VCs' honest take: What deep tech traction do you need to get funded?

​Pillsbury Law and Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC) will bring together investors, CMU researchers and deep tech founders to talk about what deep tech traction you need to get funded.

​Who should attend: deep tech founders, entrepreneurially curious researchers/faculty/staff/PhDs/MS students, CMU deep tech program participants, deep tech VCs and angel investors

​Goals: Discuss traction that a deep tech founder truly needs to have a productive conversation with VCs about potential funding. We'll break down what "you're too early" or "come back when you have more traction" means. We'll cover when "too little traction" is a polite cop-out for "I don't like other aspects of your company but don't want to hurt your feelings"

​How attendees can prepare for this session:

• ​Come prepared to ask specific question!

• ​Be prepared to receive honest feedback!

​Agenda:

• ​30 minutes: panel

• ​50 minutes: Panelists will be founder's "translator" (i.e. tell us your scenario and we'll give you our honest gauge)

​Panelists:

• ​Kahini Shah (Partner at Obvious Ventures) - Focus on traction for robotics and hardware-oriented startups

• ​Uday Sandhu (Partner at AIC) - Focus on traction for software and healthcare startups

• ​Matt Kirmayer (Partner at Pillsbury) - Will discuss how founders can represent traction in the pitch deck and data room + what LOIs are worth

​Moderated by: Nhi Le (Partner at AIC)