I’m just coming off of a conference in Madison where I participated in a founder/investor speed dating session. Seven minute in-person speed meetings, with founders rotating through tables.

In fact, I have a special connection to the room where these investor intros were held. See, for three years (2016-2018), I was on the founder side of table pitching my FinTech startup. For the last four years, I’ve been on the investor side of the table through Tundra Angels.

Reflecting on those last eight years, there are two realizations about in-person speed dating opportunities that I wish I would have known as a founder in 2016.

1. Understand the questions that investors are trying to answer in these contexts.

2. Know what founders should try to do

Understand the Questions that Investors are Trying to Answer

In an in-person speed dating scenario lasting a short, defined time frame, there are three main questions that I as an investor am seeking to get answered. The three main questions are:

For this startup,

• What is problem/solution?

• What is the traction?

• What is the urgency of this fundraise?

This may surprise you, but in the moment, the last question is actually the most important.

There is no way for investors to vet out the variability of the problem, solution, business model, traction, etc. in a quick 7 minute chat. Instead, investors grab onto a variable that they can control.

✅ Investors, especially in this situation, evaluate startups by how close the funding round is to filling up. ✅ 

The investor needs clarity as to if this is an opportunity that needs to be decided upon in the next few days… or weeks… or months. Depending on the time frame, the investor essentially rank orders their urgency to follow up in terms of this variable.

Whether founders like it or not, those startups whose rounds are closing in weeks get a priority decision over the ones who are 15% committed and likely 3-4 months away from closing. It doesn’t mean that each startup is unimportant. It’s just that because timing is the limiting factor of a fundraise, investor hierarchically rank their follow ups by the timeframe to close.

Know What Founders Should Try to Do

✅ The founders’ goal in the quick investor exchange is to be memorable and to create a hook of future intrigue. ✅

7 minute time slots go by very quickly. Especially back to back to back. The founders’ goal is that the investor should be able to reflect on their time and think of that founder and company saying, “That was an enjoyable conversation."

Three Tactics to be Memorable in a Quick Investor Conversation

1) Understand the context of the investor right up front

After sitting down at the table, founders can open the conversation with a simple, “Tell me about [investment firm] and the kinds of things that you invest in.”

The investors’ response to this question sets the stage for the level of detail that the founder should share in communicating the overall opportunity.

As a FinTech founder myself in professional bond trading, too many times I jumped right into my pitch and the investors' response after my monologue was, "I don't know anything about bond trading." Or, "We invest only in Series A." Translation: Me trying to get the train on the right track. Instead of pitching them, I could have gotten context and then have a way more productive conversation.