When I pitched my previous startup, a few years back, VCs made us jump through those standard hoops:
us: here's our Powerpoint presentation
VC: nice concept, come back when you have a product
[1 year later]
us: here's our product, let me give you a demo
VC: nice product. Come back when you have one customer.
[6 months later]
us: great news, we just signed XYZ, Inc. (big name) as our first customer.
VC: congratulations. Come back when you have traction (that is, multiple customers)
....
True story. We eventually got funding, 3 rounds. In another post, I'll discuss the other lesson I learned in VC funding: don't raise money when you need money.
us: here's our Powerpoint presentation
VC: nice concept, come back when you have a product
[1 year later]
us: here's our product, let me give you a demo
VC: nice product. Come back when you have one customer.
[6 months later]
us: great news, we just signed XYZ, Inc. (big name) as our first customer.
VC: congratulations. Come back when you have traction (that is, multiple customers)
....
True story. We eventually got funding, 3 rounds. In another post, I'll discuss the other lesson I learned in VC funding: don't raise money when you need money.
Alain - fairsoftware.net