Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Akhund: Taking early VC meetings is a distraction, not proof of progress

Immad Akhund · 20VC: Mercury Founder Immad Akhund on Why Angel Investing Makes Founders Better Operators, The Right Way For Founders To Discuss and Present Competition To Investors & How To Think About Your Initial Wedge Into The Market and How It Expands Over Time · Sep 20, 2019 · at 24:47

Immad Akhund, founder of Mercury, explains why founders waste valuable time taking casual meetings with venture capitalists outside of active fundraising windows.

0:00 / 0:23exact quote · 23.4s
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“Sometimes it's like investors are literally their job is to meet people. Often I hear from an entrepreneur that like, oh, you know, blah, blah, blah. Investor reached out to me or like this VC wants to meet. And like, I'm on a second meeting with them. And like, they're really excited about it as if that's progress. And you just have to say to them, Hey, like that's their job. And they will, especially if you're like at all promising, they will always meet you for you. You're like burning up valuable intellectual and time resources, but for them, that's all they do.”

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