Show Up with the Three Ps

In my venture capital business, as in many professional endeavors, it’s critical to get people to want to work with us. Oftentimes, the best entrepreneurs have multiple options for potential backers. This means we have to establish ourselves as the preferred party. Having launched two new venture firms in my career, I frequently get the following question from clients: How do you source investment opportunities when so many well-established firms have longer track records and are better known?

The formula is simple: Show up.

Simple enough, right? Yet if you pause and reflect on it, most people don’t do it. They just don’t show up. When I find a business compelling, I hop on a plane. I take the management team to dinner the night I fly in, then have a formal meeting the next day. I show up. This positions me ahead of those other firms that didn’t bother to do the same.

Showing up goes beyond business. It’s important in many facets of our lives. Do we show up to our kids’ sporting events? I guarantee they notice. Do we show up for our spouses? Our friends? Our colleagues? Ourselves?

Although showing up is critical—and rarer than many of us might think—more is required to differentiate yourself as a partner. I like to talk about the three Ps related to how we show up: prepared, personable, and passionate. These precepts sound basic, but most people don't proactively think about each one of them, let alone consistently apply them.

Preparation demonstrates to people that you care deeply about them, their time, and their work. Preparation separates you from peers or competitors who fail to do their homework. If I’m meeting a scientist, I might ask about tangential papers of theirs to demonstrate my interest in the totality of their work. If I’m meeting an entrepreneur, I’ll ask detailed questions about their vision and strategy. Being prepared also enables us to have more constructive and deeper conversations. Rather than asking questions to learn the basics, we can start the discussion in a much more developed place.

P number two: Be personable. In the end, people generally choose to work with people they like. Being likable, smiling, asking personal questions, and validating what you hear goes a long way in life. Sure, your competitors may be smarter and may have been around longer, but if you’re better liked, more often than not, people will prefer to work with you.

The third P, showing up with passion, is a huge benefit in business. Entrepreneurs often forgo higher paying and more certain opportunities to pursue their dream of building a business. If you share in their passion, appreciate their sacrifice, and reinforce their vision through enthusiasm, you’re far more likely to connect with them. Bringing high energy to your meetings gets everyone excited and is often the emotional response that people remember after meeting you. In essence, they’ll remember more about how you felt than what you said. Making sure people feel good about themselves—and you—is as critical as getting your specific points across.

When you put these three Ps together, they’re exponentially more powerful. In addition, they reinforce each other. When you show up, you separate yourself from the long list of people who should have hopped in a car or a plane—but didn’t bother. When you’re prepared, you demonstrate that you care, you raise the level of the conversation, and you maximize your ability to impress. When you’re personable, people are naturally inclined to work with you. And when you’re passionate, you have the opportunity to light up the room, to bring out the spirit of entrepreneurial enthusiasm. Although these ideas sound basic, when done consistently, they lead to surprisingly powerful outcomes.