Ask HN: How to get focused and calm myself before an interview with investors?

by melonbar on 11/30/2020, 4:15:15 AM with 10 comments
So I have been involved in a new startup that has been fortunate enough to land some interviews this past week. We pivoted an MVP and landed customers within a month which was really exciting and it helped us land so some meetings with huge potential. Queue my social anxiety. I tend to ramble and that can lead to me being a bit defensive. I am just curious how others deal with accelerator or VC meetings and more specifically the rapid fire questioning. I love what I do and spend my time trying to ensure our customers are as happy as they can be. I just don’t want to get flustered and ruin things for my partners, if that makes sense. We try not to mock interviews or focus too much on our couple competitors but instead find what our customers want. Thank you so much for making it this far, I greatly appreciate any and all advice.

  • by pbk1 on 12/1/2020, 7:06:19 PM

    Look into the TIP[0] skill from dialectical behavior therapy. In particular I've found the cold water triggering a dive response[1] very effective at calming me down when I face acute anxiety.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy#D... [1] https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-mammalian-diving-response-t...

  • by thiago_fm on 11/30/2020, 3:10:40 PM

    Investors are frequently people with a lot of imperfections, can be assholes, terrible dads/mothers or just happened to be born rich. They are just human beings.

    Just talk to them like you typically do to anyone, you need their money, they need you to make money.

    And always remember no matter what you do, very little is going to change despite the outcome and you are almost insignificant and is playing a very tiny part in the universe. You are just doing your own thing.

  • by alltakendamned on 11/30/2020, 9:03:31 AM

    Learn breathing patterns (e.g. in yoga).

    In essence, making your exhale longer than your inhale will calm you down. So take 10-20 deep breaths through your nose, focus on your breathing by following it, once you're breathing comfortably after the first few, try and make your exhale longer. It's OK to count in your mind if that helps.

  • by QueensGambit on 11/30/2020, 10:58:28 AM

    If your anxiety steams from the belief that investors are all-knowing people, this might be the time to correct it. You should assume you are more knowledgeable about your customers than investors and teach them what you know and try to learn what you don't know. Think of them as an UI engineer joining your company and how you will explain your server side code to them on their first day at job. Best of luck!

  • by burntoutfire on 12/1/2020, 8:10:18 PM

    Xanax. Works for me. Although I don't really need sharpening, just calming.