This has happened to me now three times over the last two months and leaving a weird taste in my month.
Our startup is a web and mobile app and we are getting ready to launch, lining up our marketing plan and resources accordingly. We are also raising our family/friend/seed round.
A set of “investors” approaches us, states we are cool and they are interested in helping. So far so good. Let’s send a basic deck.
They also happen to have a friend or side company what has a digital marketing business. Sure, we will talk to them as well.
Skip a couple of interactions and the conversation/flow goes along the line that the investment will be to pay for the friend’s business. So I have to give out equity and might be stuck with lousy execution on the marketing side.
This pattern has happened three times in a row and only with NJ-based investors. Is it me? Is it the culture?
Of course … we passed.