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Having Trouble Raising Money?
Fundraising is rarely easy and is usually a far underestimated undertaking by entrepreneurs that haven’t done it before. In the fundraising section of this blog, I describe ways of approaching the...
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Getting to Closure with an Interested Investor
Some investors want to be the last one to commit and few want to be the first. It’s mostly a safety and survival technique. Think about it from their perspective. The first investors to write you a...
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Consider Everything Short of a “Yes” a “No”
I recently heard Dr. Robert Wiltbank from Willamette University use this analogy and loved it so much I had to share it with others. Entrepreneurs are, by nature, very optimistic. It’s one of their...
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When Prospective Investors are Looking for Predictability
If you’re fundraising during the very early formation of your company, your ability to predict the future will be very difficult. Of course, you can imagine and dream what might happen. But many...
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Convertible Note Basics
This post isn’t intended to get into all the details of convertible note mechanics. But I get enough questions about when to use them and what the basic components are that I thought a basic primer was...
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Pitch Deck Flow (Topic Order)
There are a few different philosophies about this but the flow I prefer to use/see and what I encounter most often is as follows: Problem What problem do you solve? (see related post) Market What...
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Use Storytelling to Describe the Problem You Solve
In a previous blog post I suggested the proper flow and order of topics for your pitch deck (see post here). Now I’d like to dive into the Problem section with a suggestion on how to describe the...
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How Much Should You Raise?
Hopefully you are reading this before you decide how much to raise. If you’ve already decided and communicated how much you are raising, you might be getting the obvious follow up question: “Why is...
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Justifying the Cap Amount in Your Convertible Note
In a previous blog post I explained what convertible notes are and when they are commonly used (see post titled Convertible Note Basics). Now I’d like to dive into one of the most controversial terms...
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Investors’ Research Varies Widely Before Making a Decision
It stands to reason that each investor is different in the way they go about making their investment decisions, both in terms of time spent and the type of research conducted. One thing you want to...
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Boosting Valuation Before You Have Revenue Traction
Once you have a product in the market with an increasing number of paying customers, your valuation will increasingly be driven based on financial metrics. Don’t get me wrong, establishing a financial...
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Reviewing the New SAFE Investment Instrument
Recently made available by Y Combinator, the SAFE investment instrument is intended to improve on the highly popular convertible note used by startups during the seed stage or as a short-term bridge...
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The “Yeah, Right” Rule
Similar to the “So What” rule, every time you make a claim, prediction or forecast, imagine your audience is thinking to themselves “yeah, right!” in skeptical fashion immediately after seeing/hearing...
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Answering the “Exit Strategy” Question
You’ve just completed a great investor pitch with heads nodding and good interaction. You’re about to ask “Does this opportunity interest you enough to explore an investment?” when instead you get a...
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Extending Your Convertible Note
You didn’t plan for it to happen this way but you’re reaching the maturity date (end of term) on your convertible note and didn’t raise money in an equity round to cause a natural conversion (called a...
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Setting the Max Authorized Amount on Your Convertible Note
Let’s assume you have already determined $500K is the ideal amount of money to raise in your current fundraising round (see related blog post titled “How Much Should You Raise”) and you’ve also decided...
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Your Elevator Pitch Only Needs to Accomplish One Thing
There’s a reason it’s referred to as an “elevator pitch” – it must be expressed in a couple of sentences and no more than 10 seconds. And that might even be a little generous. Psychologist Michael...
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Estimating Your Market Size
It’s a necessary element of your business plan and pitch deck. It’s a question you’ll get asked all the time by investor prospects. And it’s something you’ll find yourself defending, even if much of...
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Investors Write Checks for Outcomes, Not Activities
In a previous article, I described various ways to determine how much money to raise (you can read it here). If you’ve decided and communicated how much you are raising, you might be getting the...
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10 Basic Fundraising Terms You Must Understand
Every field of study has its basic vocabulary of words and phrases that come up over and over again. This vocabulary is so fundamental that it is used to explain other concepts that are more advanced....
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