Member-only story
I remember thinking to myself, “I wonder what we’ll do if this meeting doesn’t go well?”
We were in the lobby of “Donald Ventures” on Sand Hill Road. We were going to meet with “Raul”, the partner leading the deal, and Donald.
This was our “Go or No Go” meeting. It was clear that Raul wanted to go forward with the deal, but he needed Donald’s approval because, after all, it was Donald’s fund.
“We’re going to find out if Raul is window dressing or not,” I whispered to my cofounders. They nodded their heads in agreement.
Raul was 77 years old, and he had just joined to fund a few months earlier. He was a legend in the Silicon Valley, but still I wondered if he could get a deal done.
We had a “half-filled” term sheet from another Sand Hill Road fund, so we needed one more investor to close the round. Hopefully that would be Donald Ventures.
63 other funds had already turned us down. There were only a few more on our list to contact, so it was reasonable to wonder what would we do if this meeting doesn’t go well.
Despite all that I wasn’t nervous. In fact I was calm bordered on being overconfident.
The reality was I should have scared. After all the odds were that Donald would pass.
