A VC in Vacationland

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I get to listen to a lot of pitches by entrepreneurs every week. Often, they launch right into their spiel without spending any time trying to understand their audience. I politely interrupt and make sure they know why I am interested in their idea and what I want to know about it.  Sounds pretty fundamental, right? I can understand why they want to get right into their great ideas, but the behavior is rude and condescending.  Unfortunately, the behavior can also continue inside their company.

The one big lesson I learned in 35 years of consulting (note Bold and Capitals following…) is that YOU MAKE MONEY BY LISTENING, NOT TALKING. As an entrepreneur, you have to communicate with your employees, your customers, your partners, your investors, etc, etc. Think about how much time you spend listening and how much talking.  It should be 70 or 80% listening. Got some people on the team that don't say much?  Ask a lot of questions to be sure that you understand where they are coming from.

You will be much better off taking in as much information as possible in building your company.  As a consultant, the more I knew about a client, the more I could help them.