

If you're not looking to raise, do you take a VC's call?  - 1qwqw

My company is doing well, and I occasionally get calls from random VCs in Boston, NYC and SV doing their typical 'talent scouting'.<p>We have no interest in raising, or spending any time resources whatsoever on establishing relationships with investors.<p>Is there any value in it? I honestly can't see it and treat an investor call like Verizon trying to up-sell me. Is my head in the wrong place?
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1qwqw
That post is well-met, but it doesn't really dive deep enough into why talking
to investors is good.

Additionally, it's essentially saying to look into their portfolio to make
connections, don't talk about your own company, and return the call to be
"polite".

First, any VC's portfolio is going to be other startups; any strategic
partnerships with other startups inevitably devolve into "mutual referral"
territory, which is next to useless. It also forces you to stick your neck out
for a company that may not exist in a few years (this goes for us, as well as
them).

Second, it's impossible not to talk about your company when it's the sole
reason the associate cold called you in the first place. How do you block and
bridge that?

Third, not returning a cold call/email doesn't make you impolite.

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001sky
Brad Feld has a good article on the subject. I woud recommend it to you.

[http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/how-to-respond-
to-a-...](http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/how-to-respond-to-a-cold-
call-email-from-an-associate-at-a-big-vc-firm.html)

and I posted it here to HN:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507841>

Aside from agreeing with his advice, one constructive observation.

 _We have no interest in raising, or spending any time resources whatsoever on
establishing relationships with investors._

The words "no" "any" "relationships" are sort of an odd mix in this sentenece.
Consider how you are framing at the situation. As PG said in a recent post, if
a company becomes big enough, there will be a market for its shares. So, the
idea that you can be "doing well", or so well that you should never consider
future investment, or even an exit, is a bit of a red herring.

