What does a first meeting with January VC look like?

January Ventures
2 min readDec 3, 2020

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A guide for founders who want to pitch to us

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Here at January Ventures we’re all about backing founders based on their ambition, not their pedigrees or who they know — that is why if you’re a founder with a great idea you can pitch us directly.

VC can often feel like a blackbox for founders looking to fundraise. We believe that if our vision for an equal opportunity tech ecosystem, we need to be transparent and let founders know what the process — from pitching to that check deposited in their startups’ bank accounts — is like. So here is an overview of the questions we ask in a first meeting with January Ventures.

That first meeting

You’ve submitted your pitch and we like what we see? Great! We’ll get in touch for a first meeting.

A first meeting is a chance for us to get to know you and the business you’re building and for you to ask any question you might have. It usually lasts 30 minutes.

These are the questions we tend to ask:

  1. Tell us about you and why you started this company?
  2. What in your background or experience makes you the best person to build this company?
  3. In success, what is your long term vision for the company and yourself
  4. Where are you today?
  5. What do you need to help you move faster towards your vision?
  6. What are your goals with this fundraise?

Once the meeting is over, we’ll discuss at our weekly investment meeting. If we move forward, the next step of our process is a more in-depth one hour meeting with both partners. We aim to make a decision within a couple weeks.

If you’re working on revolutionising the future of work, productivity and health, and are looking to raise a pre-seed or seed round, get in touch! We’d love to talk.

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January Ventures

January Ventures (previously known as Jane VC) invests early and opens doors for the visionary founders of the future.