Life lesson time. When you’re asking someone for money, don’t ask them for a date in the same meeting.
This really happened…
A team came in with a new app idea (Uber for haircuts) and at the end of the pitch (I wasn’t going to fund them because I had to remind them that the value in the hair dressing business is mostly women, and women do not want to welcome strangers into their homes…and tend to be loyal to their hairdressers, or at least to their salons), but judging from the haircuts of these three guys (yep, all dudes), their moms still cut their hair.
With the pitch done, while making small talk on the way out the door, the founder offered me a coupon code for a free haircut and then had the gall (the balls?) to offer to come personally to supervise the haircut and would bring a bottle of 2007 Opus One. Once he left, I promptly looked up the bottle’s value on benchmark ($419!) and decided if he could afford a wine like that, he didn’t need my investment.
Full Ratchet 