Understanding the Mind of a Venture Capitalist

So you have a new and wonderful idea, possibly to save the planet, to solve the mystery of life, create an object, make a better cookie or just simply to make things better for humankind. Great!

These, of course, are things that you want, but not what a Venture Capitalist or VC wants to hear. They want to hear about your market and who you will be selling to, how much will it cost and if there really are buyers. Most VC's do not care about your dreams, they care about getting the highest return (ROI) they can on the investment.

Do they consider you in this picture? Well sort of. They consider whether or not you are the best company representative to assure their success. If not, you will be replaced because success must be reasonably assured. If you are opening a restaurant, for example, and your appearance is disheveled and your behavior is erratic or non-approachable, then you can assume a big NO! If you are considering a high-tech company and you think everyone truly wants a head-mounted computer system, assume NO, do not go to the meeting, and you will remain a much happier person.

The reason I bring all this up, if you are an American Idol watcher you should understand now, is very simple. You see 10,000 would be singers arrive and less than 25 make the cut because they have not been reviewed for a successful audition and most of the ideas or singers, simply can not sing. I have been up against many VC's in my career and the more I meet and talk to them the smarter one becomes.

They are simple folk. They either immediately see dollar signs all over you and your idea or they do not. There is no middle ground, which I find comforting. Meaning, that I rather receive a hard NO with reasons that I can ponder, than a Maybe and never really know either way. While Simon, on AI, is deeply cutting when he tells one of the contestants that "you simply can not sing!" He is telling them that their chosen path is not only foolish and wasteful but not easily achieved within their knowledge and talent base, just like a VC would. It's cruel, but I have been in rooms where 25 groups with incredibly poor ideas, no research, no evidence, and no true differentiation, but have a dream, and just threw away all the money they had in hope of an immediate gold ring.

The mind tricks us terribly sometimes.

You have to think clearly. You have to obtain honest opinions from people that have true experiences in the field you are entering and they will tell you the truth. I have told many people considering VC's that "Hope is Not a Plan!". However, the following is:

Article Source: http://www.new.citynewslive.com

Doug Linman is a communications technology expert with over thirty six years of experience. He is also the CEO of NetworkAnatomy, a company dedicated to wireless technologies and architectures. He can be reached at business@networkanatomy.com

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