I am working on a stealth startup. The market is large (> $100B) and there are very few players who have the equivalent technology we have.
I know a VC who invests a lot in tech. And has invested $5M in my competitor, say "A Inc". (there are very few at this time). A Inc. has the equivalent tech (R&D) but is extremely poor when it comes to targeting right markets. Looking at their products we can say they have minimal creativity (Just provide an API service with cost-based pricing). The founder has given some interviews in public but does not seem to have any real-life knowledge.
Our situation: We have a product ready. With some good number of users using it. We have a well refined business strategy (Seemingly better than theirs) and have done reasonable market research (Lots of people willing to pay). To scale up we need fund. The VC mentioned above has funded a lot of companies in Tech. But there is also a possibility that they might use our data and the business strategy to help their initially funded startup.
Can VCs be that hawkish? Please help me with your experiences, anecdotes, pros and cons in connecting with this VC.
More details:
- The lead investor has 15+years experience in top tech companies (Google,NVIDIA and microsoft). Has deep connections with the companies' top executives. Would be extremely valuable for us if we can get selected.
- Startup A Inc has founders who has worked in Google DeepMind for few months.
- Our startup has an ex-googler as the tech-lead.
Submitted December 17, 2020 at 05:56AM by carbonmachine https://ift.tt/3ajfniQ
