VC Networking vs Beauty Contests?
Alec Saunders made a really good post about VC companies and events like the Canadian Innovation Exchange, which was promptly followed up by Rick Segal.
Both had good good points, but I found this particularly interesting:
I’d like to believe that there is more to it. I’ve been told over and over that it is the networking at event like this which really matter. In addition, there are panels/discussions/sessions that also should be worth it. While Alec isn’t going to get much out of this (he knows this drill from more angles then most), others might get some good knowledge out of the sessions, find somebody to link up with, etc.
I’ll be perfectly frank; I don’t much care for the idea of pitching investors. True I’ll need to do it eventually but personally, the notion of approaching a giant firm/company controlling millions of dollars examining everything that I tell them scares the words right out of me - not to mention turns me eleven shades of red.
Now, I’ve never approached investors, never even met one. Because of this, the investors I envision in my head are the adult version of the scary monster I imagined as a kid, with a gaping maw ready to swallow me whole.
Events like the Canadian Innovation Exchange and Founders and Funders are events I’d go to just to network. Even if nothing comes of it, it gives me a chance to communicate with both scary-investor-folk and would-be founders that are probably as scared as I. An opportunity to ask questions and puff my chest out and announce my presence in the space.
However, I maintain, let’s set up similar events in Calgary, hmmm?
…now if I can just get the courage to pick up the phone and call some of the folks Rick mentioned.
Fanatic programmer, obsessive technophile, serial entrepreneur and Web 2.0 enthusiast. Zed23.com is the personal blog of Ryan Brooks, a Web Application Developer out of Calgary, Alberta.