What stands between a good VC call and money in the bank

After a good first call, the person you spoke to decides whether you're one of the few companies they take into their next partner meeting. Nobody wins that meeting without a round the partner is excited about. The round is what's happening right now, what happens over the next few months, how you make money, and how fast it's moving. Most founders spend the call on the product and the vision. So write the round down for them, and if they hesitate about taking it in, offer to write it with them.

Who decides after a good first call with a fund

The person you spoke to decides whether you go any further.

They're on the front line, meeting companies all week. Run the numbers on a partner taking three calls a day. That's 10 to 15 companies a week, and two of them go to the weekly partner meeting. In a fund with three partners, that meeting hears about six companies, and somebody liked every one of them.

What happens next changes from fund to fund. At Hustle Fund there's no partner meeting. One general partner decides, usually within 48 hours of their call with you. At First Round, you pitch the whole partnership for about an hour, and it funds about half of the companies that get that far. At Union Square Ventures, you meet a team of about 20, and nobody votes. They talk it through until they decide. Ask how yours works.

If your first call was with an associate or a principal, ask which partner will take your company in, and ask to meet them before the partner meeting.

What a VC partner needs to take into the partner meeting

The partner has to walk into the partner meeting sure about your round.

I've made angel investments, some through a group I co-ran. Through Horus I now meet a lot of founders on first calls, and some of them found us through articles like this one. I could say "nice product, the founder knows the space" about most of them.

When I go to our team with a company after a first call, I carry three things. How they make money now, how fast it's moving, and whether the founder is sure of it. A company that's easy to understand makes me surer of it. There are so many unknowns this early that every small thing like that counts.

Most founders open with their story. Years in the industry, a problem they kept running into, the product they built to fix it. That story has its place, later than the first twenty minutes. What lands in a first call is "we have traction, these people use it, because it solves this problem for them". An investor can see that here and now. Sorry, but the rest is you talking about yourself and the project.

Lead with that and the partner can repeat "they work with [customer] to do [thing]" without knowing how the product works in detail. The detail comes later, before they invest.

Then the sequence. On a lot of first calls I still end up asking, "what's the sequence? what are you doing right now, and what happens over the next three to six months?" Say the sequence as one, two, three, and come back to it during the call.

What to do when a VC says they'll take you to their partners

When the partner says they'll take you to their partners, find out what they need from you before the partner meeting.

Ask when the meeting is and what they'd want to show the others. Know the answer before you ask, so their reply only adds what's specific to their partners.

If they sound unsure and say they need to run it past their partners first, treat it like a sale where the buyer needs a cofounder's yes. Offer to open a doc on a shared screen and write it together.

"makes sense, they need to see it. we could write the version for them together right now."

What to send a VC after a good first call

What you send after the call decides which version of you the partner walks in with.

Some of these calls will still end with "i'll let you know", and that's normal. Send a short note the same day anyway.

A lot of investors run what founders send through an AI tool or their own screening setup. Put most founders' material through one of those and you get back twenty sentences about the product. So the words you choose decide what their tool says about you. Write your material traction first, with who uses it and what problem it solves, then the sequence. Put all of it behind one link that opens without a login, so one paste gives their tool the whole picture.

Traction looks different at every stage. At pre-seed it can be a few paid pilots or a group of users who come back every week. It still has to show that somebody cares.

"thanks for the call. here's the short version in case it goes to your partners. everything else is here: [link].

[number] [customers] use [company] to [do what], because it solves [problem].

next: [first], then [second], then [third], by [month]. we're raising [amount] to get there.

you asked about [the concern]: [what we've done about it]."

Keep it to one screen, so the partner can forward it as it is. An amount in the note is an ask for money. If you haven't opened your round yet, drop the amount, keep the sequence and say what has to happen before you open it.

The day before their meeting, or on Sunday evening if it's a Monday, send a three-sentence version. They've taken more calls since yours.

"ahead of your partner meeting, here's us in three sentences. [who uses it, with the number]. [what's next, by when]. new this week: [one thing, if there is one]."

Every founder wants to believe they stay in the partner's head. Don't count on it. Follow what they post and reply when you have something to add.

How long it takes to get money from a VC after the first call

Plan on three weeks to three months from your first meeting with your first fund to the first money in your bank. That counts the first check, even a small one, whether or not the rest of the round follows. Where you land depends on the fund and the stage.

I've seen an investor say yes after two meetings in one week, and another take two months of questions. Neither is better or worse. A fund is still a group of people, and some things take longer to get through inside it.

Don't push for a decision on any call. You wouldn't decide on the spot either. If they're excited, they come back with questions after the call. If you haven't asked for money yet, leave the pace to them. If you have, give funds a date to decide by.

A round that nobody is fighting over moves slowly. Just don't let them see you struggle. Until it's in your bank, keep talking to other funds.

What to do when the VC liked you and the partnership said no

When the partnership says no, they didn't feel sure enough to keep going. You'll hear it as "traction", "not now" or "we need more proof".

Funds keep the details to themselves because a founder's first reflex is to argue with them. You think you won't. Trust me, you will. And if they don't feel it, you could be twice as far along and they still wouldn't invest at this stage.

The details come out investor to investor. When I talked to funds as a potential co-investor, they told me far more than they tell founders, and they were blunter about it. So if you have an existing investor, or another investor the fund knows who has met you, ask them to call the fund.

"could you ask [fund] what held them back? they'll tell you more than they'll tell me."

Whatever comes back, don't argue with it. Work out your answer before your next first call.