Liew: Founders should build VC relationships early rather than always raising
Jeremy Liew · 20VC: Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew on Why It Is More Important To Be Right Than Contrarian, The Most Common Mistakes Made By Hyper-Growth Companies & 3 Characteristics That Make An Individual Incredible At Sourcing · Apr 22, 2019 · at 26:08
Jeremy Liew, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, advises startup founders on how to evaluate prospective investors before formal fundraising processes begin.
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“You shouldn't always be raising. It's exhausting, but if you're going to consider adding someone to your board, that person is going to be on your board for years, and if you're going to make that decision on the basis of having met somebody two or three times, that could go right, but it also has the potential of going very badly wrong, especially when everyone's got their game face on and is doing their best to, like, sell into the deal, and you don't necessarily know the true nature or character or ability to add value of that person, and so I think there is value in taking meetings, not necessarily for the purpose of fundraising, but just to see what people are like, what their perspectives are how they can help or not help, and then actually watching to see if they, in fact, follow through and do help well ahead of a financing process, because it'll help you narrow down the set of people that you would genuinely consider taking capital from when that financing actually occurs.”
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