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Porter Gale, former Vice President of Marketing at Virgin America, asked top venture capitalists tips on how to pitch your company to a venture capitalist as worthy of investment.  Among the DOs are to be forthright about the business, focus on the company culture, and to have a long-term vision for the company.  This article in Huffington Post provides a guide to to help you in your pitch to venture capitalists.

I turned to several venture capitalists and asked them their “do’s and don’ts” of pitching. Below are DO and DON’T tips from five leading VCs. Please take note.

Tony Conrad
Partner, True Ventures
DO get your entourage onboard from the beginning.
DON’T get caught up in the current funding environment and overly value your company.

David Hornik
General Partner, August Capital
DO get introduced to VCs by a trusted friend or advisor, if possible.
DON’T hide the ball. There is no point in hiding any portion of what you are doing when you are pitching. Full disclosure isn’t just the best policy, it is the only policy.

Mike Hirshland
Founder, Resolute.vc
DO focus on company culture
DON’T believe your sales guy’s projections

James Joaquin
Partner, Catamount Ventures
DO act small and think big. Make sure your pitch includes a lean, short-term plan to find product/market fit, and connect it to a long-term vision for creating a big, meaningful company.
DON’T build technology in search of a market. Avoid spending valuable engineering resources on expensive technology ahead of deploying, measuring and learning from real customers.

Mitchell Kertzman
Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Ventures
DO think about the first pitch as not just a way to demonstrate your product and your plan, but a way to show us how you’d be to work with. I have turned down a company where I liked the details, but didn’t think I could work with the entrepreneur.
DON’T tell me about the “exit” or the valuation you’re expecting during your first presentation.

Boiling down these tips, the themes of relationship, realistic scaling, and passion infused with humility bubble to the top. And while practice always makes perfect, the insights contributed here will help you avoid pitching pitfalls.

Photo by CC Chapman