I agree overcoming "approach anxiety" is key to just about any goal that requires someone else to be attracted to you in one way or another - dating, investing, friendship, ordering a drink in a crowded bar, ....
However, the key to ultimate success in all of these is that the person needs to like you and respect you. Girls don't like guys that approach them and rattle off about how funny they are, how much money they make, and what a great lover they are. Girls respect guys who are confident and layered, not guys who throw all their cards on the table in a 30 second pitch in a desperate attempt to be liked. Bartenders will first serve patient, confident, respectful customers, not eager, aggressive douchebags flashing twenties and snapping fingers.
Not being a super-experienced investor or fundraiser, I'll leave the translation to investment pitches up to others, but I have a mixed reaction to this post. For most people, the hardest part of reaching out to others is shutting down the the internal chatter that talks them out of opening the door. How you conduct yourself afterwards though, is also incredibly important.
I suspect investors as a class try to grit their teeth and discount awkwardness and narcissism in the hopes of finding the next Mark Zuckerberg, however I also think being a genuine and likable person - which for the most part means genuinely liking other people - is a great path to a good relationship in this and any other circumstance.
There seem to be an infinite number of parallels between 'the game' and networking in general. I worked for 4 years as a full-time dating coach, and many years before that trying to get my game up to scratch, and the benefits in contacts, in rapport building, in sales arenas, in any area where I need to present, are immeasurable.
>However, the key to ultimate success in all of these is that the person needs to like you and respect you. Girls don't like guys that approach them and rattle off about how funny they are, how much money they make, and what a great lover they are. Girls respect guys who are confident and layered, not guys who throw all their cards on the table in a 30 second pitch in a desperate attempt to be liked. Bartenders will first serve patient, confident, respectful customers, not eager, aggressive douchebags flashing twenties and snapping fingers.
The key is to understand that neither women, bartenders nor venture capitalists are homogenous hordes that can all be handled with the same neat little set of well-defined procedures that you read in a book or hear at a seminar.
Especially not women, what with them comprising half of the planet's population.
However, the key to ultimate success in all of these is that the person needs to like you and respect you. Girls don't like guys that approach them and rattle off about how funny they are, how much money they make, and what a great lover they are. Girls respect guys who are confident and layered, not guys who throw all their cards on the table in a 30 second pitch in a desperate attempt to be liked. Bartenders will first serve patient, confident, respectful customers, not eager, aggressive douchebags flashing twenties and snapping fingers.
Not being a super-experienced investor or fundraiser, I'll leave the translation to investment pitches up to others, but I have a mixed reaction to this post. For most people, the hardest part of reaching out to others is shutting down the the internal chatter that talks them out of opening the door. How you conduct yourself afterwards though, is also incredibly important.
I suspect investors as a class try to grit their teeth and discount awkwardness and narcissism in the hopes of finding the next Mark Zuckerberg, however I also think being a genuine and likable person - which for the most part means genuinely liking other people - is a great path to a good relationship in this and any other circumstance.