Building a network
The elevator pitch shouldn’t be the end of the story
KITCHENER — That elevator pitch startup founders carefully hone to raise funds is only the beginning of a conversation that could last years, says a New York City venture capitalist.
“This idea that you have this slick pitch, you walk in all polished, and investors like me are going to whip out our chequebook — never happens,” J. Kelly Hoey said in an interview Thursday.
Hoey, author of “Build Your Dream Network,” is a former corporate lawyer, business columnist and well-connected investor in the New York startup scene. She was speaking to and mentoring tech entrepreneurs in Kitchener and Stratford this week at events organized by Fierce Founders, a Communitech accelerator for women-led startups.
“I think an elevator pitch is a way to start a conversation,” said Hoey. “Don’t think of it as sales, you are going to close the deal, you hear it once and you want to buy the encyclopedias. It is a way to start a conversation.”
After making a pitch, get the contact information for potential investors, and learn how to stay in touch without making any demands of them, she said.
“Learn the fine art of sending information that does not require an answer,” said Hoey. “Learn the fine art of sending an email that says: ‘Hey, saw this other article you wrote, terrific piece, really enjoyed what you said at this point.’ Nothing more.”
That kind of networking keeps the entrepreneurs “top of mind” among prospective investors, who can track a startup’s progress through short, informative updates from the founder. This is what Hoey calls effective, targeted networking.
In short, the pitch leads into a network, and the network leads to investment.
“What we are investing in is the team, and that means we know someone. It is not your fancy bio and your accomplishments because we heard it once. We know you, we’ve watched you, we’ve interacted with you, we have watched your progress, we can believe in you, that’s when we invest,” said Hoey.
She cited the example of Lattice Ventures, a network-driven venture capital firm in New York City. Long before she was asked to invest, she had been following the founders through her extensive network.
“So when they called and said: ‘I am starting a fund,’ it was a no-brainer,” she said.
Hoey made a career out of networking. Or maybe networking made her career.
In 2009, the founder of 85 Broads asked Hoey to come work for the networking service for women that was founded in 1997.