I decided that a VC should start every founder interaction by giving the founder 45 minutes of uninterrupted, focused time and limit myself to three pitch calls per day to keep listening quality high.
I told him I do ten things but I'd start with giving the founder 45 minutes of your time.
I keep my pitch calls to three a day. From the fourth one, my listening drops.
I was in the room with a founder: mid‑sentence, the VC picked up and stepped out for two minutes.
I noted on 2026‑06‑29 that an investor’s disengagement—zoning out or even falling asleep—provides the most useful feedback in a pitch meeting.
- “If an investor zones out during your pitch, they just handed you the most useful information of the whole meeting.”
- “Listening quietly dies somewhere around the fourth one.”
- “I cap myself at three pitch meetings a day.”