If You’re Raising Startup Money, Unlearn These Common Investor Myths

No, they don’t “throw around” money on big risks. For the most part, they’re spreadsheet-scouring risk mitigation machines

To successfully land outside investment for your startup, you’ll need to avoid a few misconceptions about how startup investors operate.

When I’m asked to advise a startup through their first fundraise, I consistently run into some major misconceptions about investors — misconceptions that lead to unforced errors. These errors can sometimes be the difference between whether the company gets fully funded or misses out on funding completely.

And since I spend a lot of my time fighting myths and misconceptions about entrepreneurs, I feel like I also need to poke a few holes in some equally misguided myths and misconceptions about investors.

Let’s attack conventional wisdom and keep you from making those unforced errors.

Investors are like startups but with money instead of product

One thing I figured out a long time ago is that there isn’t much of a difference between what an investor is trying to accomplish and what I’m trying to accomplish.