175. Start With Your Elevator Pitch Artwork

VC Minute

Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Founders, do you feel like you're fundraising on an uneven playing field? You are. The VC minute is here to help you level up. Venture capitalists navigate pitches and negotiate investments every day. They know the ins and outs and are up-to-date on the current funding environment. But as a founder, it may be your first foray into fundraising, and no matter how much success you've had in other areas nothing truly prepares you for the fundraising journey. The VC Minute was created to help founders close this gap. While it may seem like securing an investment at the seed stage is mostly driven by luck, there are steps founders can take to increase the odds of successfully raising a round. And that's what we're going to cover on the VC Minute through a series of short episodes. I'm going to share with you insights to help navigate the seed stage financing dynamics. I'm Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures with 25 years business experience a dozen years in the startup ecosystem. I've applied my experience from sales, finance, and venture investing, to help startup founders fundraise better.

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VC Minute

175. Start With Your Elevator Pitch

February 07, 2024 • Rich Maloy • Season 4 • Episode 175

0:00 | 1:35

Text your thoughts directly to Rich.

We met six months ago for 30 minutes. It's been 260,000 minutes since we last communicated. Remind me, what does your startup do?

About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)

About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.

0:01

Continuing with the theme of sending out investor updates, let me read to you something that was the opening paragraph of a one-off update from a founder. We're excited to announce the launch of 2.0. This new iteration is a game changer designed to scale our operations in 2024 efficiently. Version 2.0 features revamped pricing model and introduces self service capabilities, tailored to meet the needs of our diverse user base. These fundamental changes position us for accelerated growth and enhanced user satisfaction." Great. Now. How about you tell me what in the actual your company does. Because we met six months ago for 30 minutes and haven't communicated since then. I have no recollection whatsoever about your business. To put a Neil deGrasse Tyson spin on this, it's been over 260,000 minutes since we spent 30 minutes together. The lesson here, I think you get it: start every email with your one line pitch. SpringTime venture seeds, high growth startups in healthcare, FinTech and logistics and supply chain. There you go. Now, you know what we do? Let's get down to our update. Oh, and that jargon soup about the 2.0 update is, in fact, terrible. It doesn't actually say anything. But that's a topic for another day or another podcaster. For now friends, start every investor outreach with your one line pitch.

Rich Maloy

Host