How New Zealand Venture Capitalists Evaluate Early-Stage Startups
Would a VC invest in your startup?
Most founders only understand how venture capital works after they get rejected.
VC Teardowns makes the investment decision process visible before that happens.
This series documents how real New Zealand venture capitalists evaluate (fictional) early-stage startups — exactly as if they were reviewing live deal flow.
If you are building a venture-scale company, this is required reading before you pitch.
Latest VC Teardowns
Teardown 01 — HoloMeet
B2B SaaS | Evaluated by Jo Wickham, Icehouse Ventures
A next-generation communication platform designed to make remote meetings feel like people are physically in the room together — without VR headsets or special equipment.
Teardown 02 — Shiftly
B2B SaaS | Evaluated by Jo Wickham, Icehouse Ventures
A straightforward scheduling and shift-management platform for small hospitality businesses still coordinating rosters through spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups, and last-minute texts.
What Is VC Teardowns?
VC Teardowns is a public library showing how venture capitalists evaluate startups.
Each edition captures:
- A fictional cold inbound email from a founder
- A real NZ VC’s inbox triage
- A structured breakdown of how the startup is evaluated
- Clear commentary on market size, differentiation, traction, and risk
- A final investment verdict
This is not coaching.
This is not pitch feedback.
This is the investor’s filter — explained in plain language.
Important Context
Each teardown reflects one investor’s perspective, at one moment in time, evaluating one hypothetical company.
A teardown should not be treated as a universal rulebook.
Different funds prioritise different factors at different moments in time. Founders are encouraged to engage investors early and build relationships — early conversations are often exploratory, not evaluative.
Why This Exists
Building a startup is difficult.
Chasing the wrong capital path makes it harder.
VC Teardowns expands across sectors so founders can assess venture fit before they spend months pitching, write cold emails that earn first meetings, and plan their early-stage capital strategy based on how NZ VCs actually make decisions.
What Venture Capitalists Actually Look For
Founders frequently search:
- what do VCs look for in a startup
- how venture capitalists evaluate startups
- why do startups get rejected by VCs
- pitch deck review NZ
- venture capital investment criteria
VC Teardowns answers those questions directly.
Venture-Scale vs Lifestyle or SME
New Zealand needs all kinds of businesses.
Venture capital funds a specific risk-return profile.
One of the most important outcomes of VC Teardowns is helping founders understand:
- Whether their company is venture-backable
- Whether they are building a strong SME instead
- Whether a different capital path makes more sense
Clarity here can save more than months of pitching and rejection — it’s the difference between a capital strategy built for survival or one that quietly sets you up to fail.
How VC Teardowns Is Different
Unlike generic “VC pitch tips” content, this series:
- Shows how NZ investors actually think
- Uses structured evaluation frameworks
- Captures the trade-offs investors make
- Documents when upside outweighs traction — and when it doesn’t
This is rare transparency in the New Zealand startup ecosystem.
Read the Latest VC Teardowns
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HoloMeet - The Next Generation of Video CallsB2B SaaS | Evaluated by Jo Wickham, Icehouse Ventures
Shiftly - Simple Scheduling & Shift ManagementB2B SaaS | Evaluated by Jo Wickham, Icehouse Ventures
Disclaimers
All startup companies, business models, products and founders described in VC Teardowns are fictional and created solely for educational purposes. Any resemblance to actual companies, persons or events — past, present or future — is purely coincidental.
The opinion of each participating VC reflects their individual perspective and does not represent their firm as a whole.