Playing Matchmaker with Founders & VCs
A Valentine's Issue + Applying to be on The Pitch
Episode Drop
#103 Get Lost in the AWSM Sauce brings us into the world of condiments. It’s Josh’s opinion that food is just a vehicle to get more sauce in your mouth. So what if you could bathe your food in a sauce that satisfies your palate and saves the planet?
Vol. 1 Issue 4
❤️ Valentine's Edition ❤️
I wouldn't be the first person to compare fundraising to dating.
And if fundraising is like dating, then The Pitch is a matchmaker.
When you're dating you have basic boxes you need the other person to check.
Are they single? ✔️
Do they live in my city? ✔️
Do they have a job? ✔️
At The Pitch we also have boxes that our founders need to check.
Are you currently raising? ✔️ (I always ask this after one founder told me they wanted to be on the show, but really didn't want to raise money 🤨)
Are you pre-seed or seed stage? ✔️
Have you pitched investors before? ✔️
But then, there are areas we look at more subjectively. When you're dating, you rate their sense of humor or if your interests align. While picking founders, we rate the market and the founder’s voice and story.
The difficult part is we’re not choosing who we want to “date.” We’re trying to make a match for the investors on our show.
Sometimes we nail it, and sometimes our cupid's arrow falls short.
As Josh and I listen to pitches on the sidelines of recording events, we are often surprised by what prevents a match from happening. Either because the investors get caught on some random part of the pitch OR because the founder brings up something we never heard in their previous pitches to us!
Case in point: AWSM Sauce. When we first heard Carl pitch he never mentioned a fancy sauce machine. But he brought it up to the investors during the recording event.
And in the follow-up call featured on the show, we hear how things keep shifting!
That's the thing about playing cupid with startup founders... their businesses keep changing, so we're constantly trying to hit a moving target.
If we want to get it right, timing is key. And when we walk into a recording event, we're just hoping time stands still, so the investor and founder find chemistry.
Do you think YOU would make a match with one of The Pitch investors?
Well, good news! Pitch Applications are open!!!
If you or someone you know is raising between 500k and 4 million dollars for a startup, you can apply to pitch on our show. We like all types of businesses - software, hardware, and consumer products. Pre-revenue is fine, but you do need to have some version of a live product that investors can demo. Pitches will be recorded live in June in San Diego, CA.
Coming Up Next
Next week’s episode is a good one, but there’s a little nugget at the end where the investors disagree about female founders. And I very much want to start a conversation about it! Subscribe to The Pitch Insider so you don’t miss it.
AWSM Asks
If you have a connection to food service operators then Carl and Paul want to hear from you! Or if you’re an amazing chef who has secret sauce powers 🧑🍳 email Carl at carl@awsmsauce.co
You can still buy The Pitch Pack of AWSM Sauces. It’s one packet of each flavor -Ketchup, Honey BBQ, and Fire Sauce - plus an AWSM jar for shaking up sauces. It’s a steal of a deal at $10. If you’re wondering, the ketchup is kid approved in our house.
Extra! Extra!
Pitch Panelist Mac Conwell (aka MacTheVC) testified before congress to create better access to capital. Read his full written testimony to allow more LPs into venture funds or watch the short video testimony.
On this week’s episode, Pitch Panelist Elizabeth Yin suggests founders Carl and Paul de-risk pieces of the plan before going all in. It reminds me of this post I read: Find Your Blind Spots
And here’s another great Twitter thread by Elizabeth Yin:
The Social Scene
If you haven’t heard… The Pitch is super social!
We’re on Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Whew! 😅
Do you know someone who should be on The Pitch, listen to The Pitch, or read The Pitch Insider? Maybe YOU can play matchmaker and introduce them to us! ❤️