The hard talk that venture capitalists need to have with startups now

AS AN investor, I often hear about the various ways startup founders celebrate after successfully raising investments from venture capitalist (VC) firms. Raising new funds is no easy feat, and definitely a milestone for the founders.

After all, it takes an average of three to four months of intensive investor due diligence ranging from background checks on the founder(s), verifying the business’s technological stack, digging deep into market research and scrutinising go-to-market strategies.

But receiving the cheque from the investor is just the beginning of a long relationship between the founder(s) and their investors. There will be numerous challenging decisions that founders and investors need to make until the company eventually exits. Such tough decisions are now made more difficult in the current environment of cutbacks and lower valuations.