How to Pitch Investors and Get Startup Funding

Omer (00:11.840)
Welcome to another episode of the SaaS Podcast.
I'm your host, Omer Khan, and this is the show where I interview proven founders and industry experts who share their stories, strategies, and insights to help you build, launch, and grow your SaaS business.
This Week's guest is a startup funding expert, author, and speaker.
She's served as the CEO of both public and private companies, been on the advisory board of several venture capital firms, and was the managing director of one of the largest angel investment groups in the US in this episode, we talk about how to raise funding for your startup.
We discuss how to become a power connector, even if you hate the idea of networking and talking to strangers.
And we talk about how you can connect with investors and pitch your startup in 10 minutes, even if you're an introvert and hate the idea of standing in front of investors.
So if you're bootstrapping right now and looking to find an angel investor, or you already have raised some angel funding and now want to raise funds, raise some VC money, you'll find this episode useful.
And even if you're not looking to raise funding, there are some great tips here.
Just about how to do a better job at connecting with people and just doing just being a more effective networker and doing it in the right way.
All right, today's guest is the author of the book how to be a power connector, the 550100 rule for turning your business network into profits.
In her 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, she served as the CEO of both public and private companies.
She's been on the advisory board of several venture capital firms, and she was the managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network, one of the largest angel investment groups in the U.S. she's been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes, VentureBeat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as an example of a new breed of power connectors.
So today I'd like to welcome Judy Robinette.
Judy, welcome to the show.

Judy Robinett (02:32.080)
Thank you.
I'm excited to be here.

Omer (02:34.240)
Now, I like to start by asking my guests what gets them out of bed in the morning or what drives them.
And usually I sort of like to ask, like, if there's a favorite quote or something that resonates with you.
And so do you have a favorite quote?

Judy Robinett (02:48.640)
You know, I've got several favorite quotes.
And having dealt with several bricks to the head in my past life, I've really adopted Oprah, who says when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
And this is really critical for your success because there's that dark triad out there known as the Machiavellian, the narcissistic, and the psychopath.
So I do like that, and I found it very helpful.

Omer (03:17.640)
Great.
Okay, so let's start by talking about the book and becoming a power connector.
Now, many of the people listening to this show will either think that they'll never be any good at networking.
It might be because they're introverted, or they're just not comfortable reaching out to strangers, or others just might hate the idea of networking because it feels so fake and phony and it's just a way to get what I want.
And so what would you say to those people?
And why is the concept of networking and becoming a power connector important for everyone?

Judy Robinett (04:03.450)
Well, the reason it is so important is first Harvard Business Review.
Numerous other studies show that your network equals your net worth.
And Oppenheimer, a famous quote by him is that there's too much for anyone to know much anymore.
So it really does take a team.
You can't do it all alone.
You can't know it all.
And I'm a good person to address about being shy or feeling taken advantage of.
As a kid, I was really shy, and then I was bullied in junior high.
I frankly didn't dare talk to anybody.
I didn't know anybody of wealth, influence or power.
And suddenly now I do deals with billionaires.
I've been on panels with Mark, he, everyone else.
And it was a bit of a journey for me.
And I actually read the book how to Win Friends and Influence People and just started simply smiling and saying hello, and then became emboldened when I discovered, you know, people did like me.
So from that standpoint of being an introvert, I can assure you that half of the people in the United States think they're shy.
Recently I gave a speech in Silicon Valley to, you know, a group of 800 high level professional women.
And, you know, a woman came up to me, kind of whispered to me, you know, I'm a VP at intel and you know, I'm fine with the people that are around me, but I just feel really uncomfortable talking to strangers.
And I literally put my hands on her shoulder and I said, I'm a stranger, you're talking to me.
And so, you know, you have to really confront some of your beliefs and some of your assumptions.
And many of us are taught strangers are danger, which works really well as a kid.
But if you think about your life, the two often, you know, best things that happen.
Number one is from hard work, keeping your head down, doing everything.
But number Two is luck, that synchronicity.
And if you think about important people you have in your life, your spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, often those people at some point were strangers.
So I suggest to people to really rethink your beliefs about it and your assumptions and then realize how closely aligned it is to your net worth.
And this is absolutely true.
You've got to do high end strategic networking, particularly when you're doing things like raising funds or getting on tv, getting some exposure so you can get your app, your platform, viral.

Omer (06:44.130)
So let's talk about the concept of a power connector and the 550100.
Can you tell the audience exactly what does that mean?

Judy Robinett (06:56.240)
So, you know, if you drew a circle around yourself, that innermost circle tends to be your closest friends and your family.
And that's typically 5 to 15.
The outmost circle, I put it 150, kind of combining those, which is Dunford's law that says groups fall apart at 150.
So I really want people to focus on quality, not quantity.
And the internal one of 50 is really kind of the sweet spot.
I tell people, if you've got 25 to 50 quality relationships that across different industries, verticals, you know, you have access to people with money, with influence, gravitas, you can get anything you need.

Omer (07:40.460)
Okay, now most people listening to this might say, well, I don't really have much of a network.
I don't really have those people, those types of people that are going to help me raise money or help me grow this business and get the kind of success that I want.
So where does somebody start if they're feeling like that?

Judy Robinett (08:03.870)
Well, you know, the first thing I have people do is really write down the network they've already got and that next circle of 25 to 50 people.
Start sharing your story and what it is you need and then ask them, number one, what other ideas do you have for me and who else do you know I should talk to?
People on average know about 600 people.
And, you know, you'd be surprised.
You know, what I often find is 90% of the problems you need or access to resources may already be in your network.
Now if they're not, then you get pretty strategic.
Then you start thinking about where do the people I need hang out.
And, you know, every problem literally has a solution.
I have people I've had a guy call me with looking to invest a billion dollars looking for deals, so, you know, there's no lack of money out there.
Credit Suisse estimates, estimates by 2019 there will be 369 trillion in global private wealth.
So then it's an issue of really understanding, you know, the funding ecosystem.
So in the United states, there's over 300 angel groups.
Angels fund 90% of the high potential deals.
They are equally spread from north to south to west and to east.
You don't have to move to Silicon Valley, certainly that's a plus.
But also little known is now we have mutual funds, foundations, family offices, and the biggest player out there really is the corporate VCs that are looking for innovation from young companies.
It really helps to do some research on the ecosystem so you understand how the game is played.
So one of my favorite quotes is by Einstein who said, if you're going to play the game, you'd better know the rules.
And there certainly are rules in this ecosystem.
And you know, I recently read Flybridge Capital, one of their founders said, you know, if you can't figure out how to get a warm introduction to me, you can't figure out how to get a customer.
And so warm introductions are absolutely critical.
But you know, you think about where do investors hang out?
They hang out at incubators, pitch events.
You can go to your local colleges, universities, the entrepreneur programs, all of these people know.
And also think about where people of high wealth hang out, whether it's the opera.
I was asked to be on the finance committee for the governor's race in Salt Lake City.
And within the first month, I'd met my first two billionaires out of Park City, both investment bankers, one out of Silicon Valley, one out of New York.
So the people are out there.
You just have to be a bit strategic.
And so my rule formula for success is quality relationships plus strategy to a very specific goal.

Omer (11:05.870)
Okay, now I want to go back to what you said earlier about starting to talk.
Interact more with the people closest in your network and sort of telling them about what you're doing.
And the two questions which you mentioned as well, which is I think was what other ideas do you have for me?
And who else should I be talking to about this kind of paraphrase?

Judy Robinett (11:37.910)
Yeah, and this honestly is a secret.
I mean, this is really how I went from being shy and bullied to having.
You know, a couple of years ago I went to Delhi, India and met Reuben Abraham who raises George Soros Fund.
And the reason I came up with those questions is I'm a real curious sort.
And, you know, people started saying they'd pay me to follow me around to learn how to network.
I thought they were nuts.
Till I was 40, I thought I was shy And I really started paying attention to exactly what it was I was doing.
But, you know, I can tell you, every week somebody will get in touch with me and will kind of run through the people in their network.
And I'll give you an example.
So my.
My agent called me and said, I'm going to introduce you to Mike Muni.
He's the co founder of Axe Software, sold it for 48 million.
He now has an app for connections called Viper.
I think maybe the two of you could work together.
I met with him, he flew to Salt Lake and I met with him and I said, geez, you've got a top rated app.
I've never heard of you.
Why not?
And he looked kind of glum and he started talking about how difficult it was to get users and get the message out.
And then he said, judy, if I could just get an article in Success magazine, that is a specific niche that I feel could help get the message out.
And I looked at him and I said, when you go home, I want you to call my agent, who I've known for less than six months, who you've known for several years.
One of her friends is Darren Hardy, who owns and publishes Success magazine.
And he literally almost fell off his chair.
And I can tell you, this happens to me endlessly.
And so people don't know who the people in their network know.
And, you know, I can be in a room.
For instance, I gave a speech back east not long ago, and there were only maybe 200 people in the room.
And someone raised their hand and said, you know, I can't find anybody out there with money.
And so I asked if anybody had an association with an angel investor, a VC, a hedge fund foundation to raise their hand.
And 50 people in the room raised their hand.
Wow.
I then asked how many people are looking for money?
And of course, another 50 people in the room, you know, raised their hand and looked really dismayed at the other half.
And so, you know, these people are all around you.
You can go to platforms now like AngelList, who have 800,000 accredited investors.
They're looking for good deals.

Omer (14:15.240)
That's great.
Yeah.
And Mike Muhney is a mutual friend of ours.
And in fact, I think that's how we met.
And I think that's a great story because it sort of just goes to show that most of us don't talk that much about what we need or

Judy Robinett (14:33.080)
what we do or even what we do where we're going.

Omer (14:35.880)
Yeah.
And this was a great particular story in particular, because as you said, with Your agent was somebody that Mike had known for years and hadn't really been able to make that connection and put two and two together.
And I guess that's where you came in.
And maybe that's a good segue into this concept of a power connector that you were able to make that connection for these two people.
So tell me a little bit more about the sort of beyond just networking.
What are the characteristics of a power connector?

Judy Robinett (15:11.750)
So for me, I hate the word networking, I must tell you, when my agent.
I actually was writing a book called how to get yout Company Funded, which will be my next book, called Crack the Funding Code, and I put a list of all these people I knew around the world.
And she said, wait a minute, I thought you only lived in Utah and Idaho.
How do you know these people?
You must have gone to Stanford or Harvard.
And I said, no.
And I told her, and she goes, we're going to do a book on networking.
I said, not me.
I think it's icky and manipulative and all of that stuff.
And so she came up with the term a power connector.
And it's because I'm connected into powerful people, people with gravitas, people with money, people with influence.
And you don't have to be a power connector, but you certainly can be powerfully connected or a power connector or.
And part of that is, like I'd mentioned before, being really strategic about who you need to move your company forward to the next level.
And I was CEO of a public company, a small biotech company, and I gave speeches all around the world at Bio.
And it was always really frustrating to me that I'd meet these really brilliant scientists and doctors that arguably had a cure for cancer or something else, and they couldn't connect to the funding.
And then on the other hand, I'd have people call me and say, man, have you seen any good deals?
And just realizing that there's that inefficiency, but there's no lack of resources.
So it really is an issue of just access and how you connect.
What I saw was that people didn't understand the ecosystem, so they didn't understand the rules.
And then their own beliefs and assumptions held them back.
And, you know, mine was, I was shy, I was bullied.
Who would want to talk to me?
I wasn't born with a silver fork in my mouth.
And, you know, after I kind of got over those things and started talking to strangers and reaching out, it emboldens you.
And so it's okay to be shy initially, but it's amazing what happens.
The reality is most people will help you if they know what you need or what direction you're going in.
And I do say that you want people in your network who have a level of warmth or empathy.
The first thing we look at is this person dangerous.
And the second thing is a level of competence.
But the third one really is generosity.
Because just because someone can help you doesn't necessarily mean that they will.
And, you know, my whole philosophy is based on generosity.
I always say give twice before you ask.
And.
But, you know, sharing your story and then asking, what other ideas do you have?
Who else do you know I should talk to?
Those are easy asks.
Anybody will help you with that.
Now, you know, if you went up and say, don't, don't you want to give me or invest in my company 2.5 million, you know, that's the wrong way to do it because you have to build the relationship first.
Nobody will write a check that will, you know, buy a home unless they know you, like you and trust you.
So that one's a little bit more complicated.
But still the investors are out there.

Omer (18:40.120)
Yeah.
I think the point you made about giving is really important here because a lot of the times you hear people talking about connecting with people, but really it's.
It's all about what's in it for them.
And they're not really thinking about the giving.
And, and I agree with you.
The.
The, you know, net.
The word networking has a lot of negative connotations, and it's something that personally, I'm not a huge fan of either.
But I think, you know, in many ways, when I look at myself, I'd say I probably do.
I don't do enough asking.
Because if I'm helping somebody and I'm just doing it because I can help them and they've asked for help, it seems like the good thing to do.
And I get the good, you know, warm, fuzzy feeling.
And I can go to sleep at night feeling good about myself.
If I'm.
If I'm helping somebody, just because I've already decided I want something from this person, it doesn't feel right.
And so, you know that that's kind of one part of it.
And I think secondly is just sometimes it's just difficult to ask for something.

Judy Robinett (20:00.810)
Yeah.
And I'll give you an example.
So you really can add pretty significant value if you're just being strategic.
So everybody on the planet, as long as you're alive, needs help.
Everybody's got problems.
Billionaires, everybody.
Well, you know, I was on this panel with Mark Cuban.
I asked him later if he would have time to do an endorsement of my book.
And, you know, he declined.
And the first thought that rang through my brain, well, was, fine, I'll go to your boss.
I'll go to Mark Burnett.
Well, I didn't know Mark, but I had a friend I found out who'd been invited to this dinner event meeting with he and his wife, Roma Downey.
And so I called him and I said, what does Mark need?
And he said, you know, they really need help with marketing.
They just spent 18 million on their movie Son of God.
And that was enough for me.
I did a little research.
I found out, you know, the Baptists are behind him, the Catholics are behind him, all these different groups.
Well, not the Mormons.
Well, you know, I live in Salt Lake.
There's 16 million very well organized Mormons.
And, you know, I called my friend back and I said, hey, I can help him with this, and I will.
And, you know, I've got connections to NBC, to da da da, da, da da.
And the next thing I knew is I had a call from Mark's handler, Randy, saying, you know, Mark's going to be at Sundance.
He would like to have dinner with you.
And, I mean, how fun to walk into Ruth Chris Steakhouse and be asked, do you have a reservation?
And I just calmly said, yes, with Mark Burnett.
And, you know, of course, we got the best room in the.
I spent the first 15 minutes just really focused on him, trying to add value, listening to where he was going, being very strategic.
And, you know, 20 minutes into it, he's kind of like, who are you?
And is there anything I could help you with?
And I said, you know, I'd love for you to take a look at my book, see if you would think about endorsing it.
And he did.
Now, here's an example of, you know, I needed some help.
I literally had targeted him at some point, But I knew I could figure out a way to help him to be strategic.
And you can do that.
I mean, if you think about in the day, how many people really listen and hear you with their heart, I mean, that's a gift.
Smiling to elderly people, Nobody notices them anymore.
That's a gift.
Sharing your favorite TED Talk, your favorite book, sending them a link to a great article, some trend research, that's adding value.
So everything you do says who you are.
And those can be just little, tiny things, truly.
And it adds significant value.
That puts you above 95% of the people out there.
And then if you start with the simple ask, you know, what other ideas do you have?
Who else do you know I should talk to?
You'll be amazed.
You'll be absolutely amazed.

Omer (22:52.900)
So what is one simple thing that the listeners could start doing today to become power connectors?

Judy Robinett (23:03.820)
You know, the first thing I would tell you to do is to jot down the next circle out from your family and friends, that 25 to 50 people, and start talking to those people, sending them an email, you know, call them on the phone, tell them where you're at.
But just writing it down on the paper will show you where there's gaps that you need to fill.
So, for instance, if you don't have connections to funders and, you know, six months down the road while you've bootstrapped this, you'd really like to get in the door at Draper vc, You know, call me.
I'm happy to make connections.
So, you know, think if you.
If you do that first, that's really significant.
And you don't have to dedicate an hour or two hours a day to networking.
And frankly, most of the groups out there are a waste of time.
So I find most people are in the wrong room.
And so you need to look at those groups you're going to and ask yourself, are there people here who are smarter than me that have resources that I might be able to use?
And if not, you're really in the wrong room.
So my second suggestion would be to join a powerful organization that would have people that would be of value to you, that you could add value to them, and that one's important.
And now we have many groups across the nation that are doing the Jeffersonian dinners.
They just invite 20 to 30 people to a restaurant.
And one of my friends, Dori Clark, does it at the Harvard Business Club in New York.
If you can find a curated private group, a lot of people don't know, if you don't live in New York, you can actually stay at the Yale Club and whatever, you can join for, like, $800 a year, and then, you know, pay for their facilities.
Last time I stayed there, I ran into Timothy Geithner.
And so there's all kinds of ways that you can gain access other than going to meetups where, you know, people just come running at you with a business card.

Omer (25:05.970)
Right, Right.
Yeah.
So if someone's coming at you with a business card, you're probably not in the right place.

Judy Robinett (25:12.770)
Yeah.
You're probably not in the right place, you know?
Yeah.

Omer (25:17.010)
Does it have to be an offline group?
Could there be an online version of something that people could find.
Maybe there's a private, I don't know, mastermind or something like that that maybe helps them connect with people even if they're not able to do it face to face.

Judy Robinett (25:33.880)
You know, there are many.
One of my favorites is Joe Polish who has a podcast called I Love Marketing and he has a pretty powerful mastermind group.
I think it's like 25,000 to join it.
And he does have a couple of in person events.
But he has so many great people in his mastermind that, you know, people are able to grow their business, get to almost any resource that they they need.
So there's many of those kind of groups out there.
One for women is Alley to the Valley and this is 50 professional high end level women.
This is how I met Rosie Rios, United States treasurer.
Heidi Rosen, partner at Draper vc.
You know Leslie, my friend who is the editor at Moore magazine.
So it's important to think about, you know, making sure that you've got access to media as you grow your company.
You know, regulatory folks, people with money and people in different industries or specifically in those that you want to do biz dev with.

Omer (26:40.440)
Yeah, that's good advice.
Okay, so we're talking about funding.
It would be great to sort of pick your brain.
It's that I know that's an area of expertise for you and you have worked with a number of firms at different stages in helping with funding.
And so let's start by talking about maybe somebody who's listening to this and they've been bootstrapping the business for, let's say a few years and they're getting to the point where they feel like they're ready to raise some money and maybe the first step for them is to find some angel investment.
So where do they start?

Judy Robinett (27:31.020)
You know, one of the first things to realize is that 75% of angels invest in the state where they live.
Now, if you have a high potential startup, you know, you've bootstrapped this thing to 10 million, you've gained really serious traction.
So if your growth has a nice trajectory on it at that point, I would say you need to look at some of the regional angel groups and also angel lists.
But the important thing is to meet with a couple of angels, have them look at your business model, your pitch deck, and get the best information that you can before you go present.
So for instance, if you go in front of a professional angel group with accredited investors, you typically get 10 minutes.
A VC, the average is about three minutes.
So you need a very compelling short pitch deck.
I've worked with the founder of iCharts and this young man came from Germany to Silicon Valley in 2010.
You know, just horrid time to come.
He had approximately 4 million from from investors and needed to do a down round.
They, the investors took a bit of advantage and wanted a lot of pref for common stock and I helped with that deal.
And now he signed some really amazing deals out there.
And this will be a high flyer and part of it is really tenacity.
So it isn't being the smartest person in the room.
It really is about learning pivot and then going forward persisting.
So Clayton Christensen at Harvard estimates that it takes about three times for you to get to regular recurring revenue.
But if somebody has already done it, they've bootstrapped it to a level that they're successful and they have revenues and good projections.
You know, boy howdy, many, many investors would love to get their hands on that deal.
And you want to be careful who you hop in bed with.
I say date first because indeed some angels are devils and some ventures are vultures.
So you know, you want their money, but a lot of people have money.
You want their connections and you want them to mentor you.
Now angels are much more forgiving.
You know, they'd like to see a 3 to 5x exit in 3 to 5 years.
VCs want, you know, much more than that.
So be strategic and thinking about how you get the money in and then have a funding strategy that goes from where you are now to the exit.
So if you want to be perceived as a high potential startup, you start with the end in mind.
What Is your exit?
95% of them are strategic sells.
You can get the book early exits, which is the best thing out there on understanding these kind of exits.
And about less than 5% are certainly IPOs.
But if you begin with the end in mind and then you focus on the investor's mindset, so the investor really wants the risk taken out of the deal.
And this is called de risking the deal.
And so, and I'll include two or three articles for folks that you can put in the show notes on how you can mitigate risks in all of these different areas.
So for instance, people that don't quite have traction or have a paying customer yet, if they have an loi, that's a big deal.
So there's really three things.
I mean if you have a beta, if you have a first customer and your first outside money, there's nothing that should stop you everything else can be fixed with fixed with your advisory board members and your management team.
And I'll share an interesting story.
So Dr. David Beers in Salt Lake had a cancer company called Montagen and four years into it sold it for north of 40 million.
This is unheard of in the pharma industry.
And I said to David, David, how did you do this?
And he said, you know, I anticipated who the likely acquirer would be.
And I got one person from each of those companies on my advisory board so they could watch with full disclosure and transparency what was going on.
And then literally they got into a bidding war.
So you be strategic.
So, you know, many of you have heard of the business model generation worksheet, and I'll send that so you can attach it.
In the middle is your value proposition, which looks like, you know, a Christmas package.
And you know, I suggest that you put the biggest bow on it you can.
And so, you know, if you can get a co founder from PayPal, you know, somebody that has credibility, that can help mitigate the holes maybe in your management team.
But you certainly don't have to be perfect.
You know, Zuckerberg had never done it before.
You know, lots of people hadn't.
So it is a bit of strategy and then it's a bit of relationships.

Omer (32:56.150)
So going back to what you said earlier about meeting with a couple of angels and showing them your pitch deck, what's the best way to make that connection?
And what should somebody be saying to the angel?
Is it as simple as I want to get your feedback?

Judy Robinett (33:17.430)
Yes.
Yes.
Initially you want people's feedback.
And for instance, there's a wonderful friend of mine in Salt Lake named Adam Slovik.
He was one of the first guys, guys at Oracle left after their ipo.
Then he built his own company to a hundred million, did a IPO of a billion.
He will take any entrepreneur to lunch if they'll buy him lunch.
And typically spends an hour and a half to two hours.
And this is common across the United States in almost any area.
People are happy to do that.
In Silicon Valley, they call it having a friendly.
You go for a cup of coffee for a friendly and just test the waters.
And the reason is people want to do this is they don't want to miss out on the next big thing.
It's called fomo.
Fear of Missing out.
And you know, all of the angel groups are now online.
You can go to the National Angel Association, TechCrunch, you know, Golden Seeds.
All of these websites have information if you need to learn about due diligence, go to CircleUp.
I mean, if you've got 3 million of EBITDA, they're very proficient at getting you 5 million in less than three months.
So all of the technology that's out there getting on LinkedIn, you can find Encora.
My gosh.
Mark Andreessen answers questions.
Brad Feld out of the Foundry Group in Boulder, Colorado has great blogs and so you have access to people you would have never imagined just five years ago.

Omer (34:52.189)
What are some of the common mistakes you see entrepreneurs making when they are starting on the journey to raise funding with an angel?

Judy Robinett (35:04.269)
Yeah, well, the first one isn't taking the investor's mindset.
I've had people say to me, do I really have to sell my company?
And I say, yes, they want their money back.
And then there's some really obvious red flags to investors.
Number one is being so caught up in your Kool Aid or your product or your platform, you know, the angel really doesn't care.
They want to know about the business, how the business is going to make money, what is your cost of acquisition?
You know, often people can't, they need to know what their cost of acquisition is.
They need to have their numbers know their numbers kind of inside now, you know, a red flag is, you know, people who will walk in and say, you know, if we just get one and a half percent of the Chinese market, we'll all be billionaires.
And that's known as a top down sales forecast.
You know, we need a bottom up sales forecast.
You know, we're going to have five people on the phone, they're going to have a conversion rate of 3%.
These are our margins and being confident.
So you need to come across as confident, you need to come across as coachable.
Another mistake is people that come across as a know it all because angels, you know, they love to mentor and, and you're not smart enough to know it all.
You may be really, really smart in your one specific area, but you know, why would the angel give you money if you're not going to listen to them?

Omer (36:26.410)
Right, right.

Judy Robinett (36:28.090)
Okay.

Omer (36:28.690)
So the, the, the other sort of side of funding I guess is, let's say you've kind of been through the, the angel round.
You're looking for some investment from a venture capital firm.
How, how are things different to what maybe people went through the process with an angel.

Judy Robinett (36:53.380)
You know, so the, the, the VCs typically do a much deeper dive on due diligence, take serious time in looking at you.
They make sure they have experts in the industry who understand the business model, the, the, the markets.
And so that's, that's a big one.
But if you've been successful, so you took money group, you've now met significant milestones, your company is growing, you'll have no problem.
And most of the angels syndicate deals with the VCs.
So for instance, when I was a managing director at Golden Seeds, we syndicated with 120 other angel groups and early stage VCs.
So these groups really know each other and they know each other from coast to coast.
I mean recently a few weeks ago I was asked to go judge pitch events in Puerto Rico.
You know, I met a couple of people I didn't know.
Lylan Masterson, who is a partner at White Star Ventures in New York, you know, one of his portfolio companies is the Shave Club.
But many of these people know each other from coast to coast.
You know, another company I would tell you to look at would be Servin Ventures.
Pratish, who is a friend of mine, is the co founder of that.
They consider themselves above the angels, but a little bit below the VCs.
So if you've got your deal packaged well, you know your pro formas are right, it's down to just 10 to 12 slides.
You've, you come across as understanding what the investor mindset is.
You know, your marketplace, you know you're good to go.

Omer (38:36.350)
What, what does a, a good pitch deck to you look like?

Judy Robinett (38:42.370)
You know, it has a, and I'll, I'll send you one.
And so I've got access to the early ones with Uber and LinkedIn.
But you need a slide with the management team.
You certainly need a slide with the market.
You need a slide that talks about the competition and how you're different, what your value proposition is going to be a slide that has some kind of high level pro forma information in it.
Those are really the starting point.
So the first thing people are judging is the management team.
And the saying is always bet on the jockey, not the horse.
So Arthur Rock, who was known as the father of the venture capital world, came up with that saying.
And it was that if you have a choice between two management teams, a B team who has just an A killer product or an A team who's got a B product.
You vote on the A team because they'll always get the product to market.
And you know, a critical thing is being able to connect the product.
You will always hear what is your go to market strategy, how are you going to execute?
And so being very clear on how you're going to get this to market, looking at the markets carefully instead of just, you know, saying, well, we're going to go into five markets in the United States because you'll soon find they're all very different and understanding your industry.
Also, it's very nice if you've gone to Pitch Deck or Venture Data and looked at comparables so you know who has funded deals similar than yours.
That's a good way to find a great investor and look at comparables on the exit and the terms that will be really helpful for you.

Omer (40:30.220)
Super.
That is super advice.
And yeah, thank you for the offer to share the.
The Pitch Deck and the other resources that you mentioned as well.
I think those resources will be incredibly useful to anybody who's kind of starting out on that journey or is looking to raise some more money, but maybe be a little bit more successful than they were last time around.

Judy Robinett (40:51.430)
Cool.

Omer (40:52.230)
So now it's time for our lightning round.
I'm going to ask you a series of questions and like you to answer them as quickly as you can.
You ready?

Judy Robinett (40:59.550)
Okay.

Omer (41:00.470)
What's the best piece of business advice that you ever received?

Judy Robinett (41:05.910)
So, my first business, I almost went bankrupt.
I went to a bankruptcy attorney just shivering in my boots, and he said, you're not even close.
I'm broke.
I said, I'm broke.
And he said, judy, they can break you.
They can't eat you.
That's when I learned to kick fear to the curb.

Omer (41:22.550)
What book, apart from your own, would you recommend to our audience?
And why?

Judy Robinett (41:27.830)
Resilience by Eric Grettens.
Because when it comes down to it, it's about grit and persistence.
This guy is a Navy seal.
He's also an Oxford graduate.
It's the best stuff I've ever read.
He points out, we all have to deal with pain, fear, suffering, death.
So being resilient is really important.
Great book.

Omer (41:48.400)
What's one attribute or characteristic in your mind of a successful entrepreneur?

Judy Robinett (41:56.240)
Persistence.
It's really persistence.

Omer (41:59.840)
What's your favorite personal productivity tool or habit?

Judy Robinett (42:04.640)
You know, I've gone through everything from Coveys, you know, seven habits to endless, endless things.
And I boiled it down after listening to a talk by Mary Kay, who became a billionaire.
From rags to riches.
And she said every, every night, she figured out the six things she had to accomplish the next day.
The first one I put on the list is, you know, eat the toad.
You know, if you've got a bunch of stuff you've got to do and one of them's really nasty and icky, do that one first.

Omer (42:32.640)
That's good advice.
What's a business idea or a crazy idea that you'd love to pursue if you had the extra time?

Judy Robinett (42:44.180)
You know, I'm really fascinated with all of the new behavioral economics and brain research, and that would be something I'd be really intrigued to do.

Omer (42:55.700)
What's an interesting or fun fact about you that most people don't know?

Judy Robinett (43:00.980)
I've flown helicopters.
I play guitar, piano, and I have my favorite grizzly bear in Yellowstone.
I love to go up there and watch the grizzlies, the wolf packs.
It's just amazing.

Omer (43:12.490)
Wow.
And finally, what is one of your most important passions outside of your work?

Judy Robinett (43:19.370)
You know, gardening.
I absolutely love gardening and eating dark chocolate.

Omer (43:28.570)
Judy, I want to thank you for joining me today and thank you being so.
For being so generous with your time and for sharing your expertise.
If people want to find out more about you or they want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Judy Robinett (43:45.120)
You know, I'm on LinkedIn.
I tweet @judy robinette.
I have a website, judyrobinette.com no e on the end.
And my email is judyudyrobinette.com awesome.

Omer (43:57.920)
Judy, thanks again, and I wish you all the best.

Judy Robinett (44:01.280)
Thank you.

Omer (44:02.240)
Cheers.