How To Prepare The Perfect Pitch For Venture Capitalists, Forerunner Ventures’ Kirsten Green Explains

“How well does this founder know their market? What is their unique insight about the market that’s going to underpin their business, and why is their business needed in the market?” Those are the questions Kirsten Green says should be addressed in a successful pitch to raise funds from venture capitalists like herself. Green, whose Forerunner Venture has made her one of the world’s top investors, raised a fresh $500 million fund at the height of the pandemic, and has $1.2 billion in total assets under management. 

“Frame the problem, the opportunity and how you will bring this to life,” Green advises on a Panel at FORBES’ Under 30 Summit in Detroit today. The panel featured three honorees from the 30 Under 30 Education list, Soham Khaitan cofounder of Ambi, Vanessa Castañeda Gill cofounder of Social Cipher and Chloe Hakim-Moore founder of NEXT Memphis, who introduced their companies, and received real-time feedback to bring their pitch to the next level. 

Green says that age isn’t part of the equation when it comes to making investment decisions, having formed successful partnerships with both founders with long-standing institutional knowledge and founders who are brand new to the workspace. “There’s real value in having the user’s insight, and wanting the product you’re building,” says Green. “And that doesn’t necessarily require you to have any specific working experience.” 

 “One of the advantages that Forerunner has had in the 10 years that we’ve been investing actively is the diversity of our team.” Green says that in order to be open minded to a vast array of founders from different backgrounds, a diverse team needs to be making the investment decisions.