Playbook / Lessons / Money: pitch, investor email

Choose the partner, not the firm

Trenchard, a First Round partner, says your first hunt should be for the right partner rather than the right firm. He recommends scanning a firm's portfolio for similar business models, and says it impresses VCs when a founder has done this research and called founders of startups the firm has backed.

“I really do believe it's partner over firm.”— Bill Trenchard, The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital, May 2016

Do this

Pick five target partners and call one founder each of them has backed before you send any outreach.

More in this pack

• Seven questions your pitch should answer
• Venture money made stalled growth a crisis
• Lead the pitch with a story, not numbers
• Set your rate from sellable hours

Get your plan

All steps · Trust · Pricing