Due diligence by a Venture Capitalist is the last step in the "dating stage" of Venture Capital. This is when the Venture Capitalist comes to your facilities and goes through you books, looks at your product in detail, talks with you clients, staff, and vendors. This can be a pretty intense time. Some does and don’ts to follow:
Do:
Have all of your records ready for review, or know where to go to get everything when requested. You should have all of your financial history (bills paid, bills outstanding, check registers, invoices, receipts for payment by clients, etc.) at hand and ready for view.
Have existing key clients lined up to talk with the Venture Capitalist.
Have all of your Executive Staff on hand.
Have your key product people on hand.
Have the office space cleaned up!
If the Venture Capitalist is having you put them up, most do, if they are coming from out of town, offer mid level accommodations, and let them upgrade at their cost if they want to.
If you are paying for their travel to your location, get them standard cabin, they can upgrade if they want first class.
Don't:
Have a party while the Venture Capitalist is in house.
Create a financial history the week before the Venture Capitalist shows up. Seeing two years of banking added to the ledger in one ink and one hand smacks of wrongness. (Unless you can back it up with original documents.)
Don’t go over board on wining and dining the Venture Capitalist. (Some Venture Capitalist like this, but the good ones look at it as over spending.) Wine and dine them, just don’t go over board!
Have valid clients that actually know the product, not “chills” (someone that isn’t a client, but is there to help you close the deal).
Following these general, and there are more, guidelines, will help you get closer to putting money in the bank, and that is your goal!
Don is a Venture Capitalist with over 15 years of successfully funding early stage Ventures. Information on his fund can be found at http://www.tdbellenterprises.com/fund.html His company also consults start up companies on business plan development and start up strategies, http://www.tdbellenterprises.com
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