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Five Questions that Will Let You Spot a VC Bluffer

Written by: Paul Kedrosky

Article Overview: Many -- okay, most -- VCs aren't paying attention during pitches. Either they've already decided they don't like the deal and haven't told you, or they are distracted by email, or something else, but the upshot is the same: They are bluffing, so they start spewing non sequitur questions.

Five Questions that Will Let You Spot a VC Bluffer

Many -- okay, most -- VCs aren't paying attention during pitches. Either they've already decided they don't like the deal and haven't told you, or they are distracted by email, or something else, but the upshot is the same: They are bluffing, so they start spewing non sequitur questions.

So, here are five questions that tell you the VC is on autopilot in the meeting:

What about China and India? (Kudos to Chris for that one)
Why won't [arbitrarily insert Google/Yahoo/Microsoft/Oracle here] do this?
What do you need to add to the team? (Kudos to Dave)

What should I be asking, but am not?
Why don't you raise $Y instead? (Note: $Y is a random number between 1/2 and 2-times the number you asked for.)

Feel free to add more.

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Article Tags: autopilot, china, email, google, india, kudos, microsoft, oracle, paying attention, pitches, random number, upshot, yahoo



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