StartupSOS banner
≡ Menu

Manage your VC Sales Funnel

As with any sales process, you’ll want to develop a way of keeping track of the list of VCs that you’ve identified and those that you’ve contacted. In other words, you want to track the headway of VCs in your “funnel”, just like a sales person manages a sales funnel.  (After all, you’ll probably talk to more than 50 VCs before you get funded, and that’s a lot of relationships to manage!)

A funnel simply means that you start with a lot of unqualified, potential VCs at the top of your funnel. As you qualify them to see if they fit your market, they move down in the funnel. As you get meetings, they move further down the funnel (closer to a “sale”, and, ultimately, you’ll end up with (hopefully) a handful of VCs at the bottom of the funnel who are qualified, who you met with, etc. and are ready to invest.

Stages in a VC funnel might be:

  • Prospect (VC)identified
  • Web site review confirms potential fit of the VC to your company/market
  • Found someone who can make an introduction to the VC
  • Got the introduction and first meeting
  • Got to second meeting
  • Due diligence started
  • Term sheet in place
  • Deal signed

Fund raising is good practice at learning sales process! (Customer sales process will be next…)