Tag Archives: Venture Capitalist

How do VCs look for Success Stories?

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To help entrepreneurs get an idea on how VCs look for the next success stories, we approached two VC firms in Lebanon, Berytech and Leap Ventures.

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Berytech:
Berytech was established in 2001 and is the oldest firm in Lebanon to provide support to startups. It has since grown through the years to become an ecosystem of 3 incubators, 3 finds, 1 accelerator, and coworking support spaces.

Berytech is an exciting community of entrepreneurs who support each other and grow. They provide business support at the different growth stages of the startup, flexible worry-free hosting services where the startups can plug and play and expand flexibly.

When looking for success stories, Berytech believes that Lebanon is filled with lots of great human talent who are often hidden or worried to go through the risky entrepreneurial path. Berytech is there to help them figure out if the path is right for them and to support them every step of the way in terms of training and coaching.

Check their website to learn more.

Leap Ventures

Leap Ventures:
Leap Ventures was founded in 2014 as a venture capital firm specializing in investments in startups. The firm is based in Beirut and is also located in Dubai. It invests in the MENA region with a focus on Lebanon.

Leap ventures was formed by a team of serial entrepreneurs who have decades of startup experience under their belt. They can support entrepreneurs through funding, strategy training, providing operational resources, marketing expertise, global connections, and more.

To find the next success stories, they leverage their extensive entrepreneurial experience: engaging with promising entrepreneurs, providing fresh views and strategic opportunities, and planning for transformative growth.

Check their website to learn more.

Guide: First VC Meeting

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Entrepreneurs often seek out venture capitalists (VCs) to seek early stage fundraising for their startup. The process of finding the right VC for their startup, getting through the door, and leaving an impression often proves challenging. Below is a set of guidelines to prepare every entrepreneur seeking funding:

Find the right VC: Do your research and focus on identifying firms who prefer to invest in your stage, industry and technology. Avoid presenting to investors who don’t understand your industry and technology.

Request a meeting: Send the VC an email requesting a meeting that includes your elevator pitch and your presentation attached. This gives the VC the chance to go through your decks and think of it and do the required research ahead of meeting you.

Who should attend: The CEO must attend the meeting and can be joined by a co-founder, if one exists, and one or 2 valuable team members provided that they are good with people and all have a role to play at the meeting.

Presentation: Make sure you have prepared a great deck and rehearsed your delivery as well as how to reply to potential questions before attending the meeting. Do not deliver an overly detailed and lengthy presentation. It is crucial to deliver the perfect pitch, with confidence, passion, and knowledge. Check our post on what your presentation should include and how to deliver the perfect pitch.

Experience: Highlight your relevant past experience and those of your key team members. This helps the VC to decide whether you and your team are capable of implementing the next steps.

Time management is critical. Spend a fraction of the time focused on your presentation and postpone all questions until afterwards. The remainder of the time would be used for discussions. If you are not prepared and focused, the VC will take over the pace of the meeting and lead the discussions.

Don’t expect to get funded: Don’t try to use the first meeting to get funded as soon as possible by throwing in all sorts of information during the initial meeting. What you should be looking for is a request for a next meeting. Usually, VCs would study your presentation and discuss it with their team and would then contact you for a follow-up meeting.

After the meeting: Email the VC after the meeting to thank them for the time and attention they gave you. Do not pester them by constantly calling afterwards. They would get back to you. You can politely call or email a week or two after your initial meeting to follow up.

The intent of a first meeting with a VC is for them to explore if the opportunity you offer is interesting enough for their firm to seriously consider as an investment opportunity. If you have left the meeting with the VC informed on what you do, how you do so, your customer base, your marketing strategy and financial overview, you would have succeeded. Remember, you might never get the chance to meet this VC again, be prepared!

For a better understanding on what VCs look for, read our post on How To Attract Investors.