Alex Iskold: Why VCs Pass

Over the last 10 years I have met with thousands and thousands of founders and backed over 170 startups.

Here are the reasons VCs pass on startups - some are rarely discussed and rather personal and nothing you can do about them.

Here we go

🧵👇

— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

1. KNOW IT ALL

The founder never says - I don't know.

They are not just convinced in the their idea, which is great, they are convinced they are ALWAYS RIGHT.

Investors are looking for founders who are on a journey of discovery, curious and flexible.

— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

2. FOUNDER IS NOT HONEST

My mentor @davidcohen used to say - as soon as the founder caught lying - they are out.

Whether embellishing numbers or their background or anything else - lacking honestly gets an immediate pass from investors.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

3. FOUNDER IS NOT LIKABLE

This is a really tough one and is never talked about.

VC investments are long relationships where they work closely together with the founders.

If investor doesn't like a founder, they don't click, then investor will pass.

Painful!

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

4. FOUNDER IS NOT COACHABLE

Some investors, especially at an accelerator stage, maybe looking for coach-ability.

I don't agree with it personally.

I look for ability to synthesize feedback which is a bit different.

Still many VCs would pass because founders argue back!

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

5. FOUNDER LACKS EXPERIENCE

Another tough one.

Many investors don't like to back first time founders because they think that founders will mess up building the team and the business.

Some funds just focus on repeat founders and first-time founder won't get a check.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

6. FOUNDER IS A SOLO FOUNDER

Many VCs feel that solo founders are a non-starter.

If solo founder is non-technical, then tech may not be great.

If solo founder is technical, then they may not be able to sell.

Not me, but many feel it is much harder as a solo founder.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

7. THE FOUNDERS ARE A COUPLE

Old school VCs would never invest in a team thats in a relationship. Thats because troubles at home might spill out into the business.

Many couples start businesses these days, still many VCs are skeptical.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

8. ODD CO-FOUNDER DYNAMIC

Been on those calls when co-founders are quietly or openly hating on each other?

Any odd dynamic between co-founders is perceived as a major risk to the business and will cause VCs to pass.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

9. CAP TABLE IS A MESS

If you have significant % of the cap table gone - a non-operating co-founder for example, or early angel you gave 20% to, VCs may pass.

Messy cap table also signals you don't value enough / don't know how to manage the precious equity in your business

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

10. FOUNDER IS DON'T KNOW THEIR NUMBERS

You HAVE TO INSTANTLY know ALL numbers around your business. All of them. No excuses.

Your actual revenue, ACV, CAC, COGs - all relevant numbers, and if you can't answer quickly, it might be an instant NO.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

11. VC KNOWS THE MARKET BETTER THAN THE FOUNDER

If the founder hasn't done enough homework it is an immediate pass.

Saying we have no competition, downplaying competition, not understanding all competition, not knowing actual market size, etc is a major turn off.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

12. MARKET IS NOT A VENTURE SCALE

This is always a debate with many VCs thinking that markets can expand. Great founders can expand them. I don't believe this to be true for all markets.

Regardless, if VC thinks that the opportunity is too small for their fund size - pass.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

13. NOT THE RIGHT TEAM

VC may like the market but may not feel like the team is strong enough to win it.

Most likely it would be lack of experience/FMF or CEO's inability to demonstrate big vision, and clear ability to inspire and build a team.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

14. MARKET IS TOO CROWDED

If the market is very competitive, and the founders can't articulate a clear wedge, unique insight and why they win, then VC will not see the opportunity and will pass.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

15. VC DOESN'T CARE FOR ABOUT THIS PROBLEM

Remember VCs have interests -- they simply may not be interested in the problem space you are building.

Not all VCs care about all the spaces.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

16. VC IS AT CAPACITY

This is the weirdest one, but often true. Senior partners at firms maybe on too many boards to make a new investment.

They will pass simply because they just don't have time / can't take on any more investments.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

17. VC IS TOO JUNIOR TO GET THE DEAL DONE

You may have convinced a VC but they can't convince their partnership.

This is painful.

Many firms have Investment Committee (IC) that votes on deals and if they vote no, you don't get the check.

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

18. VC HAS LITTLE OR NO MONEY LEFT

Towards the end of the fund, VCs have less checks to write and higher bar for each check.

Some funds run out of money but still keep taking meetings with founders.

This is really painful, be sure to ask if VCs are writing checks!

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

19. VC BACKED A COMPETITOR

Do your homework! Do non't pitch VC who backed a competitor, they will not invest in you.

(Unless this is YC or another accelerator, in which case they may!)

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— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

If you enjoyed this thread, check out over 80 posts for startups on my blog https://t.co/WUM7KP1s7f and follow @2048vc for more startup content.

Happy long weekend and ✌️

— Alex Iskold | 2048.vc (@alexiskold) September 2, 2022

Pitched through your website. Ask: 100K. https://t.co/QtzI6XSvKr

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) September 2, 2022

18: Justin

If you had to 10x your company’s revenue in 6 months, what would you do?

— Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) August 17, 2022

new revenue streams, massive scaling, win a contract with the @CIA like @Oracle to go from tiny to BIG bigly.

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

We did this, but 50% was just timing and riding the tailwinds of changes in the market that we were ahead of the curve on. The other half was expanding our product line (by talking to customers and seeing what gap we could fill for them). New customer ARPU doubled. pic.twitter.com/xYRr14Mtj1

— Daniel Tawfik (@dantawfik) August 17, 2022

Create a super user role - someone/team who can find out what whales value and obsess over them.

Raise prices across the board, but make improvements to UI to reduce the cost for the user/customer.

Acquire another company lol.

Over extend on content and partnerships.

— LIFELONG AUDIO (@tjmorgxn) August 18, 2022

You would have to test every channel (there are 17 and can be found in the book Traction by Weinberg) to understand the lowest CAC. If I may say, to achieve a 10x growth you would need some virality. That's only possible with Software-based products.

— Ing. Mario Varón M.Sc (@ma_varon_col) August 17, 2022

Stop fund raising forever

— Ruby Gadelrab (@DivaBiotech) August 17, 2022

I’d make TikTok partnerships 100% of my marketing spend

— Michel Myara (@MichelMyara) August 18, 2022

Go from $100 to $1,000 in Google ads revenue for The Blog. Ramp it up.

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

Or $10 to $100. ;)

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

Must ask startup interview question:

How do you feel about your job changing daily?

— Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki) August 18, 2022

From Zero To One With Three

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

What book had the biggest impact on your life?

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) August 17, 2022

"Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu https://t.co/c0FNIPJsQ8

— Jim OShaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) August 18, 2022

1. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
2. How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
3. The power of positive thinking by Norman Vincent
4. The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
5. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
6. Surely You are joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman

— Black Sapience© (@Misgates) August 17, 2022

The Count of Monte Cristo. Picked it for a book report as a kid bc the cover looked cool. Have read it 5 times. Each time it means something new to me: as a kid, a teen, a college student, a soldier, husband and father. Great life lessons, namely faith and perseverance.

— Justin Hillman 🇺🇲 🇮🇱 (@justinmhillman) August 17, 2022

In the West, the Bible is THE most influential book whether people are actually religious or not, this is the truth. It’s the foundational book of the Western Civalization

— Dez (@dezinthecloud) August 17, 2022

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

Technology is advancing faster than ever before.

And these tech advances cause society to change at an accelerating rate.

It causes an experience similar to culture shock.

Lesson: To thrive, understand the world is changing & embrace the change.

— Doug Antin (@DougAntin) August 17, 2022

Everything in life is a negotiation it changed my life, everything from my career to how I communicate with my kids pic.twitter.com/3GJ6P2R9dk

— AlexRA (@AsmusRA) August 17, 2022

4 hour work week. It made me start measuring expenses by my hourly earnings. I adjusted my spending habits pretty fast.

— Casey Golden (@caseycgolden) August 18, 2022

Not sure if there can just one book having biggest impact on my life, but this book is the most interesting book that I have read..and I enjoyed every single page... pic.twitter.com/lwzAv9kZpa

— Sarfaraz Nawaz (@the_snawaz) August 17, 2022

The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield taught me as a teenager that everyone is phoney, except for kids. Kids are the purest form of honesty.

— Cory (@laclu) August 17, 2022

This Spoke Zarathustra. Read it the first time, didn’t get it, thought it was “alright”. Studied it deeply in a graduate course a couple years later, and I think it’s one of the most important texts written ever. I wish it was more commonly discussed.

— john (@birdappreplyguy) August 17, 2022

This one helped me get my head right pretty recently, the rest is falling into place after getting that foundation in place. pic.twitter.com/QNbKY9YH1D

— nfcheese.sol (@NFCheese_) August 17, 2022

The Lord of the Rings. It was the summer between 5th and 6th grade and blew me away that I’d gone along on this epic journey in my mind. Uncovered the potential and power of books for me. Like many things in life, it’s not always the first but the first best.

— nickbarton.sol (@bartonbrothers) August 17, 2022

My answer is most likely boring but it’s honest and it’s REAL: The Bible 🤷🏾‍♂️😊

Forget how spiritual it can seem, but almost every life lesson takes me back to a statement, a story, a lesson, a principle It’s such a practical guide EVEN when I’m not trying to reference it.

— Emmanuel 🔅 (@e_Benefits) August 18, 2022

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series bc it got me to get in bed earlier and fall asleep earlier, asleep by 10pm. Made an enormous difference in my life

— randomlearning (@randomlearning) August 17, 2022

These books put me on a creative journey that eventually led to me becoming a graphic designer pic.twitter.com/u9fvuGEIxO

— Punjabi Art Director (@gogetsinder) August 18, 2022

Rogets Thesaurus...It has had the most amazing, phenomenal, spectacular, profound, epic, fantastic, stupendous effect on my life...

— Elmer FUD (@gone_fission_) August 18, 2022

This pic.twitter.com/DBZzGTDLw0

— Dr Leo Eze (@ezebit2) August 18, 2022

so many, i remember reading zero to one and lean startup back in 2014 in a single sitting unable to sleep because it really clicked for me

— Crypto The Kid 🤠 (@thatcryptobul) August 18, 2022

Malignant Self love by Sam Vaknin. I was dating a narcissist and I had no clue what was happening. Book finally opened my eyes. Would be appropriate for Melania to read.

— Barbara Wales (@barbie1952) August 17, 2022

I went thru all the comments… it seems no one is impacted by author Gabriel José García Márquez…
My favorites of his are 100 years of solitude and love in the time of cholera.
Mind bending for me

— sunil godithi (@sgodithi) August 17, 2022

The Bitcoin Standard by @saifedean

— sunnydecree (@sunnydecree) August 17, 2022

...my high school year book...good times..

— Deep Throat (@DeepThroatIPO) August 18, 2022

pic.twitter.com/mM13Q7j7P3

— Mack Mariani (@MackMariani) August 17, 2022

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig.

— Wilson Maravilha de Nicolau Canda (@__wmv__) August 18, 2022

The Bible. It’s all about Jesus Christ who is creator of universe, Lord, savior and king of kings. This Bible changed my life and my navigation heading to where I truly belong. No question to ask.

— Heading to the “ Moon “ (@longvisionman) August 18, 2022

The Book of Mormon

— Another Sarah (@I_am_sarah_also) August 18, 2022

A Brief History of Time. It spurred an interest in science that ultimately led me to an engineering degree.
A close second is Atomic Habits.

— Poplar Ponderosa (@PonderosaPoplar) August 17, 2022

As economies collapse, Western loans simply won’t get repaid, and poor nations will crash out of the dollar system that props up Western lifestyles. Then, even Americans won’t be able to money-print their way out of trouble. It’s already begun. Sri Lanka has started settling loans in Indian rupees, and India is buying Russian oil in rubles. China may buy Saudi oil with yuan. .

https://t.co/F9nhHtAXld

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022

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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) August 18, 2022