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Who makes the best introductions for entrepreneurs?

"VCs are generally bombarded by requests for meetings, so a warm introduction helps an entrepreneur's request float to the top of the list." - Chris Wand, Foundry Group, Investors in Zynga

Who makes the best introductions?

An effective middleman is simply someone investors listen to. But not all middlemen are created equal. The quality of the middleman helps investors prioritize meeting requests. It’s easier to land a meeting with a high-quality middleman. And if the middleman sucks, you won’t get a meeting.

Who makes the best introductions? In rough order of effectiveness:

1. Entrepreneurs whom the investor has backed and made money with, wants to back, or is currently backing. 2. Other investors whom the investor has co-invested and made money with, wants to co-invest with, or is currently coinvesting with. 3. Market, product, and technology experts such as senior executives at dominant companies or lauded professors. 4. Lawyers, accountants, and sundry industry people like us. 5. Communists. 6. Someone the investor met at a party once.

Use this list to measure a middleman’s potential. But the details of a middleman’s relationship with investors are more important than this list. So ask your middleman questions like:

How do you know the investor?

What have you done together?

What companies have you sent him that he has subsequently backed?

What makes our company interesting enough for you to make an introduction?

How do I get an introduction?

An excerpt from the highly recommended e-book "Pitching Hacks". You can buy the book on www.venturehacks.com and qualify for a discount as a registered member of Genius Incubator. Simply write to info@geniusincubator.com for the discount code. The author Nivi can be reached at founders@venturehacks.com