HOW TO ACE YOUR FIRST VC MEETINGS

Kevin Carter has invested in over a thousand companies, dozens of which have gone on to billion-dollar valuations. He says that if venture capital is right for your business, you'll know it. The harder part will be knowing who you should take it from.

- by MORGAN LAVOIE

Venture capital is a powerful tool to scale startups, but is it the right tool for your startup? According to major VC investor Kevin Carter, not necessarily. Throughout his career, Carter has invested in more than 1,000 early stage companies, dozens of which have gone on to billion-dollar valuations. He entered early into disruptive companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and Snap-and now his firm Night Capital backs high-potential founders in massive markets. Here, he shares how to decide whether venture capital can take your business to the next level, and if so, which investors are worth partnering with.

So what kind of business is right for venture capital?

In reality, venture capital is a very specialized tool for building a very specific type of business: one that scales rapidly and has the potential to grow to a massive size. For many, many businesses, VC is not the right path.

When should a founder begin considering VC?