I work with VCs and CVCs on how you to attract and find the right deals for your portfolio.
So often, I see investors asking startups to reveal everything about themselves while they don’t want to show any of their cards. They expect their investor decks, which are basically sales pitches, to be air tight. Meanwhile, investors often share little information back in terms of their investment thesis and how they evaluate companies.
This is holding you back.
Sales 101 – tells us it’s not about you. It’s about them. To be best VC and CVC,
As more and more investors enter the market, your reputation and brand positioning matters. Having a website and communications
- Why should startups chose you?
- What is your zone of genius when it comes to investing?
- How do you help Founders succeed?
- What is your investment philosophy?
Objections I often hear from investors on why they don’t spend money on branding or communications include:
- We don’t need to talk about ourselves, our portfolio speaks for itself.
- Good quality leads come by referral. There is no point in advertising.
- Our investment thesis is always changing. We don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves and miss out on something good.
- We’re a small team. We don’t have time to create content.
What makes me a good matchmaker….
Take a look at your inbox. How many of the inbound pitch decks that you receive are from companies that you would actually want take a meeting with much less invest in?
With my venture scouting clients, I often see that VCs and CVCs are doing a lot of working tracking down and finding food investment leads.
Why? Isnt’t
Too often, investors reveal nothing about themselves yet they want to startups to share everything. This is not a balanced match and it adds all kind of friction to the deal flow process. Then comes the question, why don’t VCs communicate better?
I coach a lot of startup founders on how to find the right investors to achieve the vision they have for their company. I also work with VCs and CVCs as a venture scout helping them to find high quality deals.
These are the objections I often hear from VCs and CVCs:
- We don’t need to talk about ourselves, our portfolio speaks for itself
- Good quality leads come by referral. There is no point in advertising.
- We’re a small team. We don’t have time to create content.
- Our investment thesis is always changing. We don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves and miss out on something good.
I understand the sentiment behind these statements, but if you’re brand as a VC is not one of the top three most known globally then the above doesn’t really apply to you.
Investing is all about relationships. Yes, who you know matters. They can be centers of influence referring you deals. And yes, a referral to a new company made by a Founder you’ve invested in definitely counts for more than cold pitch.
But time after time with my VC and CVC clients, I see a major shift happen when they start opening up and sharing more about what they’re looking to invest in and what the process looks like.
Guess what! Even the best VCs in the world have a website that clearly defines the kind of investments they’re looking for and makes it easy for the inbound leads.
fuNNEL
The secret to what makes me a good matchmaker in the venture scouting world is actually very simple. It’s all about the laws of investment attraction.
This can be broken down into two parts.
- The energy of how you show up
- What you do
The laws of investment attraction
Investor Communications
Analisa works with VCs and CVCs helping them to hone their communication to attract high quality investment deals and co-investors. This process begins with defining what success looks like for your firm, your investment thesis, vision for the future of food, and values. We also define what a quality lead looks like and review the funnel you have for evaluating startups including rejection emails.
Analisa can also implement the suggested changes by creating content, writing copy, or producing thought-leadership interviews (podcasts or videos).
Venture Scouting
Analisa works directly with VCs and CVCs as a venture scout finding and assessing potential investment deals. Upon understanding your investment thesis and strategic objectives, Analisa scans the market to identify potential investment candidates. From there, she will down select potential deals by conducting screening interviews. This leads to a shortlist of 10-20 potential high quality investment leads. This is followed by facilitated meet and greets where the startup candidates are presented to the firm. These “interview days” can take place in person or virtually.
This process can also be done with various ecosystem players (universities, incubators, accelerators, other funds, etc.) to establish who would be the best relational fit for the firm to pass along early stage investment deals.
Pitch & Founder Coaching
Analisa partners with investors, accelerators, and incubators as a startup pitch coach. She will work with your portfolio companies helping them to hone their pitch and presentation style across multiple formats.
As a certified CPCC coach, Analisa also works with Founders to navigate the business and leadership challenges that arise in running a startup.
Podcast Content Creation
One of the best ways
About Analisa Winther
Analisa Winther is an ecosystem developer within the food system. In her consultancy, Nordic FoodTech, she fosters collaboration through storytelling and business matchmaking. She works with startups and investors helping them hone their communication to attract the right partners and realize their vision for the future of food. Analisa comes with over a decade of experience working inside startups and for investors as a venture scout.
She has a deep knowledge of the food space and an extensive network across the industry, which she leverages whenever possible in her working relationships. She is a frequent speaker and conference facilitator as well as the host of the Nordic FoodTech Podcast, which has interviewed over 100 experts from the food space and has listeners from 80+ countries around the world.