I was reading techcrunch and came upon this article

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/13/how-to-pitch-vc/

Now admittedly I am not the foremost expert on pitching to VCs, though I’ve had the luxury of doing so on several occasions. This article gives some good broad strokes on pitching to venture capitalists, yet I believe it misses the ‘relationship’ part of the deal. You’re not pitching a product, you’re pitching a relationship, which means you need to know more about your partner.

1. First, tell the investor why your company is of strategic value to the investor. In other words, if the investor has a portfolio company in the same industry as you, which would make a great partnership opportunity, cite these overlapping incentives. You might even want to chat with the strategic portfolio company before you pitch the VCs.
2. Find allies on the VC team. You aren’t going to sell the entire team on your idea, but you can convince at least one team member to “champion” your cause. Ask the VCs a question such as “how long will petroleum be a feasible energy source” and “has your firm invested in alternative energy solutions?” in order to find out who on their team answers, gets excited, and is worth contacting later on.
3. Create a next step during the pitch. For example “We are hosting an alternative energy fund raiser this Friday, I would like to invite your team”. There are no rules stating you can’t invite the investors to social events. In fact, at the IVCA several VCs unanimously agreed they would never fund an anti-social entrepreneur.

I also confess that, should your product already have exponential growth and a ton of press, you may not need to spend as much energy creating relationships with the investors, since investors might just court you. Likewise, if one VC firm champions your startup, the second or third firm included in your current round of funds will not need to be courted quite as much. Yet I am a big believer in creating a relationship as being just as significant in securing investment presenting your product.