“Almost Everyone I Counciled Got Funding” – The Adeo Ressi Interview
on Dec 8, 2008 - 6:00 PM PSTThe full program
This is an audio program. Listen and/or download here.
A few lessons from this program
Adeo Ressi is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of TheFunded.com, an exclusive web site where startups talk about investors and help each other get funding. In my interview, I asked him to teach us how to get funding. Here’s some of what I learned:
Identify bad investors early
Adeo told me stories of investors who made his life miserable when he ran his past companies. One demanded so much information that he couldn’t comply and run his company at the same time. Another kept him from selling his company at what he considered a fair price. He built TheFunded.com to help entrepreneurs alert each other to bad investors and identify the good ones.
Narrow your list of potential investors
Not everyone with money is a good fit for your company. As you might have heard at past Mixergy Forums or interviews, you need to put together a list of investors who really are a good fit for your company. Once you have that list, Adeo says get to know them BEFORE you want their money. (Download this interview with Peter Pham to hear a smart way to do that.)
Do some “throwaway” pitches
Adeo recommends you pitch to a few investors who you do NOT plan to do business with. Do it for practice.
Quit trying to close the deal by email
Because he introduces entrepreneurs to investors, he’s often CC’d on many of the emails that startups send prospective investors. He says that too many entrepreneurs flood investors with attatchments and details in an email. Instead of trying to close the deal, your goal should be to spend more time with the investor.
Don’t pitch local investors first
Many startups pitch their nearest venture capitalists first. Then, when they get turned down, they head to Sillicon Valley and pitch there. Adeo says this path means local investors hear the practice pitches while Valley investors get the improved ones. If you want to stand out, practice with outside investors and bring your A game to local investors.
Do you have any other suggestions for the funding process? Tell me by email or in the comments.
View Comments to ““Almost Everyone I Counciled Got Funding” – The Adeo Ressi Interview”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Great interview Andrew. I really enjoyed listening to Adeo – incredible insight.
Roy
December 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
why is “getting funding” from outside investors such a celebrated milestone for most tech/internet entrepreneurs? I’ve been networking in the VC & professional angel investor community in SoCal and I noticed many entrepreneurs are in the business of raising money, versus delivering value to customers.
After being around investors, I have noticed that, to be successful you have to find the right investors to be successful. Going after the first person who cuts you a check can be detrimental to your company, because its more then the money, its about the value that investor can bring to the company besides the money.
focus on customers, build a good company, and the money will come to you, but be picky about the partners you bring in to improve your customer experience. Pre-screen investors, a website like thefunded is great, even though it has made some investors very unhappy.
December 11th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Deep: The disturbing part of what Adeo said in this interview is that, if you don’t take funding early on, it’s harder to get funding later.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Hi Andrew,
We met at Lunch 2.0 in Tustin a while back. Great interview.
A lot of what Adeo talks about is congruent with Taleb’s Black Swan hypothesis ( power-law type distribution of returns etc etc). If you haven’t read The Black Swan, I recommend it.
Best,
Patrick
Co-founder, Invitacia
May 20th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Great interview. It definitely has a lot of “unique” content that you don't find in public, like how much a CEO/Founder can get after a successful $100M sale in the VC model.
Thanks for the great interview Andrew. This is definitely top notch quality. If there is a way to download all of them through itunes or such, that would be AMAZING. Getting your content distributed more widely can only help you build your legacy and network but better and faster.
Keep up the good stuff!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Thanks Yu-kai!
I sometimes feel like VC-backed startups are just glorified employees. They
can be hired and fired at will. Plus they don't get to make a dime on the
company till the VC's say it's okay.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
[...] you listen to my interview with Adeo Ressi, you’ll see how upset he is with the way venture capitalists fund startups. That led him to [...]
May 31st, 2010 at 12:01 am
The design of the famous stylist, most popular style in the world . you have a wide choice and let people surprises. Often come here is a enjoyment. I know some website the same to the post, you can to see. Such a. Is the leading of fashion.
June 7th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Well , the view of the passage is totally correct ,your details is really reasonable and you guy give us valuable informative post, I totally agree the standpoint of upstairs. I often surfing on this forum when I m free and I find there are so much good information we can learn in this forum!
http://www.mbt-outlet-store.com/mbt-women-shoes...
June 8th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
It looks good,I have learn a recruit!
Recently,I found an excellent online store, the http://www.always11.net are completely various, good quality and cheap price,it’s worth buying!
June 8th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Here elaborates the matter not only extensively but also detailly .I support the write's unique point.It is useful and benefit to your daily life.You can go those sits to know more relate exceptfor.net things.They are strongly recommended by friends.Personally I feel quite well.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Here elaborates the matter not only extensively but also detailly .I support the write's unique point.It is useful and benefit to your daily life.You can go those sits to know more relate exceptfor.net things.They are strongly recommended by friends.Personally I feel quite well.