风险投资是合伙，不是买卖

    不妨问问自己下面这些问题：

    我喜欢与这位合伙人一起工作吗，他/她将来能对我的董事会和公司有所贡献吗？

    除了资本，这位投资人还能提供什么样的价值？

    以前他们有没有帮过与我们情况类似的公司？具体案例有哪些？

    他们投资过的公司CEO们对他们以及他们的做法有什么说法？

    对于最后一点，我认为怎么强调都不过分。潜在投资人对你的客户进行背景调查的同时，你也应当调查一下他们的客户（即他们所投资的公司）。

    一旦明确了你想和谁一起工作，达成双方都能接受的估值就要容易很多，因为双方在感情上都想促成这一点。完成了合适性评估这项重要的工作之后，接下来只需要解决经济问题就可以了（这只是个数字问题）。

    一旦创业者转变观念，把风险投资视为合伙人，而不再是买卖或者交易，真正重要的决定性因素就会凸显出来，选到理想合伙人的可能性也会显著提高。

    瑞奇·佩尔蒂埃是OpenView Venture Partners风险投资公司的合伙人。

    译者：杨智

    I recommend asking questions like:

    Do I like working with this partner, and will he/she be a good contributor to my board and company?

    What types of value add does this investor bring outside of capital?

    What are some specific examples of how they've helped a company in a similar spot to us before?

    What do CEOs of portfolio companies have to say about them and their approach?

    I cannot emphasize that last point enough. Just as prospective investors are doing reference checks with your customers, you should be checking with their customers (which happen to be their portfolio companies).

    Once you've figured out who you want to work with, getting to a valuation that is mutually acceptable to both parties is far easier as both sides are emotionally committed to making something work. You've essentially done the important work of assessing fit, now you just need to figure out how to make the economics work (and that's just math).

    Once an entrepreneur adjusts his/her thinking on viewing a VC investment as a partnership rather than a transaction or a deal, the decision factors that really matter rise to the top and the probability of selecting the ideal partner is significantly increased.

    Ricky Pelletier is an associate with OpenView Venture Partners.