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“How many crappy startups are there?” I asked Dave and Alain, two partners at the VC fund where I was an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence). We had just sat through another pitch from a hopelessly lost CEO.
“Too many,” Dave said and we all laughed. Then Dave continued, “And remember, these are the companies we meet with face to face. There are another two companies we don’t meet with for every company we do meet with.”
I just shook my head.
Yes, it should be hard for you to get funded.
It’s like what, Barry, the Chairman of the Board of my company said to me one day, “This is the NFL.” What Barry meant is that when you raise money from VCs, you are in the big leagues.
This isn’t high school football, only the best of the best get to the pros. And it’s the same for raising money. Only the best of the best startups will get funded.
So the better question you should be asking yourself is what do you need to do to give yourself the best chance of getting funded?
The Venture Capital model isn’t broken. The bar is appropriately set very, very high.
