From BioEurope to JP Morgan, convention season is about to start. Founders will flood inboxes, chase conferences, and surprise why no person replies. Not as a result of their concept is dangerous — however as a result of they’re asking for cash earlier than incomes belief.
Each convention season, I see it occur.
A founder disappears for weeks — locked of their house, obsessing over each slide, each pixel, each quantity. They align their staff, rehearse the story, polish the deck till it shines.
After which comes the ship.
I at all times consider that scene from A Lovely Thoughts. Russell Crowe as John Nash walks as much as a girl on the bar — assured, calculating. He skips the small discuss. “I do know the place that is going,” he says. “Why don’t we simply skip to the nice half?”
A pause. Then a slap. She storms out.
That’s fundraising in a nutshell. Founders attempting to skip the small discuss.
They ship the entire package deal in a single shot — a three-page electronic mail, a hundred-slide deck, a data-room hyperlink, typically even a checking account quantity “for comfort.” They assume effectivity equals progress.