As an entrepreneur raising funding, it’s easy to get into the mentality of pitching to anyone who will listen, but an active discussion amongst the investment community has sparked considerable debate on whether or not entrepreneurs should be more respectful of the chain of command. Should startups be pitching associates directly or should they be waiting for general partners to take notice?

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Yesterday Venture Hacks sent out an update on Twitter quoting Sweepery founder Matt Oesterle’s statement, “Associates at VC firms can be your greatest advocates to partners, not roadblocks.”

VP of Strategy and Business Development at Slide Keith Rabois responded with multiple comments on how True Venture, Khosla, Sequoia and Benchmark don’t depend on associates for introductions. Said Rabois, “The best VC’s do not even have associates.”

Naturally, a number of associates chimed in. Most notably, Bessemer Venture Partners’ Sarah Tavel directed readers to her blog post about junior associates as a firm’s frontline and Senior Associate at Spark Capital Rob Go responded with a post on the advantages of connecting with associates.

The one thing that the group seems to agree on is the fact that quality introductions to GP’s are the key to landing a serious meeting. The issue is, what constitutes a quality introduction and who are the best advocates? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Aidan Jones

Discuss

I probably don’t have to tell you that people are very interested in socializing online these days. New research from PR Agency Ruder Finn shows that 72% of people go online just to become part of a community.

If that’s not a testimonial for social media marketing, I don’t know what is. The agency’s research is actually a look at online behavior and user intent.

"Intent is the new demographic," says Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO. "Delving deeper into the underlying motivations of online behavior is critical to developing proactive strategies. Just being online is not enough to leverage digital channels to drive business imperatives. Audiences must be targeted based upon their intent."

Michael Schubert, Chief Innovation Officer overseeing digital strategy at Ruder Finn says, "The way the Internet has allowed us to share knowledge laterally instead of up the chain of command requires a new way of thinking about our online communications. The Intent Index underscores the importance of knowing what people seek, and how we, as communicators, can intersect with what they’re looking for."

The Intent index is based on a study that asked participants how frequently they go online for 295 different reasons. The index is updated quarterly.

I’ll leave you with a bunch of statistics:

- More than twice as many people go online to socialize (81%) than to do business (39%) or shop (31%).

- Women (48%) are much more likely than men (39%) to go online to advocate for an issue or position.