Tips for entrepreneurs:
-Be honest
-Convince the investor you are the best bet for him to place his money
-Be selective
-Don’t let the sharks back you into a wall. If your gut tells you don’t take the deal, by no means take the deal. These are your ideas you have been working on and you are the one’s putting in the elbow grease to make your ideas work. An investor worth partnering with won’t want you to accept a deal you aren’t comfortable with.
Tips for sharks:
-Raise your own funds and start making some real money.
One of the great advantages of living in New York is that this is one of the best cities in the world to match investors with startup companies. There are many organizations dedicated to doing just this and one of the most recent groups I have enjoyed attending is the Hatchery. They meet at least once a month and host about five entrepreneurs as they pitch to a panel of investors. To learn more about this group check out their website and their page on meetup.
Venture capitalists have also traditionally been a bunch of secret squirrels. A great blog to follow that has opened up the door wide open is Fred Wilson’s blog.