Finding your passion and turning it into a lucrative business is no simple feat. The amount of competition is high and the rate of success low, which is why oftentimes investors are needed to get things off the ground. But how to do you go about getting an investor, how much do you ask for, and how do you pitch someone your idea?

Professional investors Jim Scheinman of Maven Ventures and Josh Elman of Greylock Partners tackled these questions on this week’s “Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg on SiriusXM,” and listened to three budding entrepreneurs pitches for their ideas, giving them priceless professional feedback.

Here are their thoughts on the world of investing:

On billionaire Peter Thiel’s belief that college is unnecessary:  ” You can have this amazing experience and set your network for life in college.”— Josh

“The American educational system is broken—that needs to be addressed. But the answer is not to drop out. You make life long friends and gain an educational experience. But we do have to address the underlying problems.” —Jim

On companies like Blueseed that are stationed in international waters to combat US visa problems: “We all recognize that great ideas and great talent are coming from everywhere in the world. Immigration is an important issue that we’re working on fixing.”— Josh

“At the very least it’s going to bring to the forefront a topic that we need to talk about and extend the Silicon Valley need for outside talent.”—Jim

On the European cellphone ban lift on planes: “There’s the issue of common courtesy in small spaces. Carrying on a loud conversation is not the most polite thing.”—Josh

“You often get stuck with two people gabbing behind you anyway.”—Jim

On when to look investors: “You don’t need to raise a lot of money. First understand the product. In the early stages, focus on raising money for salaries.”—Jim

On who to ask for money: “Friends and family are a great place to start. Or use your own money. Work for free or for $100,000 you can hire a team for a year.”—Jim

“So many opportunities to raise money: AngelList, Kickstarter, crowd-funding.”—Jim

On when to seek out venture capitalists: “By the time someone is trying to raise money they should have a really good idea of what they are making, proof that it’s been put in the hands of people, and that people want to use it. Bring that service to billions.” —Josh

“When they find the right match, they’re bring a partnership to their team. Not just a funder.”—Josh

“You’re not just hiring a board member. They become your partner in that business you get a strategic partner.”—Josh

Caller Jocelyn pitched her idea for a medical device that measures the amount of pain of patient is in. Josh and Jim responses:

“How is this problem already being solved?”—Josh

“There’s a massive market for this. Everyone has pain at various times at their life.”—Jim

“Crowdfunding is a great way to figure out if you have customers.”—Josh

“Do people want it? Can you get it in their hands? You can sense demand that way.”—Josh

On becoming an angel investor: “Through AngelList, you can actually invest not just support.”—Jim

“Invest alongside the entrepreneurs with as little $1000 to work with professional investors to understand how we think about it. “—Jim

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a dangerous sport right now.”—Jim

On common mistakes when pitching: “Many companies lack of a clear artistic vision. Is the product worth fighting for? Are you passionate about your idea? Is the passion about the idea worth bringing into the world?”—Jim

“Starting a company is the hardest thing you’re going to do for the rest of your life.”—Jim

“When things are down you’re going give up. It’s human nature. With a startup, you can’t.”

“Make sure you have the right team. It’s best to partner with different skill sets and have a clear tech lead. A very strong coder.”—Jim

“Have focus. Choose only ONE thing to focus on.”—Jim

“Have a big vision and big picture of the world and the problem you want to solve.”—Josh

“Ask ‘why now? What is it about the world today that needs my product?’”—Josh

“Ask ‘Why me? Why should I be telling this story?’”—Josh

“People worry both too much and not enough about numbers. We want to see the projections for how you think it’s going to look but you can’t predict how much money you’re going to make.”—Josh

Caller Eileen got feedback for her company The Glassbreakers, a woman mentor-matching project:

“Are you serving a need that will grow? Focus either on your consumer business, putting together women who are mentors and mentees, or toward the enterprising software.”—Jim

“What type of business are you building? Social consumer or selling to enterprise?”—Josh

“Choose one. If you go on parallel paths you probably going to fail at both.”— Jim

“The key questions are how big a company will we be and how much will people pay on consumer side?”—Josh

Caller Emerson got feedback regarding his startup, StudyRoom, connecting classmates and providing tutors:

“Make sure students are engaged, make sure it sticks. If you see the need, demand grows.’—Josh

“We’ve seen 7 or 8 companies in this space. When there are a lot of companies already out there, it’s a challenge to invest in one. Why is that the case? Wrong idea? Wrong time? Was tech not there? Or is it a problem not worth solving?”—Jim

“It’s hard to get people to learn a new habit. How do people currently solve this problem? You can find a tutor anywhere.”—Jim

“I can’t live without Twitter. It’s my pipe to the world.”—Josh

“NextDoor. It’s Facebook for neighborhood updates and questions.

If you lose a dog, post it on NextDoor and neighbors will match it back to the owner. It’s a feeling of community.” —Josh

“I invested in Epic— to inspire the next generation of readers.”—Josh

“Shots. It’s a selfie-based network for young adults where it’s safe from bullying.”—Jim

Join “Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg on SiriusXM” next Wednesday when we discuss health and technology. Only on SiriusXM, Business 111 at 9am PST/12EST.

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