Hi all -<p>Mitch Kapor gave an interview the other day on CNN where he states that the purpose of a pitch is to get the investor to learn/walk away with 4 or 5 key things.<p>My question is - How do you get to the pitch?<p>If you're not in an incubator, and are just starting to build your network, you're most likely reaching out to investors/investment groups via e-mail. Is there anything an entrepreneur can do to improve their chances of getting their company past the initial screening and raising the attention of investors?<p>Thanks!
Before reaching out to a VC or investor, reach out to founders of companies they invested in. Get some feedback from them - founders love helping other founders.<p>If a founder is really interested or intrigued with what you are doing, and offer helpful feedback, ask them for an intro to one of their investors when/if they think you are ready for funding.<p>1.) This will give you high quality feedback before you get in front of investors.<p>2.) This will give you warm intro's to investors and investors are much more interested in warm intros than cold calls.