Leo Polovets, General Partner at Susa Ventures, explains how he gathers feedback from founders after pitch meetings using a post-meeting survey model inspired by First Round Capital.
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“I actually got this idea from Finn at first round where he started sending a survey to founders he met with to basically ask them what they thought of the meeting. So I've been doing that for the last year or two, and it's a really short survey.”
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Opinion
Polovets: Evaluating startup technology and CTOs at seed is a waste
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“Whether you raise all of it on five, or you raise a little bit on four, seven, and 10, most people think that the four, seven, 10 approach is way better, because the valuations go up so much. But it turns out, I think it's within about half a percent of diluti…”
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Insight
Polovets: Startups fail from lack of product-market fit, not technology
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Insight
Polovets: Fund returns depend far more on initial seed checks than follow-ons
“Yeah, you know, I do believe, actually, that you make most of your money on the right initial bets, And the key is just to make those bets meaningful and trying to double down later helps, but I really think it's secondary.”
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Insight
Polovets: Overpaying across a seed portfolio cuts overall fund returns in half
“I do believe price is important. I think everybody talks about if you invest in Uber, then the seed price doesn't matter. And I think if you invest in Uber, that's true. The seed price doesn't matter. But I think the challenge is that most investors think most…”
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