7. Capital Sources
You hear a lot about…
• Venture Capital
• Angel Groups
• Crowdfunding
• Friends and Family
• Customers
• Accelerators
• Competitions
Not much about…
• SBA Loans and
Personal Debt
• Grants
• Corporate Venture
• Vendors or
Equipment Finance
• Bootstrapping
(creatively)
8. Growth trajectory of your business?
Lifestyle business
Personal raise – loan,
add folks to cap table
Growth oriented
business
Crowdfunding and
personal raise
High growth scalable
business
Venture capital
11. Amount to Raise
How much funding do you need?
•Basic financial model of
cost drivers and revenue
streams
•Forecast monthly for 18
months
•Fundraise rule of thumb:
12-18 months’ cash
How
Much
For
What
To
Prove
12. Use of Proceeds
What will you use the money for?
•Build out the product
•Grow the team
•Marketing
•Customer acquisition
•Working capital
How
Much
For
What
To
Prove
13. Milestones
What will be proven that de-risks the business?
•Product development
•Market demand
•Product / market fit
•Business model
•Execution
How
Much
For
What
To
Prove
See www.techcrunch.com/2015/06/24/running-out-of-money-isnt-a-milestone
17. Target List of Investors
Stage Location
Industry
Vertical
Business
Model
Investment
Thesis
Social /
Trust Filter
18. Socialize
•Get warm intros
• Find strongest mutual connections to 30+ potential
investors
• Network over 2-3 months
•Ask for referrals, not money
•Refine pitch
• Incorporate feedback, but avoid whiplash changes
“I’m not ready to raise”
“Who would be helpful?”
“Who else should I talk to?”
19. Raise: Go for the Ask
•Talk to your top candidates at the same time
• Run conversations in parallel
• Decide whether / when to tell investors about each other
•Create urgency
• Anchor investor acts as the first domino
• “Triggering events” to get a (or better) term sheet
20. Closing the Deal
•Rolling close vs. set close
•Reference check investors
•Not done until money is in the
bank
Key terms
Board composition
Option pool
Voting rights
Founder vesting
Change of control
Redemption rights
Information rights
Anti-dilution
21. Structure
Preferred Stock
• Preferences over common
• Board seat or 2
• Option pool
• Liquidation preference- they
get their $ first
• Control over sale, new
Convertible Debt
• Debt that becomes preferred
equity when you raise it
• No valuation, but the “cap” is
a valuation ceiling
• Interest accrues, rate <10%
• Conversion discount
24. Valuation & Dilution
?
$12
$30$6
$15
Seed A B
Valuation ($M) Dilution: what’s your end stake?
$1M raise $6M raise $15M raise
37%
See www.ownyourventure.com
Raise $1M on $5M pre
33%Raise $1M on $3M pre
34%Raise $1.5M on $5M pre
25. How Long Does it Take?
•Longer than you expect
• 3-6 months
•Speed limited by access to investors
• Your ability to find them
• Their calendar availability (surprisingly hard)
• Bigger raises = more diligence (up to 30 days)
…3 key periods in my professional life (1. Background, 2. Startups, 3. Angel Investing)
First 10 years of professional life in NY
Came to New England, thinking a great place to go to school
…but never left
Next 15 years
Dumb luck: 1000+ amazing people, 5 startups/5 acquisitions
My startup perspective shaped by where I’ve been
Past 5 years – lucky to invest in other people
Small checks - very early/seed level
My motivation: networking/connections, sharing expertise (less financial)
Focus: software, disproportionate knowledge, ONE THIRD in women
Developed pattern recognition – what works and what doesn’t
Fundraising 101 – How-to
Past examples:
How do I get funding in an industry when it’s out of favor (ad tech)?
There’s lots of U.S. investment in clean tech. How do I connect with investors?
Bootstrap, crowdfunding too
Local angels and angel groups
Seed stage VC firms
Corporate VC arms
Trends
Angels alongside VCs
Syndicates
Contracts / financing terms
Valuation methods – tech vs. knowledgeable
First time entrepreneurs
Out of 10 investments:
1 home run ($1B+ exit, >10x capital) – IS YOUR STARTUP ONE OF THEM?
2-3 modest returns (2-3x capital)
The rest WILL FAIL
Investors must
* Own significant stake
* Be able to change the team
How much & who from?
Not simply $500k, $1M
Not simply 18 months
Not simply salaries / costs
Use of proceeds – pretty straightforward
Buying information to de-risk
How de-risk: what do you need to discover in order to de-risk the business?
Can you build it, do people want it/traction, execution, etc.
Confirm problem / solution fit?
Find customer acquisition model that ROCKS?
Test differing pricing models?
These are “Milestones”, but the term is often misunderstood
Fundraising 101 – How-to
Also:
Cap table
Pitch materials
WHO
Strategy/approach
Targets (broader than capital sources slide): Mix of angels vs. VCs vs. funds vs. syndicates, People, F&F, Banks, Partners
Current investors to pull in new investors
Stage / investment amount
Location: HQ vs. your location
Business model: B2B Enterprise, B2B SMB, B2C
Investment thesis – type of innovation : business or technical risk
HOW: Intros
FOMO: momentum is a good thing
Optics: oversubscribe
First investors vs. last investors
Example – you own 100% of company, raising your first $1M, what valuation?
$5M 37%
$3M 33%
$1.5M raise @$5M 34%
Valuation grows in step functions
Less important than you think: don’t poison the relationship with greed
Professional investors will offer a reasonable range
Down rounds are ugly
Example – you own 100% of company, raising your first $1M, what valuation?
$5M 37%
$3M 33%
$1.5M raise @$5M 34%
Valuation grows in step functions
Less important than you think: don’t poison the relationship with greed
Professional investors will offer a reasonable range
Down rounds are ugly
When to start? Raise when you can, not when you need to.
Don’t get disheartened before you hit your goal: Don’t make a goal “miss” be your first fail
Like getting married
But hiring someone who can fire you
People lessons
Pitch lessons
Need both – otherwise the investor is left guessing
Path to the summit will change: pivot
Presentation flow: fireside chat (end big), exec sum (start big)
You shout or your slides shout?
My 30-minute checklist (it takes me longer to interview someone)
Think broad – internal consistency of levers
Find your gaps
…Starts by knowing yourself
Broad vs. narrow lever
Very handy when recruiting team members
…Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a company
Where connections (mini-PayPal mafia)
Bonds with people, not companies
Foreign concept for many
College friend worried I couldn’t KEEP a job
Everyone is 1 degree away
Don’t be shy: Investors need you as much