As we are getting busy with more investments in Golden Gate Ventures, I receive quite a number of both referral and cold emails/Linkedin messages to meet up.

I love helping startup founders period. Back in the day, I wish I had more mentors like we do now in Singapore and it all boils down to the questions we ask them and the engagement levels that goes on later that will add to your business and professional life.

So the bottom line is I will try my best to meet with all of you who requested to meet or chat but my portfolio companies take the top priority (just to be clear).

So, living in Singapore and working with startups, I drink a lot of coffee (sometimes the local S$0.90-1.20 or when we go crazy the S$6 mochas). My favorite is simply a one shot of cappuccino no sugar or an iced soy mocha or an Iced Kopi-Si Siew Dai (less condensed milk). Catch up on local coffee guide here.

You’ll usually have between 30 minutes for a meeting, so come prepared. Pleasantries are fine, but we know you have an “ask”, so just get to it.

Here’s a checklist of what to do, and not to do, at the meeting:

What to do:

1. Tell me your idea (less than 4 mins) – with clarity and passion. You don’t have to use slides, but if you do, make sure it’s less than 10 slides.
2. Tell me the problem you’re solving, and the uniqueness of the solution(s). Focus on how you are different.
3. Tell me why you and your team are the people that will win. No wrong answer here.
4. Tell me about your market traction, or if it’s early – why and how you think you’re going to have market traction.

Then…

1. Ask what I think – then shut the hell up and listen. Thereafter let us discuss.
2. Ask what resources/people (usually not an investor) I would recommend you to (JFDI, Founder Institute, other founders, classes, events/meetups, etc.). I generally will help you clarify your next small milestone to hit while giving you the big picture of what I think.
3. Ask if there is an area where I would be interested in helping you.
4. If you have a specific request, ask (with the below exceptions). If you want an introduction to someone, ask politely, if I don’t respond in time, it means you are not quite ready yet and I have not gotten round to telling you.

What not to do:

1. Don’t ask me to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement – most ideas suck, and professionals won’t sign it anyway. They’ll just talk about your rookie move after coffee (the community is small – please don’t trip over small things like this).
2. Don’t expect me to do the work for you. When you send a follow up email with your executive summary or a 4 paragrapher, make sure it’s simple/good enough for me to forward along. (There are plenty of samples on Slideshare, please stop using MBA talk or pre-Y2K pitch summaries/decks)
3. Don’t ask for investor referrals – you just met me and you’re going to need to do the work to prove that both you and your idea are credible. By the way, if I am excited about investing in your idea, you will know it by the end of the meeting and be happy to make introductions (but only after I find it still exciting  3-4 days later and after getting to know you a little more – either personally or through reference checks).

That’s all for now. Here is to more coffees in 2013.

“The best way to raise money is to ask for advice, and the best way to get

advice is to ask for money” - Fred Wilson