Pitching VCs Through Lessons Learned: The Cafepress Example

Pitching VCs Through Lessons Learned: The Cafepress Example Robin: “Beyond market opportunities, venture capitalists place great weight on what a founding team has learned through hands-on struggle. The more practical experience you have, the more concrete every detail you describe will be. Compared with teams still imagining, planning, or experimenting, you have a better chance of standing out and attracting investors.” --- Steve Blank: One of the most memorable moments from Cafepress’s startup days was when its two founders used a “lessons learned” pitch to discuss their second round of funding with venture capitalists. Instead of giving a conventional VC pitch, Steve Blank suggested describing in detail what they had learned through customer discovery and customer validation. The heart of Cafepress’s presentation was what they had learned from their customers. Their presentation followed this structure: • Market/opportunity. • Lesson 1. • Lesson 2. • Lesson 3. • Why we are here. Retelling their customer discovery and customer validation journey helped Fred and Maheesh win over venture capitalists along the way. After hearing the presentation, the investors saw a very low-risk company: an agile, resilient, customer-centered business. The pitch did not mention lean startups or customer development. It did not preach a methodology, yet the conclusions were compelling. A VC firm offered a Series B term sheet for tens of millions of US dollars that very afternoon—an unexpectedly strong result. Verification note: Steve Blank’s original says “second round.”