When you are looking for funds to accelerate the growth of your company, a closer analysis of VC is paramount.
Do you want the check alone or with some extras?
What VCs Offer Beyond The Money
1. Networks
VCs are in the business of shaking hands and striking deals. As such, they can offer powerful connections such as access to talent pools or connect you to companies with a similar portfolio as yours for comparing notes.
Don’t say “yeey” just yet. Any extra connection given will be determined on whether they have time or not
Some companies would allow you to tap into their legal pool for advice. Common wisdom advises that you don’t mingle too much with your funders legal team.
At the end of the day, they are not on your payroll and therefore would likely serve their bosses at your expense.
2. Playbooks and best practices
Venture capitalists with long track records make them a repository of information. They could be vital in suggesting some best practices and pitfalls to avoid along the way. This depends on if they have internal expertise.
Many people working in the VC world have very little to no experience running actual companies. Their work is to sell and therefore maybe very theoretical or even entirely out of loop about various aspects of your business.
3. Massive credits for cloud services
At the beginning, some VCs offer credits to help new ventures take off.
Make sure your business is well set up to afford top up for when you have developed addiction for the services.
All said and done…
VCs are irrefutably very useful to new businesses. However, it is entirely up to you to decide If/what to take from them.
Here are key takeaways to remember:
–Business belongs to you and you understand it best.
-The work of a VC is to write you a check, consider anything else as marketing
– Don’t let your goals get muddled up in their agenda.