We recently had our monthly Office Hours event where entrepreneurs can join our team and ask any questions. A good question came up: “What is something you wish more founders understood about working with VCs?” My answer was this is a relationship business, not transactional.

Relationships vs. Transactions

Most people that reach out to me view it as a transaction. Hi I’m X, raising $Y, want to invest? Especially at the early stage we invest in, the entrepreneur is most important. Any investment we make will likely take up to 10 years before a return and require a lot of patience and close work with the founders. We want to be on a journey with people that are a good cultural fit and can both support each other. Whether the business is ultimately successful or not, we want the experience with the entrepreneur to be rewarding.

Meet investors before you are looking to fundraise

You (hopefully) don’t get married on the first date. It takes many dates and interactions to learn that you are a good fit for each other. The same holds true for investing. While it is possible to get an investment off a cold outreach, even then you probably have multiple meetings in short order. We love meeting entrepreneurs well before they are looking for investment (or even starting a business). The more interactions we have (lines not dots), the better we can see the entrepreneur think, learn, and execute. A great way to talk to investors early on is to ask for feedback on a topic, not money.

Do your homework

Given the above, I highly recommend doing your research to find investors with a good reputation, who you believe can add value to your business, and find ways to meet them before you need to fundraise. You can look for an introduction, find them at places they frequent, or even send a well done cold email. In whatever path you take, spend a few minutes to understand how they describe themselves/their firm and know some of their portfolio companies that may be relevant for you. It is surprising that most people I meet do not do simple preparation before a meeting.

Investing is a people business. Make sure to start building those relationships before you need money so that the process will be much easier when you do need to raise given the relationship and trust you have already established.