I'm currently raising funding for my startup. I'm a first time founder, but our product is growing incredibly quickly, we've onboarded thousands of users in the past month and our sales are growing steadily. Low CAC, low churn, high customer lifetime value.
In meetings with investors, however, I am frequently interrupted by them. For example, the last investor I spoke to (Friday), we were supposed to have a 30-minute talk. He showed up 15 minutes late. I understand we need to keep things moving, but to disrespect my time, and then to interrupt me when I'm speaking, just seems rude to me.
I don't really want to take money from or have a business relationship with someone like that, if I'm being honest. Next time I am interrupted, I think I am going to say something short like, "please do not interrupt me."
Has anybody else faced this? What do you recommend founders do in this situation?
Edit: I am a woman, so this might also play a part. I'm an ex-corpo, and interrupting people during meetings was a big faux-pas in company culture.
Edit 2: For a bit more context: we had sent the deck previously, they invited us for a meeting, and the pitch was conversational. The vertical we operate in does require some extra context for people outside the industry to understand, I think this is a factor as I do need to explain a bit. I've had issues in the past with investors not "getting it" when the explanation was shorter. It's a tough line to walk, and I'm still learning.
Edit 3: Thank you all for your advice! This was extremely helpful, and it is much appreciated. I was most curious if men experience frequent interruptions as well in their talks with investors. It sounds like that's just the industry standard, and I won't take it personally!
[link] [comments]
