Off Script.

Something that has changed since the beginning of my career as a Venture Capitalist is that the average pitch I receive is great. Founders holistically have been coached to present well, and the zoom pitch meeting is even easier to control. They know what to talk about with a VC, and what we are interested in. However, I’m a firm believer in Goodhart’s Law:

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

The founder script for a pitch meeting is largely a known quantity now, so I have found that my role in meetings is to get founders off script. I’m here to understand what drives the humans behind the concepts. Do they have the energy? Are they authentically obsessed? Do the believe they can build it?

And the most important question to figure out is “Do I want to partner with this person for a long time?

I have a line of questioning I use, but there’s no set equation. I mean by “line of questioning”, I’m always interested to know what someones spirit animal is and whether or not they believe in aliens.

I want to find independent, good humored, thinkers. So if you are one, please connect with me, and know that I care about your business, but most of my questions are around getting to know you.