[Fundraising for Startups] Lesson 4: Here's why you're having a hard time raising money.

I don't know why founders say stupid shit sometimes.

Then they wonder why no one cares.

I mean, all you have to do is hit up Google to find the videos of other funded founders pitching their companies. (I sent you some videos of good ones a couple of days ago.) Then you should compare those to the pitches you heard at your local startup incubator. You'll see the difference -- it's night and day -- because it's always easy to pick out the rookies.

It's 2018 y'all. Don't. Make. Stupid. Mistakes.

Don't get me wrong: it's OK to make mistakes -- just not stupid ones.

Let's say you've got the basics down: you've built a prototype, you've put it in front of customers, you know your market and competitors. Now what?

It's important to recognize that delivery matters.

I've spent the last few years on planes, trains and my Airstream. The conversation with entrepreneurs in every city goes a little like this:

Entrepreneur: "My local investors just don't get what I'm doing."

Me: "OK, so why don't you start reaching out to investors in other cities?"

Entrepreneur: "Well, I have been. Every time I get on a call, it seems to end pretty quickly and the conversation dies off after that."

Me: "SO STOP USING DINNER PARTY ETIQUETTE IN A BUSINESS MEETING."

Entrepreneur: "..."

Let’s say you’re calling an investor in New York City who wants to invest in companies, right? You know they're active because you've been tracking them on AngelList. There's no doubt this investor is active.

That New York investor is probably taking 10 pitches on the same day you call. And, while you're on the phone with them, they're thinking about 60 other things simultaneously. They're thinking about their kids. They're thinking about their next meeting. They're thinking about the awful coffee they had this morning. They're thinking about everything but you.

And then you call. And you start saying stuff like this: "Hey, how’s it going? Hey, so, where are you from originally? Hey, so, what do you like to see?"

You’re using dinner-party etiquette in a business meeting, and then you’re surprised when the business people are like, ‘I don’t have time for this.’”

DON'T DO THIS.

If you have any traction at all, lead with it. If you find yourself talking about the product more than the traction, you're done. The deal's never going to happen.

We'll talk more about that tomorrow. For now, that's all.

-P

P.S. if you already have a pitch deck -- even if it's a draft -- you can get the same pitch deck teardown that I do with my own founders. I've seen thousands of pitch decks and funded hundreds of companies -- I can help your pitch improve in under a week.