How to Kill the Next Billion Dollar Idea

“A venture-backed potato chip? No way, Jose!”

My gut reaction when my spouse/GP/cofounder at The Pitch told me about Christie’s Chips?

“A venture-backed potato chip? No way, Jose!”

Lisa had the same reaction when our venture scout Peter Liu first introduced her to Christie.

Despite my unfounded bias against chips… (who was I kidding? I love chips!) 

I took the call. Just as Lisa had done before me.

To my surprise, Christie’s became one of my favorite companies on season 12, and my all-time favorite CPG company ever.

🎥 Watch Christie’s pitch on YouTube or listen in your favorite podcast app 🎧

What makes Christie’s pitch so special? I think you need to hear it from Christie herself. 

I say that because I dismissed Christie before I heard her pitch.

But when I got on the call with Christie… I was hooked.

This got me thinking…

How many would-be deals get killed because the higher-ups don’t like the pitch from a team member at the firm?

Yes, processes are good, checks and balances are good, due-diligence is good! And we do all of those things here at The Pitch.

But here’s something we do differently: 

Whenever someone on our team likes a deal, the founder immediately gets a call scheduled on my calendar. 

I take the meeting. No questions asked.

And I rarely hear a pitch from a team member before taking the call with the founder.

This is not normal fund behavior.

Typically a fund has internal pitch meetings where partners pitch each other and decisions are made. But we’ve chosen to purposefully keep each-other in the dark.

Why? To cut down on bias?

No, though that may be an added benefit.

We do it because that’s the experience VCs get when they hear a pitch on our show. They get no prep beforehand. No pitch deck, no byline, just the name of the company delivered moments before the founder walks in the room.

At our last recording event in Oakland, there was a brief interaction that illustrates how even the most self-aware VCs can struggle to keep an open mind.

Moments before the start of a new pitch, I unveiled the company name and the VCs responded:

Charles: This sounds ad techy…

Jesse: It does. 

Charles: I’m trying not to like… go there.

Elizabeth: Preconceived notions.

Charles: I know. I know!

Jesse: This is why we aren’t allowed to see anything before they come in.

Elizabeth: We shouldn’t even be allowed to see the name of the company!

Jesse: It’s just Company III.

Mac: That’s actually a good company name!

Jesse: I name my companies in series.

[laughter]

Despite the potential for name bias, of the 21 founders that pitched at our taping in Oakland, the vast majority of them got a deal in the room. Over seventy percent.

Whatever we’re doing, it seems to be working.

Which is why I say… just let the founder pitch.

---

We’re hosting a virtual watch party for our season finale on December 11th at 7pm Eastern. RSVP to hear what happens next in Christie’s story.