Seven people on a 45-minute panel. This must be the obligatory sponsors-included session.
Some of the most relevant points for entrepreneurs:
- Roelof Botha from Sequoia had a good tip for entrepreneurs trying to attract the attention of venture companies: if you email a venture capitalist to tell them about your site - leave out the eight paragraphs of description about your site and just put the username and password for your site instead.
- David Sacks from Geni - a fantastic genealogy site - is on this panel. He said start-ups should concentrate on refining the product to be as basic as possible and then rely on users to tell you what to do next.
- And don't just roll over at the first road black, said Botha. He has dealt with start-ups that have come back, six mnths after being rejected, and done presentations to prove how they have repaired all the strategies the VC had been cncerned about. That kind of persistence really counts.
Do start-ups have to be in the Valley?
No, said Sumant Mandel from Clearstone. "It's finding the right investors who believe in what you're doing. And don't do something just because the investors tell you."
Botha cited Stardoll, one Sequoia investment, which is based in Europe. "Even if companies are based in the Valley the majority of their traffic will be international," he said.
Calacanis condensed that: If you have a great product you can be anywhere, but if you don't have a great product you'll need to be everywhere and stalk the investors relentlessly.
And why, he asked, is it so hard to get a definitive yes or no answer from VCs? Why do they always say "just one more meeting" instead?
"Well we try and be definitive, but we're balancing fear and greed," said Mandel.
