

How not to approach an investor - RyanGWU82
http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2008/06/a-different-approach-to-getting-my-attention.html

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raganwald
Speaking for myself, I don't really think the story is about a bad pitch.
Business is business, you sell your company any way you like, and people buy
or they don't buy. We may laugh at the false bravado, but we are probably
laughing at the hard-sell penny stock promoters while they are making
millions.

Any way, I think this story is really about how to burn a referral source.
IMO, if you are approaching a VC directly, you use any pitch you want and I
say good for you. But if I refer you to a VC, I want you to think very hard
about what your pitch says about ME before you make it.

I think that is a very serious matter, and that is the issue I have with the
anonymized founders in the story. They clearly did not consider what their
referral source would have to say about being associated with their pitch.

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motoko
Businesses that make $180MM profit in 9 months from a $10MM investment:

\- Terrorism

\- Ransoming the children of a business tycoon

\- A web 2.0 youtube-like social network mashup

~~~
DocSavage
He wrote $200MM in revenue in 9 months with "minor" loss of $10MM. Imagine his
demands if he really projected $180MM in profits! :)

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motoko
Ah, you're right. I was just so excited by the tight investment deadline that
I had no time for silly differences like between "expenses" and "losses." And
I thought I was being conservative by doubling expenses, too.

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raganwald
Rick is a class act, and just technical enogh to be dangerous... especially to
founders who sling buzzwords without the least idea what they are really
saying.

I couldn't resist posting one his best:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=223021>

~~~
electric
Just technical enough...?

Brings to mind the oft-quoted "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".

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huhtenberg
This is known as a "Fax Attack" method of negotiating a car purchase. Who
would've thought it wouldn't work for securing company funding. Duh :)

(edit) Here's an example - <http://www.fool.com/car/car12.htm>

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pxlpshr
That's hilarious. Terribly played, grossly over-confident and naive
expectations. It reminds me of the bad contestants on American Inventor, the
tv series.

/ _scratches head with an eye closed_

~~~
izaidi
Maybe the pitch was from the inventor of Bulletball. The guy does have the
same first name.

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tstegart
It comes off as more a scam than a real request for funding. "How do you know
the tooth fairy isn't some crazy glue-sniffer. 'Buildin' model air planes,' he
tells them. Well I'm not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, thats all
it takes. Next thing you know you got money missing off your dresser drawer
and your daughter's knocked up."

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vaksel
I wouldn't mind knowing what type of funding this guy was looking for. The
hilarity factor would be multiplied if this was for a seed stage company

~~~
comatose_kid
It would be even funnier if it were for a later stage of funding, because it
would imply that these 'used car lot' methods had worked for the earlier
rounds.

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danteembermage
Isn't this an exploding term sheet only reverse the typical?

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markbao
_"Be careful out there!"_

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edw519
wtf - that's even better than Michael Corleone's startup...

 _Senator...you can have my answer now if you'd like. My offer is this.
Nothing...not even the thousand dollars for the Gaming Commission, which I'd
appreciate if you would put up personally._

\- Godfather Part II

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markm
It takes a certain level of courage to ask someone for money. And whoever this
is put on a false sense of bravado and yes he got burned. But it should also
take some self restraint to not post this crap on your blog, especially if
you're a VC.

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akd
This is more than a bad pitch. It would be low class to ridicule people with
bad ideas, but people with ridiculous attitudes should be mocked.

~~~
markm
I still say it's a low class move to laugh at this guys expense.

