Chris Vasquez’s Post

🚀 Tips on How to Present to Investors from Sequoia Capital So you’ve landed that coveted meeting to pitch your idea to your dream investor. Congrats! Now the real challenge lies ahead: How do you hook your audience into backing your startup? Sequoia Capital has invested in companies that constitute $1.4 trillion of combined stock market value and has decades of experience vetting founders and their businesses. Swipe through the file below for their advice. You’ll learn: 🔹 Why your pitch should follow the format of a James Bond movie (really!) 🔹 What your first 3 slides should include 🔹 The importance of checking in with your audience 🔹 What your presentation should cover 🔹 Common pitfalls to avoid -------- Follow All Chance to learn from more innovative insights.

When I invest in a startup as an angel investor, I don't just provide capital and step back. Recently, founders I've backed told me they needed introductions to key stakeholders in companies they were targeting with their SaaS product. So, I tapped into my network and made those connections. The result? They started generating sales. In this video, I share the story of how leveraging an investor's network can jumpstart a startups sales efforts. Good angel investors are not just about the funding—it's about the doors that can open when an angel investor is actively involved.

Can I see your pitch deck? Yes, you can. Here's the SMOK Ventures pitch deck I show to startup founders who are potentially interested in taking our money. I believe every VC should have a deck showcasing the value they bring to founders. Here's ours. Let me know what's missing!

After 5 years in VC, I've seen 1000s of pitch decks and pitches from founders. But I realized for all the time founders spend pitching VCs, how many times have founders heard the VC's pitch to them? Given how many pitches we see from founders, we think it’s only fair to share our pitch to founders with you! The Harlem Capital Pitch covers: - Who we are & most importantly our values - How our team support founders - Our portfolio and the ecosystem we've built - Insight into what it really takes to reach VC scale - Benchmarks for VC funding stages - Lessons learned from our portfolio Founders - it's so important to understand who you'll be partnering with on the 7-10 year VC backed startup journey!

Alexander Shartsis, CEO of Silverwood and an expert GTM strategist, explores the varied approaches of venture capitalists in the startup ecosystem. Alex sheds light on why the best venture capitalists may take their time before investing and the importance of building trust and credibility. He shares an anecdote about a startup's rocky venture pitch—highlighting the consequences of missing targets and the harsh reality of investor expectations. 📊 🔍 VCs value more than just metrics—they're investing in potential and partnerships over time.  It’s important to foster strong relationships and effectively manage expectations to pave the way for future opportunities. 🎧 Catch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gTB-r-t6

🚀 As I'm immersing myself in the VC world, it's amazing how particular numbers tell the story of a startup's journey!  📊💼 Whether you're a founder or investor, understanding these metrics is crucial. #VentureCapital + #StartupFinance

What is a key trait all successful founders share? In my decade as a VC, I've had the privilege of partnering with nearly 100 founders, witnessing first hand their journey, some of whom grew from startups to publicly traded companies. The common denominator among those who scaled their businesses to great heights? Embracing Friction Successful founders excel in making tough decisions: parting ways with bad hires, persisting with products despite delayed market adoption, and turning down unsuitable customers. They tackle challenges head-on and act decisively. Embrace Friction daily. Do not delay discomfort

A few things I’d like to see evolve with the startup ecosystem: [between the coasts ] • founders thinking bigger • founders moving faster • more talent leaving corporate • better terms from VCs • more VC founder support • VCs moving faster • more angel investors

Confessions of Start-up Investors #3: A series of gems from my conversations with various investors & founders in the startup ecosystem. Here are few from last couple of weeks. 1. We are angel investors. We are angels. Not Devils, not God. Ours is to take exits at every opportunity and not try to be VC, the God or the Devil. 2. Don't ask me how much IRR you will make. I can't tell you the future. I can only tell you the past. #confessionsofangels #confessionsofstartupinvestors

☕ This morning I was able to attend the "New to VC: Taking the Platform Route" hosted by nextNYC !! "New to VC is an educational series for a group of relatively new investors who want to be exposed to the best venture and startup thinking. Each event is attended by accredited investors and non-partner VCs that skew intentionally, but not exclusively, toward underrepresented backgrounds." 🎤 Charlie O'Donnell is a phenomenal moderator and brought the audience together to discuss the platform role in VC and the career paths around it with 3 venture professionals who have experience on both the investment and platform teams. 💸 The panel consisted of Olivia O'Sullivan, Partner at Forum Ventures, Cat Middleton, GP at The Venture Collective (TVC) and Lexi Quirk, Head of Product and Platform at 645 Ventures. 📓 It wouldn't be one of my event recaps without some takeaways right? ⬇ When discussing the importance of nurturing relationships in the ecosystem: “We ask ourselves, how do we get to know the people before they become the company?” When discussing what's the best way to move up from a platform role: "Have a very candid conversation with partners about growth early on." When discussing how to drive value to portfolio companies: "Try to be proactive... build a team and process that goes to the founders at onboarding and says 'here’s our playbook on X, here’s our playbook on Y' " 💥 And for my favorite - what to do to make sure you stand out to Partners? "You need to have skin in the game, and find a way to contribute to the bottom line as an operator." 💪 Be sure to follow nextNYC as well as these awesome professionals, especially if you're looking to learn from some of the brightest in NYC Venture Capital And stop if you've heard me say it before, Cooley LLP's NYC office is always so great to visit!! #VCplatform #venturecapital #nextnyc #newtoVC #femalefunders