????有一天當我正在演講時，有人問了我一個最最簡單的問題：“怎樣才能獲得風投投資?"

????我想了想，但只能給出一條建議，是的，只有一條建議。找人引薦!我告訴觀眾，我搞風投13年，投資過的公司沒有議價不是經我認識、信任的人介紹來的。

????我懷疑在我從事風投行業的13年左右時間里，收到的直接來自于創始人的執行摘要已經快有5,000份了。而且，正如我對觀眾所說，我沒有立即回絕這些業務。我這5,000份執行摘要我都看了。我也曾和其中一些創業者見過面。但我沒給他們中的任何一位投資。

????一位在場的觀眾問道，我是不是對那些我不認識、我朋友也不認識的創業家有偏見。這顯然是個合理的問題。我想了想，我的回答是，我沒有投資這些公司的原因是，這些公司的創始人不夠有辦法，都沒法聯系到能引薦的人。

????但這也讓我陷入思考。或許，我曾有偏見?；蛟S，我錯過了一些很好的業務機會，沒有給他們公平的機會去嘗試。我決定了解一下，是不是只有我一個人這么干。我開始問我的風投同行，他們有沒有投資過沒人引薦的公司。結果答案都是“沒有”。在我問過的人當中，沒有一個人投資過未經任何形式引薦的公司。雖然他們都表示這不是不可能，大多數人也會看創業家主動提供的執行計劃摘要（和我一樣），但這些風投從來沒有實際投資過非引薦企業。連一個也沒有。

????那么，到底怎樣才能獲得風投投資？

????第一步：找到推薦人。找到你認識的某個人，可以把你介紹給你希望爭取投資的人。你與介紹人的關系越近越好。介紹人與風投的關系越近越好。我寫過這個話題，把它描述為“借來的信用”。如果介紹你的人在這家風投頗有信譽，你在介紹人處又頗有信譽，你就會獲得這家風投的信賴。

????我在小學數學課上就學到了這一點，這種現象被稱為傳遞性。如果：

????A在B有信譽

????而B在C有信譽

????那么A在C有信譽

????作為傳遞性的必然結果，(1) A與B之間的信譽關系越強，(2) B與C之間的信譽越強，則(3)A與C之間的信譽關系越強。

????當然，被引薦給一家VC本身不會給你帶來資金。這些年來，在決定投資與否時，我拒絕的經人引薦的創業家數量比沒有經人引薦的創業家數量還多。但我同意投資的創業家肯定是經人引薦的超過未經人引薦的。如果我詢問的這些風投能說明什么問題，那就是面對風投，經人引薦是必要的，但不一定足以獲得投資。

????如果你想獲得我的投資，先請人介紹。拜托了。(財富中文網)

????本文作者是資本公司August Capital的合伙人。

????The other day when I was giving a talk I was asked the simplest of simple questions: "how do you get funded by a VC?"

????I thought about it and could only come up with one, for sure, piece of advice. Get introduced! I told the audience that in my 13 years in the venture business I had never once funded a company that hadn't been introduced to me by someone I knew and trusted.

????I suspect that in my 13 years or so in the venture business I have received somewhere on the order of 5,000 executive summaries directly from founders. And, as I told the audience, I didn't reject the businesses out of hand. I read all 5,000 executive summaries. I met with some of those entrepreneurs too. Yet, I didn't fund a single one of them.

????A member of the audience asked if perhaps I was biased against entrepreneurs I didn't know, or who didn't know someone I knew. It was certainly a reasonable question. I thought about it and responded that I thought the reason I hadn't invested in those companies was that the founders were not resourceful enough to find a connection to me.

????But it got me thinking. Maybe I was biased. Maybe I was missing out on some great businesses because I wasn't giving them a fair shot. I decided to see if I was the only one. I started asking my fellow VCs if they had funded any companies that had come to them un-introduced. And it turned out that the answer was "no." No one I asked had funded a company without some sort of introduction. While they all agreed that it wasn't out of the question, and most of them still read unsolicited executive summaries (as do I), not one VC had funded an un-introduced business. Not one of them.

????So how do you get funded?

????Step one: Get an introduction. Find someone you know who can introduce you to the person you want to pitch. The closer your relationship with the person making the introduction, the better. And the closer that person's relationship with the VC the better. I've written about this before and described it as "borrowed credibility." If you are being introduced by someone who has credibility with the VC, and you have credibility with the person making the introduction, you will have credibility with the VC.

????I learned about this in elementary school math class -- it is called the transitive property. If:

????A has credibility with B

????and

????B has credibility with C

????then

????A has credibility with C

????And as a corollary to the traditional transitive property, (1) The stronger the credibility between A and B, and (2) The stronger the credibility between B and C, (3) the stronger the credibility between A and C.

????Needless to say, getting introduced to a VC will not, in and of itself, get you funded. I've said "no" to many more entrepreneurs who've been introduced to me over the years than I have to entrepreneurs who have come un-introduced. But I've said "yes" to infinitely more who've come introduced to me than not. If the sample of VC's with whom I've spoken is any indication, getting an introduction to a VC is necessary but not sufficient to get funded.

????If you want to pitch me, get an introduction. Please.