venture capital zoom call preparation and execution

Before you dive into a venture capital Zoom call, make sure you have a clear and concise pitch ready to go. This will help you stay on track and ensure you effectively communicate your value proposition to investors.

Your pitch should be no more than 2-3 minutes long, as investors often have short attention spans and many other deals to consider. Practice your pitch until it feels natural and confident.

To make a strong impression, it's essential to dress professionally, even if you're on a video call. This will help you feel more confident and prepared, and it will also show respect for the investor's time.

Before the Call, it's essential to establish trust with investors, which can be challenging over the phone. Fundraising is all about trust.

To set upfront expectations, consider sending Zoom calendar invites with a note like "Looking forward to our vid chat." This helps ensure everyone is on the same page.

For an introductory call, you'll want to have your basic pitch deck ready to go. This should take no more than 30 to 60 minutes to get through.

You can use the same pitch deck you've already shared as a preview deck to make things easier for the investors. Just save the details for later.

Having a sixty-minute meeting means you can include additional material in an appendix, but it's best to save the details for if they dig in.

Getting an invitation for an introductory call with a VC is often an accomplishment in itself. You've likely already shared a 1-2 page executive summary or a short pitch deck that outlines the essence of your business.

You can assume that you wouldn't have been invited for a call if you hadn't generated at least some curiosity. If your intro material/deck made clear that you aren't a fit, the VC would rather not waste their precious time on a potential investor who is unlikely to proceed.

To get something on the calendar, it may take weeks, and the VC might engage an administrative support person to assist with scheduling. This is a normal part of the process.

Start with Introductions.

Start the meeting with short introductions of everyone on the call.

Ask the investors to go first and to introduce themselves, their background, and a bit about their fund.

The investors' background will give you some clues about what to emphasize in your pitch.

You will ALWAYS learn stuff about their fund that is not on their website.

The investors are used to this question and will often tell you how much they have in their current fund, how far they are along in deploying, and typical check sizes.

Then, briefly introduce your team, ending with whoever (CEO!) is giving the pitch as the last intro.

This way, the CEO can provide more about their personal background as well as a bit of origin story and how they got into this business as part of their intro before flowing into the pitch itself.

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Video chats are required to establish trust with investors. Face-to-face interaction is essential for building strong relationships.

Investors want to put their money towards people with high integrity. It's simply too hard to establish that level of trust on the phone.

Sending Zoom calendar invites with a note "Looking forward to our vid chat" sets upfront expectations. This helps ensure everyone is on the same page.

During the call, it's essential to follow a general pattern to make a good impression. This typically starts with a brief introduction, where you present yourself and your company.

You can follow a pattern like the one mentioned in the article, which involves sharing your elevator pitch, highlighting your unique value proposition, and discussing your funding needs.

Pitching over Zoom can be a challenge, especially when investors are easily distracted by notifications and emails. This forces founders to work harder to keep them engaged.

Asking investors questions throughout the pitch can help pull them back in. Simple questions like "Did you get a chance to look at our deck, website, etc. before the call?" can help break the ice and get the conversation flowing.

Asking questions can also help free up the conversation and give investors a chance to contribute. Founders often enter into pitch mode, speaking for 5 to 10 minutes without stopping, but even a short 30 to 60-second break can make a big difference.

Here are some sample questions that can help keep investors engaged:

By incorporating these questions into your pitch, you can keep investors engaged and interested in your startup.

A typical introductory call can last anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, often on a Zoom call but sometimes in person if convenient for both parties.

The goal of the investor is to get an overview of the business and figure out whether there is enough there to justify further exploration. This is not the time to hit every nuance of your business, so don't worry if you can't cover everything.

Be prepared for the call to run over – a good thing! – but don't count on it. Assume a hard stop for the VC, but leave some buffer time in case the conversation is going well.

In fact, a good rule of thumb is to assume a hard stop, but never book yourself so tightly that you can't let the meeting run over if the conversation is going well and the VC signals they have time.

Here are some possible call durations:

The pitch is everything in a Zoom call. With no opportunity for conversation before and after a presentation, everything the investors need to know must be in that deck.

You can include a bit more detail than normal due to the investor staring into their monitor, so stage the details with animation to reveal the information point by point as you speak.

To project a strong image, sit closer to your computer than you typically would, so your face and shoulders take up the bulk of the screen. Make sure you are well lit, preferably with a $50 ring light behind your camera.

Speak more carefully than usual, taking care to enunciate, and practice in advance with a colleague. If you're not coming through, invest in an external mic.

Remember, people are hardwired to listen to stories, so use narratives to hook your audience emotionally and convey information more effectively.

The pitch is everything. With less human interaction, the presentation must stand out over all the others investors will see.

You can't rely on conversation before and after the presentation, so everything the investors need to know must be in that deck. Your deck should be a comprehensive package that answers all their questions.

Narrative is a powerful tool that can make up for the low fidelity of communications over Zoom. People are hardwired to listen to stories, which can hook your audience emotionally and convey information more effectively.

To keep your audience's attention, turn off all alerts, popups, and reminders on your computer and phone. You want to create a distraction-free environment that shows you're professional and prepared.

The pitch deck should be a summary of your business, not a detailed overview. Be prepared to tell the story of your business with or without the pitch deck, and be clear, crisp, and succinct in your delivery.

A live demo is a great way to keep investors engaged in the conversation. It gives them the chance to ask more in-depth questions on specific features.

Be prepared to show a live demo on the call, and take your time to intentionally slow it down. This will help you stay calm and ensure the demo flows smoothly.

Investors love live demos, especially when given over Zoom. It's a seamless way to give product demos, and it's a game-changer for pitching over video calls.

Taking deep breaths throughout the demo is key to staying calm and composed. Even if it feels too slow, you're probably going at the right speed.

Knowing when to stop talking is crucial during a pitch.

Silence in between questions or in between different sections of the pitch is completely fine.

It's easy to get carried away with talking, especially in a virtual setting like Zoom.

However, it's essential to answer questions directly and then stop talking.

In-person conversations have a natural ebb and flow, but on Zoom, it's easier to keep talking and ramble on.

Chat, don’t pitch. Investor meetings are two-way conversations, not a pitch. Stop frequently to ask for feedback and genuinely discuss your ideas and strategies.

It's a chance to get feedback from people who are interested in your business. Nobody knows more than you about your product, strategy, and industry.

Don't put investors on a pedestal. They're counting on you to be the expert in your field.

Following up after a call is crucial to ensure the conversation stays top of mind for the investor.

After a venture capital zoom call, send a follow-up email within 24 hours to reiterate your pitch and key points discussed.

This email should be brief, ideally no more than 2-3 sentences, and include a clear call-to-action.

In fact, research suggests that follow-up emails sent within 24 hours of a meeting have a 50% higher response rate compared to those sent later.

Before joining a venture capital zoom call, make sure you have a clear and concise pitch ready to go. This should include a brief overview of your company and its unique value proposition.

Choose a quiet and private space to join the call, free from distractions and interruptions. This will help you stay focused and composed during the conversation.

Be prepared to answer questions about your financials, including your revenue growth and burn rate. Knowing your numbers inside and out will help you confidently address any questions the VC may have.

Don't interrupt your co-founder or the investor, as it can be perceived as impolite or unprofessional.

Game plan ahead of time with your co-founder to decide who will answer which types of questions, such as product and infrastructure or GTM and finances.

Let potential investors fully finish talking and take a breath or two before you start talking, as a deep breath can solve connection issues.

One or two seconds of lag or connection issues can be solved with a deep breath before speaking.

Virtual fundraising has its pros and cons. One significant advantage is that you can reach a much larger audience, making it a more cost-effective option.

In person, it doesn't make financial sense to travel for a 20% chance of raising $50k, but online, the cost is just the effort to create materials and the time it takes to pitch and follow up. You could deliver dozens of presentations per week, where it would be hard to do more than five in person.

The pool of possible investors gets many times larger when everything moves online, but this also means more competition for attention. Investors are getting many more applications, making it even more intense.

Forming relationships over Zoom can be challenging, as you don't have time to talk and develop a personal connection.

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Finding the right investor is crucial, and it starts with understanding their mental models, world views, and philosophies. Ask them about their investment themes, typical investment areas, and how they help startups to gauge if they're a good fit.

You can easily find lists of early-stage angels, groups, and funds online, and almost all of them have moved to virtual workflows. A quick check of their websites will tell you if they can handle remote interactions.

It's essential to determine if investors are still actively making investments, especially during the COVID lockdown. You can check sites like Signal and Crunchbase for data on investment activity, or simply ask the investor about their deal flow and typical check sizes.

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Investors will often dive into business details too quickly, so it's essential to slow them down and get to know them first. Ask questions like, "What themes are you excited about?" to gauge their interests and values.

This will help you understand their mental models, world views, and philosophies, which are crucial in determining if they're a good fit for your startup.

You can easily find lists of early-stage angels, groups, and funds online that are willing to invest virtually.

Most investors have moved quickly to an entirely virtual process, so a quick check of their website will tell you if they can handle this kind of interaction.

If they don't say on their website, it's okay to reach out and ask about their application and selection process.

The data suggests that deal flow returned to normal quickly after the initial COVID lockdown, and many groups are still actively writing checks to pre-seed companies.

You can check websites like Signal and Crunchbase for data on investment activity for many investors, which can help you determine if a particular person is still actively investing.

It's a good idea to ask about the number of deals they do each year, when they wrote their last check, typical check sizes, and any areas of focus or types of business they avoid.

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