Why Venture Capitalists Don't Care About Your Pitch Ideas are really the easy part of a startup; what VC's are increasingly looking for is the ability to execute.

As a venture capitalist, I often find that a casual conversation with a friend or acquaintance morphs into a business pitch. After the inevitable question--"Is that the type of thing your company would fund?"--I habitually dive into the standard lecture about how VC firms invest in businesses, not ideas. After all, ideas are really the easy part of a startup; what we care about is the ability to execute.

Knowing that the majority of people who make these impromptu pitches will never do anything with their ideas, my stock response is a convenient way to avoid saying that their dream stinks, and that I'd really rather talk about sports.

In retrospect, however, I've realized that some of these pitches were actually pretty good. So I began to ponder the wisdom of the quick blow-off. As I see it, my problem in these cases is not the idea itself, but the person making the pitch. I could be hearing about the next Google, but if it's coming from a guy I remember doing keg stands in college, it's hard to envision it succeeding.