Go Fetch a Rock: A Short Study
Most founders or startup executives who have sought funding from an angel, VC or corporate investor know the meaning of the expression "Go fetch me a rock" or “GFAR”. A GFAR is a request for information that can be characterized as a pointless or useless activity.
In the startup funding world, however, these odd little requests often involve much more. Let’s take a closer look.
In my experience, GFAR exercises usually unfold in two phases:
First, you are asked to find the answer to some question or supply some due diligence item prior to an investment. But the prospective investor does not provide specific requirements or leaves out certain key information items.
These requests typically come from the investor side, such as from a partner or associate at the VC, angel investor, or her attorney. They may, however, come from “your side” – an existing investor, board member, adviser, etc.
Next comes phase two in which the person who made the original request claims the item you conveyed does not satisfy their requirements. Therefore, they insist that you must go fetch another, similar item or one that is entirely different. This second phase effectively represents a partial or sometimes wholesale reset of the original request.
Hence, the exercise boils down to this: “In order to get my money…
Go fetch me this rock…
That’s not right… Go fetch me a rock that’s bigger and a different shape...
No, that’s not right either… Go fetch me a rock that’s shiny, smooth but with speckles...
And thus, you fetch many rocks. Ultimately, this information sharing process is frustrating – sometimes infuriating – and often a waste of time for both parties. It also begins to feel personal after a period of time instead of objective information sharing with the goal of making an informed decision.
Whose fault is this “go fetch a rock” exercise? The simple answer is both parties. The more complex answer is elusive.
When you field one of these asks, you may conclude that it’s a GFAR exercise, but it could be one or a combination of ways to:
Understand a startup with a complex business model, product or technology, or a large team,
Open a new area of inquiry or further negotiations,
Introduce a power-play of one party over the other,
Set up a period before a decision has to be made, i.e., “play for time”;
Deal with two people who are struggling – one trying to present material effectively and the other trying to understand it, or
Address the challenges of language and business/technology analysis on a basic human level.
Thus, the reasons behind GFARs can be wide ranging with different motivations or reasoning.
So, it comes down to this: As a startup founder or executive, how can you avoid, reduce, minimize, or eliminate instances of go fetch a rock. Here are five approaches that can help:
Accept the GFAR reality, and ‘go along, get along’ by just supplying the requested information or due diligence item.
Take a carefully selective approach to GFARs. Answer some questions or provide information to some requests, but don’t do the knee-jerk thing and automatically comply with every such question or request that comes in over the transom.
Politely communicate that you reject the GFAR exercise, knowing there are many investors out there and that you’ll likely be able to find one who’s less fond of making you jump through dumb hoops.
Turn the game around. Just like the investor who initiated the GFAR, play for more time in order to open up your options.
Run a parallel game. Create some busy work for the investor in order to stall for time. For example, ask for and run references from their portfolio.
It’s fun to dive deep into investment and negotiation behavior. For startup founders and execs, it’s important for them to be able to identify GFARs and deal with them directly. For investors, it’s all about avoiding accidental GFARs and knowing the consequences of embarking on this strategy.
With the changing world of seed financing, the growing angel investor population, and expanded information now available, discussions about GFARs are a good thing. I hope this helps.