Learning from other people's mistakes

Talia Aben from Gemini funds caught my attention reading her blog -"Israeli VC on Sand hill Road". In a recent post she listed five rules for entrepreneurs trying to reach VCs. I recommend reading the full post, but here's the gist of it:

Rule #1: Don’t send a “Dear Sir” email just out of the blue

Rule #2: Find somebody that can make a personal introduction to the venture firm. (...especially in Israel!).

Rule #3: Research the venture capitalists background.

Rule #4: Do not approach 20 funds at once.

Rule #5: Keep your opening pitch short.

Reading this post really reminded me of Guy Kawaski's post - "top 10 lies of entrepreneurs". One of my favorites mistakes was this common cliche:

“Hurry because several other venture capital firms are interested.” The good news: There are maybe one hundred entrepreneurs in the world who can make this claim. The bad news: The fact that you are reading a blog about venture capital means you're not one of them. As my mother used to say, “Never play Russian roulette with an Uzi.”

To see the flip side of the coin, I suggest reading the "Top Ten Lies that VCs Tell". It never hurts to learn from someone else's mistakes, right?