• Inappropriate attendees in pitch meetings: Avoid bringing unrelated individuals or adversaries to pitch meetings. Ideally, your first meeting should comprise of the CEO and a co-founder. Refrain from letting non-key employees lead the meeting.
• Seeking funds to learn sales: You should seek funding to scale sales and growth, not to learn sales techniques. From the Seed Round onward, a startup should already have a sales strategy in place.
• Lack of familiarity with key metrics: As a CEO, know your key metrics, such as DAU, MAU, retention, MRR, average spend, and monthly expenses. Avoid asking employees or advisers for this information during meetings.
• Inadequate understanding of competitors: Avoid making sweeping statements like "No one has ever done this before." Be honest if you need more information about a competitor and cannot answer a question yet.
• Criticizing competitors excessively: Respect your competition and acknowledge their accomplishments, even if they are your rivals.
• Lateness: Treat fundraising as a sales process. Punctuality is essential, as it demonstrates respect for others' time as well as your own.
• Nervousness and self-doubt: Be confident when presenting your vision and company development. While venture capitalists may have impressive offices and funds, it's crucial to maintain self-assuredness.
• Overconfidence: While it's important to be confident, avoid arrogance. In early-stage fundraising, it's wise to stay grounded and focused on the company's growth trajectory and sales achievements.