1/25: It’s been 6-months since I posted a thread about the trend of early stage companies raising of 2-3 back-to-back rounds with minimal progress in-between. I asked some amazing VCs whether or not anything has changed since. They think it’s gotten worse. Their thoughts:

2/25: We still have the conversation with Founders every few weeks if not more often: “How much can you learn how quickly for how much money?” This is even true for first equity rounds which are the bigger problem for us right now. (@iamjakestream)

3/25: The why: Many large VCs are incented to put money to work because in they’re playing an AUM game and need to show their LPs they have access to all the “hot companies”. (@iamjakestream)

4/25: We have the Sisyphean task of convincing Founders that a $5MM seed check out of a $1B+ Fund isn't necessarily going to improve their chances of getting to product-market fit. It buys runway but doesn't always increase optionality --- it can actually hurt. (@iamjakestream)

5/25: Hectocorns! (100x 🦄) Valuations are outpacing our lexicon for exceptional business. We're realizing companies can reach heights nobody imagined possible a year ago. If you want to understand "crazy" seed round pricing, start from there and work backwards. (@Mark_Goldberg_)

How to build a target investor list using Crunchbase. 👇

First, you’ll need Crunchbase Pro. At $25/mo, not bad.

Then, I use Airtable, specifically the Linked Table feature.

Step 1: Go to Crunchbase and search for funding rounds (not companies), filter by relevant categories (for funded org), the right funding type (Eg seed), geo, and then do “announced after” and pick a date 2 or 3 years ago.

These are funding rounds by startups relevant to you.

Step 2: Export list to csv. Make sure you have the “investors” column in there.

Import csv to a new Airtable.

Step 3: Go to the “Investor Names” column > Edit Column Type > Link to another table > Create New (title it “Investors”).

What this does is separate the column by comma and create a new row for each investor in a new table.

Step 4: Go to linked “Investors” table. It should auto have a column w all the linked funding rounds. Create a “count” column on this.

Today's thread is a continuation on *how* you generate momentum in fundraising.

Here's a rough conversation I had with a founder (called 'C') over the course of days a few months back.

Read on >>

1) C: I'm having trouble raising. VC A and VC B are taking so long to get back to me.

Me: Oh, when did you meet w/ them?

C: 3 weeks ago.

2) Me: Oh, are you mtg w/ anyone else?

C: No, I got busy working. I had all these sales calls to make.

Me: That's the problem - there isn't a reason for them to move quickly. There's no investor at the table.

3) C: But I have all these sales calls to make!

Me: I really don't have a great answer for you here. This is probably the hardest part about fundraising - juggling your actual job w/ your fundraising job, which is full-time too.

4) Me: You need to hand off your sales calls to your co-founder. And then you can do mtgs back to back.

C: Ok...

[some time passes]

C: Ok - I'm ready.

Me: How much do you want to raise and what are you using the money for?

Last week, I wrote a thread about generating momentum for startups.

Today's thread is on how emerging fund managers can generate momentum for their fund.

Whatever you do, momentum is so impt to get ppl onboard -- for hiring, for sales, for fundraising.

Read on >>

1) First, why does momentum matter?

Think about it from the "buyer's perspective" -- it is almost ALWAYS better to wait and get more information if you can get the same deal. Right?

More info on a potential investment. More info on a new product. Etc.

2) There are few situations where it's impt to be a first mover.

If you're a product buyer, it could be you have a dire situation at your company that alternatives can't handle.

But if you have a decent alternative (alternative product or alt investment), it's better to wait.

3) That means it's YOUR JOB to create momentum. Whether for fundraising, sales, or hiring.

So with that in mind, how do you generate momentum for fund fundraising?

4) In a prior tweet about generating momentum for startup fundraising, essentially I said to limit your supply (the amnt you are raising) in tranches AND to increase demand by packing in mtgs.

Unfort this doesn't quite work well for funds.