Saastr · 8 November 2026 · Operating Insight

Dear SaaStr: What Are the First Things VCs Notice When a Team of Founders Starts Pitching to Them?

Jason Lemkin, GP @ SaaStr

VCs first assess founder confidence—in metrics, market understanding, team dynamics, and self-awareness. Authentic confidence paired with early traction signals investment potential; overconfidence or fabrication raises red flags.

Read the full post on Saastr ↗

Topics: Venture Capital & Startups

Published by Saastr · their site ↗

More from Saastr

Dear SaaStr: What Can a Startup Do to Get Their Customers to Pay on Time?
Jason’s Takes on This Week’s 20VC: A 72% Cost Drop on Our Own App, the $100M Acquisition Bar, and DoorDash’s Third Competitor
Why Your Revenues Often Only Sort of Matter When You Get Acquired by a Strategic. Even Though They Are Usually How a Deal is Priced
A Critical App We Pay For Went Down for 2 Days. They Never Offered a Credit. I Won’t Forget.
Gartner Sees Software Growing 14.6% to $1.68 Trillion in 2027: Models at 117%, AI App Platforms at 39%, and Price Increases Doing a Lot of the Work
Top 5 Learnings from Vercel’s COO: 10 SDRs Down to 1, a $5K-a-Year Lead Agent, and 93% of Support Cases Handled by AI

SandHill indexes 800+ venture capital blogs and newsletters and sends the best of them every Sunday. Browse the sources · browse by topic · read the blog.