Watch what you say.

Last time, we focused on having a plan. As a corollary to presenting that plan in your conversations while seeking venture capital, here are some things you should never ever say (or at least do your best to avoid saying) to a venture capitalist:

This is really several tips in one post. It’s a nonexclusive list of statements and phrases that will not help you, and may even hurt you in your quest for investors.

1. “If we can capture just one percent of the market, we will…” This phrase is bad in two respects. First, it is naïve, because it implies that in a large market, almost anyone can grab a small percentage. This may be true in economics textbooks, where they describe “perfect competition” but it’s definitely not true in the real world. The other problem with the phrase is that it may give the listener the impression that you’re not thinking big enough. Venture investors don’t want to invest in bit players and also-rans, they want winners. By definition, you cannot achieve extraordinary returns on investment with ordinary performance.

2. “We have no competition.” In other words, there is no market for your product? If you don’t have obvious competition, then your product is competing against pre-existing solutions to the same problem that your product purports to solve. Plus, without acknowledging competition, you are really asking investors to make a double bet: the first that is that a market for your product will emerge, and the second bet is that you have the winning solution.. Venture investors are not in the habit of compounding their risks.