"Anyone with a committed pool of capital and a business card can call themselves one."
Good Venture Capitalist
Bad Venture Capitalist
✓Forms authentic relationships
✗Forms transactional relationships
✓Is happy to lead an investment
✗Waits around for other VCs to lead an investment
✓Introduces you to new customers
✗Calls your customer references
✓Closes on the signed term sheet
✗Begins negotiating once a term sheet is signed
✓Four to six board meetings a year
✗Twelve board meetings a year
✓Pings you once a week with an email
✗Emails, texts and calls you every day
✓Introduces you to your new CFO
✗Orders a full audit of your startup from a big four
✓Invites you to lunch for a reason, and pays for it
✗Invites you to lunch for no reason, you pay
✓Wants to hear all the news, good and bad
✗Hates bad news and lets you know it
✓Carefully makes commitments, and sticks by them
✗Never does what he says he's going to do
✓Finds new deals through a large network of authentic relationships and a deep understanding of technology markets
✗Finds new deals by chasing after what other VCs are investing in
✓Talks about your company at every opportunity
✗Talks about himself at every opportunity
✓Doesn't seem that busy
✗Too busy to do anything
"The mountains are a dangerous place. Clients deserve a guide that the IFMGA standard represents. Experienced entrepreneurs deserve no less."