice of pitching in the following order:
Angel Investors
Tier 3 VCs
Tier 2 VCs
Tier 1 VCs
Why pitch in this order?
The common advice exists because there is an assumption that as you pitch, you will improve your presentation, practice answering questions, figure out what questions will be asked, and make yourself a better investment proposition.
Despite this, I HATE this advice.
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My Take
Every single investor you pitch has money. Treating anyone who can fund your business and make you a potential billionaire and a “practice” for someone else is entirely foolish.
When working with clients who follow this strategy, I’ve observed that many don’t even take the first few pitches seriously. It’s just human nature; we don’t like to put in 100% practice. Why perfect your deck for Pitch 1 when you can leave some holes, get some insights and advice then perfect it by the time you pitch to the big players?
My advice is simple. Take every pitch seriously. Each one can land you the funds you need to grow your business. There is no logic in treating some investors better than others. Once you have offers from multiple investors, you can then be in a position to pick who you want to work with. Don’t get cocky and do it before you have those offers in hand.
Do you take meetings in reverse order of priority when pitching? |
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Onwards and Upwards,
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