During the due diligence phase, there are two main types of meetings.

First, you will have meetings in which the primary objective is for you to meet other partners at the VC fund. A VC partner who is evaluating your company and continues to be interested will likely set this up after your first meeting in order to both get another opinion and begin to build consensus around investing in your company.

VC funds often comprise professionals with a variety of backgrounds. These partners rely on each other for their diverse perspectives, as these unique viewpoints help them think through each investment opportunity more thoroughly. As a result, meeting other partners at a fund is a critical part of the process. You should do your best to present your case clearly to each VC so that you can earn the interest of as many of them as possible.  At this stage, the objective of the meeting is the same as it was for your first meeting. See my post, The Objective Of Your First Meeting, for details.

The second type of meeting that you will have in this phase is an exploratory meeting. In exploratory meetings a partner with whom you have already met will try to learn more about your company. They will dive deeper into the revenue model, the market, your strategy, the how and anything else with which they are not yet comfortable. These meetings are a critical part of the process because they not only enable one or more partners to learn more about your company, but they also give those partners the information necessary to defend an investment when the group meets next. You are better off if a VC can answer all of his partners’ questions about your company at the next partners meeting.

You should determine which type of meeting you are being invited to beforehand. Figuring this out is usually easy; all you need to do is ask who will attend and what will be covered at the next meeting.