Chapter 18
Ten Ways to Lose a Deal
In This Chapter
Mistakes related to your pitch
Mistakes related to your preparation
Other things that can sidetrack your deal
You can derail your own deal pretty quickly if you aren’t careful. Your own behavior is important. If you are uncoachable, quoting an inflated valuation, or pitching too early, work to change those things. You can keep the people around you positive about your deal by pacifying critics and spreading updates and good news at networking events. Connect with people outside your own city and remember to pitch the whole deal, clearly, to investors who are likely to care about it.
Nobody’s perfect, but when you’re seeking venture capital, some mistakes, more than others, can cost you the deal. This chapters outlines some of the most damaging mistakes you can make and tells you how to avoid them — or overcome them if they occur.
Being Uncoachable
Growing a company from a team of one or two into a thriving business is hugely difficult. You will learn a ton along the way. Being coachable means having a personality that allows you to say, “I stand corrected.” In other words, you can take criticism, constructive or otherwise, and ...
Get Venture Capital For Dummies now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
