Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Jeff Clavier

by Scott Edward Walker on March 21st, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we again present Jeff Clavier, the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, and a smart, savvy investor.

In this solid, 11-minute interview with startup guru Chris Dixon (courtesy of TechCrunch TV), Jeff discusses, among other things, the importance of:

• doing your “homework” to determine the profile of potential investors and whether they are appropriate matches for your startup;
• understanding the “referral game” — and determining who the “top ten” investors are for your startup and how you’re going to get an introduction to them;
• figuring-out people who have a certain “legitimacy” with potential investors (“figuring-out in the ecosystem who is the right referral point is super-important”);
• understanding the process and that “the goal of the first meeting is to get to the second meeting”;
• telling a “story” as part of the pitch;
• understanding milestones and that you have 18 months to prove yourself (“and to…really keep that trajectory in mind”;
• hiring “top talent”;
• focusing on providing value to your users and making sure “the experience is pleasing”; and
• keeping things “simple and straightforward.”

I hope you enjoy it.  Many thanks, Scott

Tags: Chris Dixon, entrepreneurs, helping entrepreneurs, investors, Jeff Clavier, milestones, referral, SoftTech, startup, TechCrunch