Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed blog points out this well-told and painfully familiar-sounding story of one entrepreneur's VC pitch meetings. Partners showing up late, that one guy who insists on asking bizarrely irrelevant questions, bored partners staring into space, or never raising their eyes from the obligatory print out of your PowerPoint deck…I've been there.
Aren’t they tired of this ritual? Well, in this company’s case, yes. Blackberry man is probably asking his girlfriend where to meet for dinner. Gotta-meet-me man is thinking about some other deal. Condescending man keeps jumping in with curveball questions so I am not able to get into the flow. Intent man works for the wrong company. MAN … get out of there!!! Don’t you guys want to see the product?
In an otherwise ever-changing world, it gives me comfort to know you can count on some things always remaining the same.
In truth, though these awkward meetings happen all too-often, they're more than made up for when you wind up in a room with smart people who, for whatever reason, happen to buy what you're selling (even if only figuratively).
As for Koral's Mark Suster, all I can say is "So, what's your plan for when Microsoft enters this market?"