Hutchins: Founders Should Practice Series A Pitches for 40 Hours
Chris Hutchins · 20VC: The Fundamentals Of Optimising The Fundraising Process, SAFE's vs Priced Equity Rounds & Why Hiring Is Really A Big Data Problem with Chris Hutchins, Founder @ Grove & Former Partner @ Google Ventures · Feb 23, 2018 · at 7:31
Chris Hutchins, founder of Grove and former Google Ventures partner, provides tactical fundraising advice on pitch preparation for early-stage founders.
0:00 / 0:06exact quote · 6.8s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“In advance of a Series A, you should be giving the pitch for about 40 hours of practice and rehearsal before you give it to the first investor.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Chris Hutchins
Hutchins: Most VCs fake interest in startups and withhold honest feedback
“Most VCs that I've worked with or talked to, they're not really interested in the company. In order to protect the future opportunity, they don't always give the best honest feedback, and that hurts the founder.”
Hutchins: Founders should never name-drop other VCs during fundraising
“Oh, I think none. If I'm a founder, and I tell someone at VC or at GV, oh, you know, I just had this great conversation with this other investor. I'm going to be like, great, I'll call them and see what's really happening. VCs all know each other. They all tal…”
Hutchins: SAFEs and convertible notes create distracting fundraising loops for founders
“Safes, convertible debt, they're all kind of based on future guesses. You kind of figure out the dilution later. It allows for this continual raising process that, you know, I know YC's talked a lot about that I think can be a huge distraction.”
Hutchins: Super pro rata rights for insiders block new lead investors
“If you are in a situation where the insiders have all of their pro rata rights, super pro rata rights, you get to a point that if you want to raise 20%, or you want to sell 20% of the company in your next round, and insiders are taking 15, it's going to be har…”
Hutchins: Crypto in 2018 is a speculative investment, not a retirement plan
“I feel like I'm seeing too many people spend too much time on it right now, and I kind of see it as more of a speculative investment for most people at this point, not a guaranteed way to plan your retirement.”
Warby Parker and Casper warrant VC backing through supply chain innovation
“At first glance, you might say that a number of companies like Warby Parker or Casper traditionally wouldn't be venture backed companies because they're kind of traditional e-commerce product companies. But I think as you dive into the supply chain, you dive i…”