Entrepreneurs are always getting advice about how to pursue investors: how to properly obtain an introduction to a venture capitalist, how many slides to include in a PowerPoint presentation, how to handle questions when pitching to a room full of "angel" investors. They read it on blogs, hear it from mentors, and sit through endless panel discussions. So when do entrepreneurs get a chance to give tips to those all-powerful Keepers of the Checkbook? Hardly ever, is the answer. Offering honest feedback to a VC or angel investor — whether they've put money in or passed — can sour the relationship. Besides, aren't venture capitalists infallible?
TheFunded, of course, has collected anonymous ratings and comments about venture capital firms and individual partners since 2007. But after a serial entrepreneur e-mailed me earlier this month to vent about a local VC who had neglected to so much as visit his Web site prior to the meeting, I thought it might be a good idea to gather some feedback from Boston-area entrepreneurs, intended for Boston-area investors. (Though much of what they had to say probably applies to start-up investors anywhere.) My criteria: everyone I asked has been successful in raising money from angels or venture capital firms, so there's no hostility here from entrepreneurs who were unable to find backing.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Entrepreneurs talk back: Straight-up feedback and advice for VCs and angels - Innovation Economy - Boston.com
