10 Worst Ways to “ask”
Friday, May 30th, 2008A few years ago I listened to a guy tell me how he was going to start a business. This gentleman certainly had some talent in the arena of the business he was starting; however, as we got deeper into his ideas for his business I think he had a misconception. The misconception is that others (ie: venture capitalists) would throw money in his lap (not literally of course) because he had a great idea and some talent.
(Keep in mind, this guy didn’t even have a business plan. Although, he did have some contacts who might help him in his business ventures.)
In any case, this morning I was reading Guy Kawasaki’s blog (who is a venture capitalist) and he had the “ten worst opening lines that you can use” when invariably asking others to support your business venture.
Here is what Guy said were the 10 worst opening lines:
- You say: “I’m bright and ambitious.” Investor thinks: “That’s a relief because I usually invest in stupid and lazy people.”
- You say: “I’m a blue sky thinker.” Investor thinks: “You have no business model, and you don’t know how to ship.”
- You say: “I don’t know much about your firm, but I thought I’d contact you anyway.” Investor thinks: “You’re a lazy idiot–why are you wasting my time?”
- You say: “I love to think of new ways to solve problems.” Investor thinks: “Is this a high-school science fair?”
- You say: “I have lots of great ideas, but I have trouble figuring out which one to try. Let me tell you about a couple.” Investor thinks: “I want to know which idea you’re going to kill yourself trying to make successful, not which ideas have crossed your idle mind.”
- You say: “I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur.” Investor thinks: “I’ve always wanted to be a professional golfer. So what if you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?”
- You say: “I’m sure you are aware of the growing need for security. Web 2.0, Open Source, whatever.” Investor thinks: “If you’re sure I’m aware, why are you telling me you’re sure I’m aware.”
- You say: “If you sign an NDA, I’ll tell you my idea.” Investor thinks: “You are clueless. How can you not know that venture capitalists don’t sign NDAs?”
- You say: “The last time I contacted you, I…” Investor thinks: “I’m going to fire my secretary for putting this clown on my calendar again.”
- You say: “My goal is to build a world-class company.” Investor thinks: “How about you ship and sell the first copy before we talk about world-class anything?”
To read further, you can read Guy’s thoughts here.
I absolutley enjoyed watching them interact with George. 