The first time I met a few semi-prominent VC partners to casually chat about an startup I was thinking about, I was surprised at how well received my napkin idea was.  At the end of the walk around building they had said they would love to help find an angel round and I was taken aback at how eager and positive they were.  I even mentioned that it seemed unreal that they&#x27;d be willing to jump in that quickly.  One of the partners laughed and said &quot;Are you kidding, you gave me a solid pitch with technology we believe you can build.  I spend half my day sorting through pitches that involve some obscure form of perpetual motion or pyramid schemes. Our chat was better than most formal presentations we get.&quot;<p>I&#x27;ve since made it a bit of habit to gauge the quality of pitches a VC I talk to has gotten recently. Many of the stories I&#x27;ve heard make this pitch seem almost competent.