Set a 30 Minute Meeting w/ Stu Phillips

Setting meetings with VCs can be a daunting task for first time entrepreneurs. Sure, Silicon Valley is teeming with advice that its easy to meet with VCs... all you need is an introduction... but first timers inherently have small networks and often don't can't get to VCs.

In a recent blog post, Stu Phillips, a general partner at Ridgelift Ventures, is offering entrepreneurs a 30 minute "no harm, no foul" meeting to give feedback on ideas. He writes "If I like the idea, I'll do what I can to help… funding, brainstorming, strategy…" This a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to get advice from a technical investor with nearly a decade in venture capital. You can find Stu Phillips email address on his firm's about us page.

Even though Mr. Phillips is opening up his calendar, its still important for entrepreneurs to do their homework before meeting with him. Does Ridgelift invest in the stage of development and industry which your startup is at? Do they have any competitive investments? These are questions that need to be answered before meeting with any VC.

Ridgelift Ventures is a new firm and there isn't much information on the website about their investment philosophy. However, in their initial press release last year, they wrote of their intent to invest in "early-stage investments in the Internet, information technology, wireless, and networking marketplaces."

I think its great that Stu Phillips is doing this and I wish more VCs dedicated some time to meet with first time entrepreneurs. If you meet with Stu Phillips and you're looking for more meetings, check out this series of posts that I wrote on setting intro meetings with VCs.