Often, in our weekly calls, founders talk about VCs that reached out to them and asked for a pitch deck.

First of all, it’s great when a VC reaches out to you proactively. But please don’t get too excited about it. Many VCs do reach out in masses to startups to gain competitive market intelligence. This is a normal practice and doesn’t mean they are likely to invest in you. But, it’s nevertheless positive - they reached out to you, so apparently, you can be discovered by investors, and it seems you’re not doing something “totally off” for VCs, most importantly, this is a great chance to connect with VCs.

So what do you do when a VC reaches out to you and asks for your pitch deck?

The natural reaction of almost all early-stage founders is to get excited about the inquiry and send them the pitch deck immediately. But the first question I’m always asking founders in this case is: “Are you currently officially in fundraising mode? Has your fundraising started according to your project plan and timeline?“.

Most often, the answer is “no”. And then my answer is “no”, too. If your fundraising hasn’t started officially, you shouldn’t be in pitching mode. Never.

This might be controversial: VC reaching out to you has to earn the right to see your deck. Founders often fear that the VC will lose interest if they ask for a deck and the founders don’t provide it. The funny thing is that exactly the opposite happens. Always. The VC gets more attracted by your rejection. It shows that you’re not dependent on their money, not needy, not desperate. That signals strength and confidence, and increases FOMO, heavily.

So, what should you do instead?

Tell them you are not raising or will only start raising at (date) – and take the call! Yes, take the call if it could be a potential investor for your next round. This is an amazing opportunity to network and build relations so you have warm connections that you can leverage before the official start of your fundraising.

The crucial part here is: When you talk to them, DON’T PITCH THEM! It’s not a pitch. It’s a getting-to-know each other amongst industry experts.

Don’t forget: They asked for the call, not you. You’re unique; the money they can provide is not. It’s simply about expanding your network, having a nice exchange, and using it to your advantage to leverage the VC's knowledge. So make sure that you ask them questions about things you want to know about them and also their experiences that could help you in your business building.

If they ask you about your business, pretend that you’re talking to a founder peer who is interested in what you’re building. All of this will immediately increase your social status in the conversation.

I’m rarely giving such binary recommendations, but this is a clear one. Don’t be afraid to say no to a pitch deck request when you get an inbound VC request if your fundraising hasn’t started yet. And even if it started, I personally would make the VC first earn the right to get the deck by having the call with them and sending the deck after if the VC qualified for it.

BTW, insider tip: If you can afford it time-wise, I would resist the urge to immediately reply to the request and let it wait for at least 2-3 days :) That conveys even more that you’re focused on your business, don’t get excited about VC inbound (because you’re used to it ;), and you are not desperate.