In my best meetings with founders, we have a back-and-forth discussion. In the worst, only the founder talks. Here’s how to avoid those bad meetings…

Take a Breath!

Some founders talk very fast and never pause. Instead, pause after an important point. Let it sink in, and leave a space for a question.

Founders often talk fast out of nervousness. And that’s okay!

A great way to handle that is to be well prepared. The more you’ve rehearsed your presentation, the more calm you’ll be.

Try a 5 minute meditation right before a meeting. Everyone has 5 minutes, and it can really help.

The 1/3rd, 2/3rds Rule

You can ensure a dialogue by following the 1/3rd, 2/3rds rule.

The first 1/3 of the meeting is for your presentation. Take the investor through the deck and a quick demo.

The remaining 2/3rds should be for Q&A. Some investors, like me, tend to skip straight to the Q&A, which is fine too!

It’s very simple: when you leave time for a dialogue, you wind up having a dialogue!

Track Your Talk Time

You could take a guess at how much you’re talking. But in today’s world, you don’t have to.

I use an incredible tool called Fathom that records and summarizes all my meetings. It also tells me what percent of the time I spoke and whether I went on any monologues.

In my best meetings, I’m speaking around 40% of the time and the founder takes up the remaining 60%.

In the worst, least productive meetings, I have a very hard time getting my questions in. By the end, I’ve only spoken maybe 10-15% of the time.

I highly recommend you use this tool. It also has a free tier. I’m not an investor in this one — I just love it!

Wrap-Up

To get a check from an investor, you have to defeat a dozen objections. But if you don’t hear from the investor, you won’t know what those objections are!

You need to pull the objections out of them. Then, you need to neutralize them.

The only way to do that is to have a true dialogue, not a monologue. Practice this, and you’ll find yourself raising a lot more money!

More on tech:

Why It’s Easier to Raise $3 Million Than $300,000

How to Run a Pitch Meeting

What To Do When a Company Fails

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