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Fundraising is a numbers game...
Just met a founder who pitched over 400 VCs to close their pre-seed.
After one yes, they closed their round in 3 weeks.
Your early believers are out there.
— Haley Bryant 💛 (@haleymbryant)
7:30 PM • Apr 10, 2024
Today’s newsletter will be less about practical advice and instead focus on reminding you of a key fact about fundraising that should influence your mindset: It’s all a numbers game.
Many founders get dejected when they hear 10, 20, 50, 100+ investors say NO. The cruel truth however is that there are thousands of investors out there and you only need one of them to say YES to get your company to the next stage of its development.
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I fully understand that hearing things like this doesn’t instantly make the difficult and trying process of fundraising easier, but I do hope that it reminds you that you are always one meeting away from realizing your dream.
The cruel part of fundraising is that it’s a game where you are always down by one goal but the clock never runs out. Either you score, or you give up; there is no other option.
My story
Many of you know that I’ve raised for my own startup; the first company I tried to raise for, I had hundreds of meetings over 15+ months; I got as far as verbal agreements, but nothing ever came through. I never succeeded.
I often talk about how I raised money in under a month after finishing my Masters. One of the things I leave out is that the investor who backed me was someone I had originally sent a cold email to years before and who rejected my first company.
The reason I share this is because while these meetings might start to seem like a waste of time. You are building knowledge and connections. If you stick with your current company and raise then it will all pay off. But even if you leave behind this idea and move on to another one, the network you’ve built will help you succeed.
How many rejections have you had from investors? |
Investor-ready Startup Financials
Keeping up with your startup’s numbers can be a mess, especially as investors start requesting them.
We are running a 1-week LIVE workshop that covers:
How to forecast startup growth based on real-world data
Budgeting rounds of funding, and how long the capital should last
Defining + tracking your Core KPIs
Preparing an investor-proof startup proforma
Our alumni have gone out to raise over $300M in venture capital.
Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:
📢 Promote your startup to 2,000+ VCs including investors from a16z, YC, Techstars, Rarebreed, Sequoia and more.
📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)
📺 Access FundraiseOS, the ultimate fundraising course with video lessons and practical worksheets helping with everything from deciding how much to raise to understanding a term sheet.
💸 Promote your product or service to 100,000+ entrepreneurs.
🌐 Connect with me on LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter) to get access to new content about startups, fundraising, venture capital and more every day.
Onwards and Upwards,
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