How To Pitch An Entrepreneur And Persuade Her To Take Your Cash

With the rise of a trillion-dollar crowdfunding market, angel investors bundling their investment offerings, and family offices doing more direct investments, venture capitalists are no longer the only available source for entrepreneurs seeking funding.  Now that anyone can benefit from the global growth of entrepreneurial activity, venture capitalists need to show their true added value more than ever, in order to attract the most capable entrepreneurs. Capital On Stage – an invitation-only conference about funding that runs annual events in the US, Israel, South-East Asia, and Europe since 2011-- is tackling this issue.  I wrote last year about their unconventional format that allows venture capitalists to pitch themselves to growth-stage startup founders in under 5 minutes. Arjen Strijker, co-founder and CEO of Capital On Stage, has had more than 200 top-tier venture capitalists on stage at his conferences (view all 5 minute VC pitch videos here). Arjen: “Successful startup founders really want to know the same thing about VCs that VCs want to know about startup founders: the unwritten stuff that’s never mentioned in a bio or on a website. Imagine you have a successful company that’s profitable and ready for global expansion, wouldn’t you be looking beyond the financial commitment of your funder, like a matching skillset and experience?”