Should founders send pitch materials to investors before the first meeting?
4 recorded positions from 3 people, first said Apr 21, 2023. They do not agree — the readings below are what each one actually argued.
Avoid sending materials before early meetings since investors arrive with preconceptions
Harry Stebbings · Apr 21, 2023
Founders and GPs should not send the deck before the first meeting
Recipients hunt for reasons to say no on preconditions like thesis focus or geography, whereas meeting you first can dissolve those objections — and holding the deck back also creates a legitimate reason to follow up
Scope: framed as his own contrarian view
9:22 20VC: Who Wins in AI; Startup vs Incumbent, Infrastructure vs Application Layer, Bundled vs Unbundled Providers | From 150 LP Meetings to Closing $230M for Fund I; The Fundraising Process, What Worked, What Didn't and Lessons Learned with Tomasz Tunguz
Tomasz Tunguz · Apr 21, 2023 · hedged
For a first-time fund, sending materials ahead of the meeting may cost you, because the decision is primarily a bet on the individual
A first fund is a bet about the person more than anything else, and paper doesn't let you shine
Scope: specific to first-time funds; 'I could see that' — conceding Harry's point rather than asserting his own practice
10:05 20VC: Who Wins in AI; Startup vs Incumbent, Infrastructure vs Application Layer, Bundled vs Unbundled Providers | From 150 LP Meetings to Closing $230M for Fund I; The Fundraising Process, What Worked, What Didn't and Lessons Learned with Tomasz Tunguz
Harry Stebbings · Dec 11, 2023
Founders should not send materials ahead of early investor meetings
Investors look for reasons to say no and arrive with preconceived notions about the category, whereas in person you can bring energy a slide deck can't
Scope: applies to very early meetings
38:25 20VC: Why Founders Should Take as Many VC Meetings as Possible, Should Founders Meet Associates, How to Get Intros to the Best VCs, How To Extract the Most Value From Your Investors, Why Post IPO Operators Are the Best Angels with Sam Corcos @ Levels
Also on the record
Sam Corcos · Dec 11, 2023
Getting an investor to say no before you ever meet them is a win, not a loss, so founders should send information in advance
The number of available investors is effectively infinite while founder pitching time is finite, so pre-reads filter for the people who already get it and spare you repeating basic questions about revenue or TAM
38:48 Send materials in advance to filter for investors who already get it
Your assistant can query this graph directly — 4 positions here, 19,646 across the corpus. Add 996.fm over MCP.