In our upcoming VC meeting, both myself (CEO) and my partner (CTO) are attending. I would like to know:
1. Which one of us should start the talk?
2. What aspects of the business should each of us talk about?
3. Who should answer to the questions? Does the VC usually address one of us specifically or he may throw a question and expect an answer from either one?
The more important first impressions to leave a VC with are:
1) That you both are credible and inspire confidence that you can execute the plan you're fundraising on.
2) That there is good chemistry and a great relationship between the two of you;
3) That you can adequately address the concerns/objections/questions the VC raises.
The CEO is expected to do most of the talking because the CEO should be the best person in the company at articulating the vision and value of the product and company you're building.
If your CTO is comfortable presenting part of the pitch, it would be ideal for the CTO to speak to the product slides. The most important thing is for the CTO not to be a "bump on the log" meaning that you don't want them sitting there for most of the presentation with nothing to say. If you feel that's the case, you really shouldn't bring your CTO. Most VC meetings will not get technical and under the hood.
Each question answered should be answered by the person best qualified to speak to that question. You should make eye-contact with your partner and use subtle body language to find a way to cue the other person to speak to that question or simply offer "CTO, would you like to answer that?"
Bottom line, make sure that the CTO can speak confidently enough about the product and vision, otherwise -unless specifically asked by the VC - come alone.
Fundraising is a big distraction to building and a good VC will always respect that in a first meeting, the CTO can be excused from attending in priority of building product.
Happy to talk to you both on a call about helping get you feeling a bit more confident and prepared before your meeting. I was formerly a VC associate for a $500m fund and have raised money from VCs as a serial entrepreneur.
The most important thing in my opinion is that you both be able to quickly and confidently answer whatever question they throw at you without having to look at the other person for answers, confirmation.
My opinion...
1) CEO should start the talk. Beyond that, it depends on the people (team of CEO/CTO) and subject matter as far as who speaks the most and when.
2) In my experience CEO leads discussion and invites commentary (slides) from CTO as needed per agenda, and this is usually on technology/product design. CTOs (like many engineers) occasionally need coaching on communicating at proper level of detail to meet meeting objective.
3) CEO is responsible for raising money so this person should manage (lead) the discussion as a general rule. A weak CEO in a pitch format is a warning sign for VCs. Obviously though, if a question is directed toward CTO, opportunity to answer should be provided. VCs throw questions from many directions based on their own interests so anything goes. Know your stuff. Know how much time you have to get through it. Believe in it and be ready. Happy to discuss in greater detail.
Good Luck!
The best pitches tend be from teams that gel and roles usually aren't essential for that to happen. I would say that whoever is a better presenter should probably lead, thats usually the CEO but not always. Whoever leads, the other person will do well to jump in when the time is right. Those spots can be when you need to hammer home a point and the other person sees an opportunity to restate something from a slightly different angle to make sure all the people in attendance are "getting it". Read the audience and both members of your team can drive the velocity.
When it comes to the technical parts of the pitch, certainly your cto will want to shine and show that he/she has the chops for whatever it is your doing. One thing I've come to look for though is a team that knows each other's roles a bit. The "non-technical" co-founder who doesn't know the difference between PHP and HTML come across weak in my book. The best founder teams really compliment each other but also have a slight bit of crossover. It helps you counter balance and spot check assumptions, etc.
Hope that helps. We could talk for hours on this as I've both pitched dozens of VC's as a founder trying to raise money, as an investor trying to raise a fund and an partner in an seed fund looking to back companies.
You, the CEO should do all the talking. Period. At this point, no one cares about the CTO.
You may certainly introduce your CTO and explain that he is here should any investor have any questions, but they likely will not. At the initial pitch, the investors assume the product works as you describe it, and if they have any serious questions about the product, they will save that for later discussion.
Right now, the only thing the VC is interested in is whether your company will make money. The actual product is only one issue, and usually not the most important one. The management team is.
Every investor I have ever spoken with has stressed that they would rather invest in "A" class management team with a "B" class product than the other way around. That's because a mediocre management team won't be able to sell or market even a top notch product.
So this isn't about the product, it is about you and your management team.
You should only spend about 20% of your time talking about the product. The rest of your time must discuss your experience and your management teams network and experience in selling and marketing products of a similar nature. You must talk about who the customer is and what your plan is to reach them directly. You must talk about how much money you will make, when you will be profitable, what the money you ask for will be used and so on.
Remember: the investor is investing in your company, not your product. There is a big difference.
Both CEO and CTO have a crucial role. Ideally the CEO should initiate the conversation and handover the technical part to CTO. The CEO should discuss about vision, growth, market and scalability and CTO should talk about product, technology stack and endurance of the product.
Depending upon the nature of question, CEO and CTO should decide who answers.
Most of your board members will be VCs who invested in your company. They may be brilliant strategists or operators, or alternatively just have a bunch of money that came bundled with a board role. I would always take a lower valuation in order to work with a board member or VC partner I really like, rather than a higher valuation and a lesser board member. Remember, when a venture capitalist invests in your company it is the fund investing, not the individual partner. This means that funds typically have the right to swap out the partner that sits on your company’s board. While you may start off with a senior partner, you may someday find a junior, wet-behind-the-ears, brand-spankings’ new VC as your board member. This junior partner will probably start attending as a board observer or just start showing up with the senior partner, who will say she wants to add “more bandwidth to your team from our firm.” If you do well as a company, this will indeed be the case. However, if you do poorly, then the venture fund has someone less valuable they can swap in to save the senior partner’s time. This junior partner will be less able to help you and will effectively get trained by you and your other board members.
For a young business, the first Board meetings typically focus on establishing the rhythm for future meetings. It is important to develop a rapport with each Board member, review the logistics of how meetings will be organized and what the overall goals are for the first year of operation. There are also a variety of logistical things to get through, so the first meetings become important towards meeting a variety of governance requirements. The following highlights many of the key objectives you need to be prepared to address in the first few Board meetings:
1. Setting dates for first year of meetings -- An often-complicated process to find free time on calendars but the sooner you lock down the first set of Board meeting dates (and location), the better. Avoid a scenario where you must juggle business events to accommodate an as-yet scheduled Board meeting. You may want to have as many as 12 meetings in the first year (e.g. monthly) alternating between conference call events and face-to-face. Generally, the more you meet face-to-face the more productive the meeting tends to be even though they take longer to hold. If some of your Board members are out of town, this may not be practical -- make sure you have excellent conference call facilities, and all materials are available well in advance.
2. Role of secretary -- Someone needs to have the role to memorialize (e.g. write down) what transpires in a Board meeting. It can be any Board member or 3rd party although using a team member such as an administrative assistant is uncommon given what is often discussed. Sometimes your financial officer is a good candidate or someone from your lawyer’s office. It's a myth that Board meeting minutes are detailed documents capturing all conversation, they tend more to be a way to record any decisions that are made, such as approving the business plan, granting stock options, etc. Less is more tends to work here.
3. Business plan approval -- It might take a few meetings to get through this but make sure your first-year business plan is reviewed and approved by the Board. It should define cost envelops for each operational area, headcount plans, revenue goals and show cash balance. An approved plan provides more degrees of freedom for you to manage the Company. If unapproved, you may find yourself having to seek approval for even the smallest of decisions. The plan will likely become the basis for measuring success so be sure you are confident in your ability to achieve it. This is not the time to be overly optimistic, you have the investments in place, so now you are defining what you can achieve and are willing to be accountable for.
4. D&O (Directors and Officers) liability insurance - Most company Directors will be looking for liability insurance so they are financially covered for any sour moments that may rise up (e.g. lawsuits). If not a requirement of closing the first round of investment, it will likely be one of the first things you need to explore and secure as part of the first Board meeting. It is not awfully expensive, and you can leave it to the Board members to accept the policy details. You want D&O coverage for yourself as well given how many aspects of the business operation the CEO is legally responsible for.
5. Banking and financial logistics: You need to formalize how the Company does its banking. This is one of the most important aspects of governance in terms of making sure nothing funny or unusual is going on with the way the Company manages its finances. You may need to bring forward a few proposals from different banks to see what types of small business services are available, fees for various types of transactions, investment strategies for positive balances, loan practices, etc. Present your research and make a recommendation. Even if you already had a bank account established, present the details of the bank offerings so that the Board is aware of what you are doing.
6. Signing authority: Formalize what types of banking transactions and other decisions require Board approval. Normally anything within the established business plan is under CEO discretion, anything outside requires Board pre-approval. It is also common to establish a value threshold (e.g. above certain $$) which triggers Board involvement. Do not view this as meddling -- it's prudent to make sure someone else knows where the money is going and can perhaps pause a large expenditure to make sure it is being made on a business-sound basis.
7. Stock option plan: The Board needs to approve the details of the stock option plan (assuming you will be granting common share options to employees). The plan itself is normally prepared by your lawyer and would include all the intricate issues related to the plan structure. Some investors include their plan conditions as part of placing an investment, so the plan documents need to line up appropriately. This process also includes defining the details of a 'standard' grant of options, such as length of term, vesting schedule, etc. Nowadays it is also prudent to review and approve the strike price for options often using a 3rd party evaluation source.
8. Initial stock option grants: If you are planning to grant stock options to your first employees (or perhaps the Board is granting the founding team (you) some), these need to be approved by the Board. It is a simple process whereby you identify the list of grants including the start of vesting period and the terms that govern them (usually a standard set of terms defined in the plan). They are noted in the minutes making them official. You can follow up with relevant paperwork later (not too much later as you do not want to fall behind, nor do the employees who feel paperwork formalizes the grant). Stock options is one of those things where timeliness can matter, especially as the Company value starts to change.
9. Presentation templates: Propose or get from the Board the templates that need to be used for standard Board materials. If this is your first time as CEO, one or more of your investors will probably have some samples for you to look at. The more everyone is aligned with the template, the more likely you are to have a well-run and fruitful Board meeting. The templates would cover how to review monthly business updates, sales forecast, important operational issues, etc.
The sooner all the above is out of the way, the more you spend time with the Board on strategic issues. After about the 3rd Board meeting you should be seeing some rhythm develop which helps generate the value-add feeling Board meetings should provide.
The questions will be answered by you CEO because the VC and even the company is under your protection. To make a VC meeting effective, the CEO should try to do the following prior to the meeting:
1. Send out the board deck and other materials at least 48–72 hours before the meeting. You want people to have a chance to review it in advance.
2. [If you have three or more non-founder members only] Call board members in advance for a 30- to 60-minute 1:1 briefing. This allows board members to give input (and, in some cases, vent) in advance of the board meeting.
3. [If you have multiple board members only] Plan a board dinner the night before, or lunch/dinner right after. While optional, these dinners are an opportunity for board members to form bonds with one another and potentially with you and your team in advance/after the meeting. This works best if your board members are from another geography and need to fly in—otherwise they may not have the time or interest.
Once you are in the meeting proper, it will likely include the following items:
1. Board business. This should be short. Get it out of the way quickly.
2. Big picture summary. A short, high-level overview of the state of company.
3. Quick review and discussion of key metrics. You will want to pay particular attention to those metrics that impact company strategy. These metrics should all have been in the slides sent out 48–72 hours earlier.
4. Follow-up items from last meeting. You can also do this section after the strategy topics. Really what you want is a large block of time to focus on strategy.
5. Discussion of 2–3 key strategy topics important to company. These topics and background on them should have been in the slides sent out 48–72 hours earlier.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
In a VC meeting, it’s important for the CEO and CTO to present a united front and clearly delineate their roles to effectively convey the strengths of the business. Here’s a breakdown of how you can approach the meeting:
### 1. Who Should Start the Talk?
- **CEO**: The CEO should start the conversation. As the primary leader and spokesperson of the company, the CEO sets the tone, introduces the company, outlines the agenda, and provides a high-level overview of the business.
### 2. What Aspects Should Each of You Talk About?
- **CEO**:
- **Vision and Mission**: Articulate the overall vision, mission, and long-term goals of the company.
- **Business Model**: Explain how the business makes money, the market opportunity, target customers, and competitive landscape.
- **Traction and Metrics**: Highlight key metrics, user growth, revenue, ARPU, and other important milestones.
- **Financials**: Discuss current financials, fundraising goals, and how the funds will be used to achieve growth.
- **CTO**:
- **Technology and Product**: Provide an in-depth overview of the technology stack, product features, and development roadmap.
- **Innovation and IP**: Discuss any unique technology, intellectual property, or innovative aspects of the product that differentiate it from competitors.
- **Technical Challenges and Solutions**: Address how the team plans to overcome technical challenges and the feasibility of scaling the product.
### 3. Who Should Answer Questions?
- **Questions Directed to Both**: If a question is not specifically directed to one of you, the CEO should initially respond and then pass it to the CTO if it’s technical or product-related.
- **CEO**:
- Questions about the business model, market strategy, financials, fundraising, and overall vision.
- **CTO**:
- Questions about the technology, product features, technical challenges, development roadmap, and innovation.
### Additional Tips
- **Preparation**: Before the meeting, anticipate potential questions and decide who will answer which type of question.
- **Coordination**: Coordinate your responses to avoid overlap and ensure a smooth transition between speakers.
- **Body Language**: Maintain positive body language and show alignment between the CEO and CTO. This demonstrates a cohesive leadership team.
- **Practice**: Conduct mock presentations and Q&A sessions to ensure both of you are comfortable and prepared.
By clearly defining roles and preparing thoroughly, you can effectively communicate your startup’s strengths and create a positive impression on potential investors.
