TBC: The Importance of Jumping on Planes

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Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the back channel. I'm really bombed. This was supposed to be a special episode of the back-channeling had this idea for an episode as I was flying from Los Angeles to Austin. And I was like, when I land, I'm going to open up my laptop, put on my microphone and record an episode all about the importance of getting your ass on planes. But the cool kitchenettes of being in an airport turned out to not actually work.

It was way louder than I expected. And so I've got to the house that I'm staying at for the week in Austin, Texas. And I'm recording. Our episode here, as opposed to the cool background of the Austin airport anyways. The topic. Getting your ass on planes. The importance of that thought about that because I am here to attend and weekend retreat. But I decided to extend my trip to make it a full week, because I know that there are a lot of founders that I want to meet.

[00:01:00] Face-to-face in Austin. And my producer page happens to live in Austin as well. And I know it's really important for me to see these people. In person. I meet founders all the time. Over Twitter, over email. On video. And I see page pretty much every day on zoom, but there's something very different and very different.

That happens when you spend time with people face to face. Spending time with these people. And getting to know them, even just shaking their hands. Makes a huge difference. Right.

So, how does this relate to fundraising? Well, There's a word that I didn't use relationships, but relationships and trust are the common denominators around all those things that I talked about, the reasons that I was coming to Austin and extending my trip. I want to build better relationships with founders.

I want to establish a closer bond with page. It impacts the way we work together. And even that retreat. It's [00:02:00] probably some content that I could get online and reading on a book. But there's something about the way you consume stuff, the way you build relationships in person that makes me want to do these things. In real life, right. And relationships and trust.

If you haven't heard me talk about it. In this podcast and my newsletter, et cetera. You must not be listening, but relationships and trust are so big when it comes to convincing. investors to put money into your companies, right? When it comes to investing in a startup. A lot of it is about how excited you can get about the company and how comfortable you are with the founder in front of you. That they will actually be able to execute. And when we think about delivering that feeling of it's going to be exciting and you can trust me. the W the way I like thinking about it is. Energy and energy transfer.

Right. I'm not trying to sound woo or anything. Spiritual, but it is this feeling that you get when you're [00:03:00] with a founder and trying to decide whether or not what they're saying is true, whether or not they're stoked to go do this and whether or not they're going to break down walls in order to get there. The ability to do that goes up by 100x when you're in person. So much so that. I'll tell you the story just last week. I was talking to a good friend of mine. Who runs one of the top seed firms. In San Francisco. It was not an in-person catch up.

It was over zoom, but we had built a long relationship back when he was in Los Angeles. And so, you know, Catching up over resume, not so bad. Anyways, the topic, as you might guess, was fundraising. I wanted to hear a little bit more about how he supports his founders in fundraising, what his methodology are, et cetera.

I was trying to learn. And there was something that he said, which was somewhat crazy and maybe not something I would fully subscribe to, but demonstrates and illustrates how important he believes. In person. Relationship building is. [00:04:00] And that is that for his founders who are raising capital. He pushes them to have all of their first meetings in person. That's right. If he's meeting a VC, he will say the founder will fly to wherever they are set up all the meetings then and go meet those investors in person.

That's how strongly he believes in the power of. IRL and the person who's seeing someone face-to-face.

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[00:05:00] Now. There is always going to be a trade off between convenience and that energy transfer that I talked about, the power of in-person. But. If you can handle that inconvenience, if you can pay that price, I would always recommend founders find ways to build relationships in person. If you are a founder who is [00:06:00] quite charismatic, can articulate themselves.

And you know that you're good at transferring positive energy. As you talk to people, this is one of your main advantages. This is one of your main. Edges in fundraising. And if you don't utilize that by, by sitting behind a computer for all of your pitches, You're kind of leaving some meat on that bone.

Right. You're you're making it harder than it needs to be. So for those types of founders, I'd highly recommend you think about as you're fundraising, taking trips to the big cities. Trying to organize your time so that you can meet some of these people, even ahead of your fundraise, try to meet these people in person. And I would say two. If you're not on that side of the spectrum, if you're not naturally super charismatic, not naturally extroverted, if you're actually on the more quiet and introverted side of things. That strangely might actually be another reason you should be pushing for in-person. If you're not super charismatic [00:07:00] naturally. Then you probably won't be able to up your energy levels on zoom to be able to move past that.

What do they call it? The fifth wall, the third wall. I pass the screen and transfer an excitement level to investors to really get what your pitching. And so it might be. The right thing for you to do. To be pushing for more in person, because it will give you this stage to be on. It will give you this goal to bring up your energy levels and you'll have the opportunity to look someone face-to-face and tell them. What it is you're doing, why you're the team to do it and how you're going to get them to the promised land. Okay. So I'm giving you this advice, having flown all the way to Austin, Texas jumping on a plan, even though I had already been in Brazil and I was super tired and wanted to maybe cancel my trip so that I could stay home with my dog. But I'm here because I know how important that is.

I hope you guys heard the same lesson. Get your ass on planes. Go see [00:08:00] people in person and build relationships. Face-to-face. And maybe one day we'll meet face to face. Okay, thanks for listening to this episode of the back channel. I'll see you next time.

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