I had a very weird dream that I had to write down after waking up.
It was a little skit, where an entrepreneur (not me!) was pulling a prank on a VC. Why pull a prank? Maybe he already closed the round and was determined to not take money from this particular VC and wanted to have a little fun? I don’t know.
First, the entrepreneur shows up thoroughly out-VC-dressed than the VC – with a Moncler vest and a venti Starbucks and all that. This is the first “throw you off guard” move. The VC finds this a little strange, but quickly thinks – well, this could happen. It’s just someone’s wardrobe choice.
Then the entrepreneur starts throwing some acronyms.
“What’s your AUM?”
VC thinks it’s an odd way of starting the meeting, but he had been asked this question before, so he goes “Our AUM is $xyz”.
Now the founder says: “Thanks for letting me know your AUM. Now, what’s your TAM?”
Now the VC is both irritated and puzzled.. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I asked your TAM.”
To the VC’s puzzled look, the founder quickly continues: “I can see you struggling there a little bit.. hey, if you have hard time coming up with the TAM of the VC industry that’s been around the past 50 years, how are you expecting me to give you the TAM of a new industry that I’m trying to create here?”
Just as the VC is thinking “who the heck is this guy”, the founder continues:
“Ok, now that we covered the AUM and the TAM, can we talk about… ATM? Where’s the nearest ATM?
“Or, can you please be our ATM?”
That’s when the founder got finally kicked out, and when I woke up from the dream…