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In 2015, I went out to fundraise as a first-time founder. I was recently graduated and had been working on my startup for a year full time.
Here's everything I did wrong:
Here's everything I did wrong:
First - I was pitching a product and not a vision.
Really hard to see it at the time, but I was so excited by what we were building that I was always pitching what we had built and not our vision of what the world should be.
Really hard to see it at the time, but I was so excited by what we were building that I was always pitching what we had built and not our vision of what the world should be.
Investors take bets on the future and ours wasn't all that compelling - we knew where we wanted to be in 2 years but not 10
With that, I got way too caught up in the implementation details and didn't tell enough of a story.
I don't think anyone really cared about the exact way we were going to acquire customers, they just needed to find a point of conviction that we could maybe do it at scale
I don't think anyone really cared about the exact way we were going to acquire customers, they just needed to find a point of conviction that we could maybe do it at scale
Almost milestones also don't count. No one cares that you're in the final round interview at an accelerator. No one cares that you *almost* are there on a key partnership.
I look back at some of my emails and cringe. Implementation details :)
I look back at some of my emails and cringe. Implementation details :)
I also gave away everything before meeting with investors. My pitch deck left me no room to 'surprise and delight'.
Investor meetings felt like sales pitches and not conversations about the business. IMO going through a deck during a meeting is a bad way to pitch
Investor meetings felt like sales pitches and not conversations about the business. IMO going through a deck during a meeting is a bad way to pitch
I also didn't have a good answer for "why me." And I think many (young) first time founders struggle with this as well.
I didn't have a track record, an ivy league degree, or worked previously at a large tech co..
I didn't have a track record, an ivy league degree, or worked previously at a large tech co..
I still don't have a good answer for why someone should have taken a bet on me as a 22-year-old kid.
In retrospect, I relied way too much on the product we had built to drive conviction (look what we can do) versus figuring out a way to pitch myself
In retrospect, I relied way too much on the product we had built to drive conviction (look what we can do) versus figuring out a way to pitch myself
To any first time founders reading this, my biggest recommendation is to build, argue, and learn in public via something like Twitter.
It's such a great way to build your brand (and meet people) when you've got a limited background and network
It's such a great way to build your brand (and meet people) when you've got a limited background and network
The other thing I did was meet with the wrong investors.
I think we had targeted a $1m seed round at the time (ya, ya it was 2015) but met with investors who were writing $3m+ checks. The economics for writing small checks just don't make sense for super large funds
I think we had targeted a $1m seed round at the time (ya, ya it was 2015) but met with investors who were writing $3m+ checks. The economics for writing small checks just don't make sense for super large funds
I should have met with more angel investors and micro funds, full stop.
Our largest investor ended up being an angel fund, hi @RebeccaDanta
!
Our largest investor ended up being an angel fund, hi @RebeccaDanta
!
I didn't have concrete answers to how I was going to deploy capital.
Even if an investor doesn't agree, have concrete answers and stand by them. At the end of the day, you're building the business, not them, and they're making a bet on you.
Even if an investor doesn't agree, have concrete answers and stand by them. At the end of the day, you're building the business, not them, and they're making a bet on you.
I also didn't realize how important having traction was for getting enough momentum to get the round done.
Find some angels who don't mind being the first committed check and leverage the hell out of that to get more checks in. It's a snowball effect
Find some angels who don't mind being the first committed check and leverage the hell out of that to get more checks in. It's a snowball effect
Last thing I wish I would have done more of: sending targeted cold emails and DMs. I can't say this enough but I fucking love Twitter for this reason.
With the right cold outreach, people respond.
With the right cold outreach, people respond.
Finally, fundraising is really, really hard. The media makes it look so easy but it's not.
I had >150 meetings and got >149 no's. It's a lonely process - finding great mentors and friends that you can lean on is so important.
And try to avoid the make the same mistakes I made!
I had >150 meetings and got >149 no's. It's a lonely process - finding great mentors and friends that you can lean on is so important.
And try to avoid the make the same mistakes I made!
Posted to my website: https://alexjcohen.com/everything-i-did-wrong-fundraising-as-a-first-time-founder/
