Even if the founders did a fundraising with us, it's useful to recall the basic of our job to be sure we talk the same langage.
- VC organisation and titles
- Decrypting VC organization
- Questions to ask to VCs you meet
- Before a meeting :
- What is the strategy of the fund in term of geography, sectors, maturity stage ?
- During a meeting:
- What is the size of the active fund ?
- When the active fund was raised ?
- What is the investment process ?
- Who is in the investment committee ?
VC organisation and titles
| VC Titles | Job description | Role in your fundraising process |
|---|---|---|
The boss. She/he is in the investment committee. May lead investment from time to time | ||
The senior investor. May be in the investment committee | Champions to convince | |
The investor. She/he is in autonomy on the investment side. Source deals directly | Champions to convince | |
The padawan. She/he co-lead or support investment with a partner or a principal. Source deals directly | Best entry point | |
The worker. She/he is doing investment memo. May source directly | ||
The guru. She/he may be in the investment committee. Do not invest but may source | none | |
The operator. She/he may be in the investment committee. Do not invest nor source | none |
Decrypting VC organization
VCs raise funds too ! VCs have also investors and are in the same process of regular fundraising as a startup.
VC is a two headed business: the Fund on the one side and the management company (GP) on the other side
Questions to ask to VCs you meet
Before a meeting :
What is the strategy of the fund in term of geography, sectors, maturity stage ?
Don't loose your time with a fund which clearly doesn't invest in your geography, sector or maturity.
During a meeting:
What is the size of the active fund ?
Good to know : a fund can’t invest more than 10% of a fund in a single company. If the VC has 100 millions left and you ask for 10 millions, it will not workout.
When the active fund was raised ?
A fund has an investment period from 3 to 5 years. If it's the begining of the investment period : the fund tends to invest in less mature deals than its focus If it's the end of the investment period : the fund tends to invest in more mature deals than its focus
What is the investment process ?
It's important to understand if the process is subcontracted to external (experts ...) or kept internaly, the number of interactions needed and the lengh of the process
Who is in the investment committee ?
You have to know who you'll have to convince.
Back to the 