Last week I made the three-hour drive from Sarasota to Miami for the “Florida Venture Summit” (organized by the Young Startup Ventures).

It was my first time going to a conference dedicated to “venture” funding. 

“Venture Funding” is when a company looks for money from investors in exchange for equity or debt in their company.  Think “Shark Tank” (even though all the investors there would cringe at that comparison). 

I came in with an extremely open mind, as I am still not sure if we will continue to “bootstrap” (self-fund) our company or look to bring in investors (to accelerate growth). 

So, I was there to observe and learn.

Tuesday night was kicked off with a Cocktail reception from 5 – 7pm.

So, I put on my fintech CEO “nighttime uniform” (nice suit with a T shirt with writing about what your company does). 

In my case, it was charcoal gray suit with my “Got 401k” T-shirt.

The first thing that I noticed was how large the room was. 

It was filled with entrepreneurs with a dream and looking for money to get their dream off the ground.

The next thing I noticed (sadly) was there were only two bars in the large ballroom. 

The line was extremely long. 

But I decided that I needed to have a glass of red wine in my hand if I was going to mingle at a “cocktail” reception.

So, I stood in line.

Fortunately, everyone I met in line was very friendly and joking about how long the line was.

You got to know (intimately) the people that surrounded you.

After I got my plastic glass of red wine, I stepped aside with the doctor in front of me whom I just met.

He was there to raise money for his “medtech” company. 

I explained how I owned a “fintech” company and that I was there to learn. 

I had a great conversation with the doctor, and I learned a lot about how he created his presentation, the things that should go into a “pitch deck” and how to “ask” for the money.

I met several great entrepreneurs at the cocktail reception.

However, I did not meet any investors.

I was hoping to get some “inside information” about what they look for in making an investment in young firms.

So, I left the reception right before 7pm to go to the hotel bar so I could order dinner and bring it to my room.

 Wednesday, I got up early and put on my fintech CEO “daytime uniform” (“Got 401k” T-shirt (a different one – lol), but with jeans and a sport coat).

Wednesday was jam packed with a several main stage speeches, breakout sessions and many seven minute live “pitches”. 

Unlike Shark Tank, there were no questions or answers.  Just entrepreneurs going through their Power Point presentations in seven minutes or less.  Never knowing if an investor was in the room to hear the pitch or not.

But for me, I was able to see various styles of pitching, what to include in a pitch deck, and what companies have already received funding.

After seeing many pitches, I was able to a tremendous amount by speaking to a gentleman who has already raised over $10,000,000 for his startup company.

He was very gracious with his time and answered all my questions I had about “how” he did it.

So, the pitches were interesting, and I learned a lot.

The speeches and presentations from the Venture Capitalist (VCs for short) were eye-opening.

Every VC that spoke talked about the impending doom of 2023. 

They talked about how last year funding for startups was so easy to get and it will be really hard from this day forward.

They spoke about how unrealistic “we” entrepreneurs are about the valuations of our business.

They spoke how “we” entrepreneurs have to lower our expectations and how we should not worry about the valuation.

(SIDE NOTE: The lower a VC “values” my business, the more equity a VC will take from me and my family).

It seemed to me the because the VC industry overvalued the past years’ worth of deals, they will take it out on their new investments.

The new entrepreneurs will have to pay for the mistakes of yesteryear to prop their future returns.

I was so fired up by the pessimism that I drove home Wednesday night, even though I had a comfy bed waiting for me at the hotel.

I didn’t want to waste any more time out of the office.

I wanted to get to work immediately on Thursday to make sure that if there is a shit storm coming in 2023, that I will be prepared.

And I am sure that I was not the only one.

There were many great people with amazing ideas that I met at the conference.

And if even a small portion of them were as fired up as I was after the conference, I think there will be plenty of opportunity for the VCs to make money in 2023 and beyond.

I will keep you posted on the ongoing journey, so be sure to check back here (like voting in Chicago) early and often – lol.

Stay confident my friends!

Sincerely,

Your Cousin Kevin

Kevin T Clark, RF™ is the CEO and Co-founder of Plan Confidence Corporation (PCC). PCC is an SEC registered investment firm specializing in providing advice to hard-working Americans investing in their employer’s retirement plans (401k, 403b, TSP, etc). Kevin is also an ERISA Nerd and one of only a few hundred Dalbar certified Registered Fiduciaries (RF) in the United States.