Here's what I've learned so far while pitching to and raising from VCs. 🧵👇

1) VCs are highly cooperative. The benefit here is that they share diligence. At the end of a meeting with a VC, they often ask, "Who else would you like to meet? I'd love to get you in contact with X, Y, or Z." This makes sense, but it surprised me initially.

2) VCs ask the same questions. ► How does this scale to 1b? 2b? and beyond? ► How have you considered the regulatory landscape in relationship to what you're building? ► What's your go-to-market? ► Who are your major competitors?

What they're basically trying to figure out is... 1) Is this a good idea 2) Are you the right person to build it The idea has to stand for itself, but the "who" comes down to the team, their distribution network, contacts, and reputation in the space.

3) VCs offer value & expect you to target them for that value I.E., courting VCs is a two-way dating process It's not just about raising capital. They want to know you like them, not just their money E.G., a DeFi native VC has a totally different value proposition than a TradFi native VC

4) Angels think in months, VCs think in years. Angels want to have tokens as quick as possible to ROI. VCs don't mind 2–5 year vesting as long as they believe in the project. They'll hold assets on their books while being more directly involved in the protocol's success.

5) VCs don't invest after a first meeting. You quickly learn that VC diligence is stage-based. ► First you talk to a BD ► Then you talk to a founder ► THEN you talk to a group of founders This continues until your pitch having passed all their checks and balances.

6) VCs are more likely to negotiate terms If and when you pass the VC meeting gauntlet, the terms are then negotiated in a way that angel investors would never think to try. This can lead to more legal costs but should also be expected from any VC who's filling a large portion of your round.

7) Finally, VCs are just CT bros who play at a different level. They know the lore, many climbed the trenches, and they're sharp. Like many of us, they still spread risk over a number of bets and anticipate that their winners' wins will outsize their net losses. It's all EV.