What's the point of the Investor Feedback Summit?

The intention behind the feedback summit is to get tactical feedback from the VC's on what key areas you need to work on to be institutionally fundable at your Demo Day. 

Secondarily, there is an opportunity to fundraise -- if interested -- at the event as investors will be there. If you are looking to fundraise, please first identify if you are pitching to an Angel / Angel Group (someone who invests their own money) or a Fund (someone who invests other people’s money). If it is a fund, it is best for you to NOT specify a valuation you are raising at -- if they ask, say that you have not set a valuation; that the valuation is not the most important thing to you (what’s more important is the investor and their passion for your vision). This is because we don’t want you to price out institutions, and if you get multiple institutions interested, you can then bid up the price. If you are pitching to angels, the biggest dynamic is getting them to move quickly, so do propose a specific valuation and total raise amount. Ask us if you have questions about the valuation you should raise at. In general, we are fine having a lower valuation for the first 10% of dilution if the money will close quickly.

You also have the opportunity to participate in the FASTRACK program where we ask investors to make a decision within a week of the summit if they want in on the round. In exchange, we ask you to provide a concrete offer for terms, and a limited raise amount to incent investors to make a commitment that day. For example, you might specify $250K available at a $3m cap at a 15% discount for the Investor Feedback Summit Fastrack offering. We will communicate this amount to investors that are coming and encourage them to make a decision that day, and note that this offer may only be available if they can make a commitment during the Investor Feedback Summit, although historically investors have taken a couple meetings to make an investment decision after the Summit.

You will have a series of 1:1 meeting with investors. The ideal format (and the format we will relay to them) is:

You need to drive the meeting. You need to be especially vigilant of asking the questions you have that you want answers to. Talk the least you need to get them to answer the questions you have. Otherwise, the time will slip away and you will have missed getting precious wisdom. ASK TARGETED QUESTIONS!

The pitch you bring can be basic. The idea is to iterate and change it as you go from meeting to meeting. If you would like a guide on what to cover in the pitch please see the instructions here. 

To get feedback from the investors, please bring to the Summit all the questions you have about what's required to make your pitch a success. Ask investors to list 3 most compelling reasons to invest and the 3 biggest risks that would prevent you from investing after each session. The most important metric to get out of the summit is what Key Performance Indicator / Metric will be most important come to Demo Day, and what growth rate, and performance, the investors would want to see. If you have to prioritize other questions, focus your questions, on Market, Team, and Product/Market Fit Questions. (More details are below)

2. Practice Controlling the Frame 

3. Get a clear sense of what metrics you need to hit to create a compelling investment opportunity come Demo Day.

       1. On a Scale of 0-10, how compelling do you find this as an investment opportunity?

       2. What do you think are the top risks or negatives that would detract from an investment?

        3. What do you think are the most compelling attributes that would motivate an investment?

        4. What tangible milestones, metrics, or additions would make this a compelling investment come Demo Day? 

If you want more thoughts on thinking of metrics you need to hit, this doc can also provide a primer.