I frequently get asked some version of the following: “What’s the best way to answer when a venture capitalist asks ____________________?” Depending on my mood that day, I usually start my answer with some version of snark directed at my general profession. But on my more generous days, I refer people to this answer provided by Alex Dunsdon.

When building a rapid growth business – one that is trying to attract venture capital dollars – the reality is chaos. Nearly permanent chaos. Even when things are “going well,” the sheer tonnage of what you don’t know about your customers, about your product, about the five people you just hired, all of whom went through different onboarding (whoops!) is staggering. So you play a magic trick by starting with what you DO know and append to that how the knowledge you’ve earned informs your next actions, thus how you will spend the VC’s money. Provide certainty about your PROCESS because it may be all you’ve got. I don’t care what VCs tell you about how much risk they take or the “big ideas” they love or whatever other BS is being spouted on Twitter, VCs prize anything they can latch on to with confidence. When you have little worth hitching up, this is a path to creating it. As Alex goes on to say…

Like magic…

Today’s reading recommendation is The Storm Before The Storm by Mike Duncan. It’s the story of the 100 years or so before the fall of the Roman Empire. It’s instructive. You’ll recognize some patterns. Patterns worth being aware of. I’m sure you can buy it other places, but I prefer to get my books from bookshop.org. So you can find it here.