More from Ideas
Why do companies like Quibi raise billions, while companies like Peloton get nothing?
Because fundraising is a GAME
And the insiders keep the rules to themselves.
Here are 100 tips the insiders donât want you to see but will help you win the game:
1. You canât play the game without nailing the basics.
There are 5 core ingredients to a startup pitch.
Most have 2.
Good ones have 4.
The best have all 5.
There\u2019s a lot of bad advice out there on how to pitch your startup.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) April 10, 2021
Last year, I invested $1M+ and heard 200 companies pitch.
Every great pitch I've heard nails 5 ingredients.
In this thread, we'll go through each to help maximize your chances when fundraising
Let's dig in\U0001f447 pic.twitter.com/FBaUUWHz8L
2. Now that you have a grasp of the basics, itâs time to level up.
Good news - most founders make the same mistakes as each other.
Bad news - these mistakes are really easy to make.
Here's what not to do:
0/ After evaluating 200+ startups this year, I've been in some awesome and not so awesome pitches.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) December 28, 2020
Here are the top 10 mistakes I see Founders make that routinely derail fundraising \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
3. Ok so you told me what not to do.
So what should I do?
Read below.
0/ Last night I tweeted about the top 10 things Founders do that derail fundraising. It struck a chord. 2,500+ liked the tweet.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) December 30, 2020
I got a ton of DMs asking the opposite question: \u201cWhat are the top things Founders do well when fundraising?\u201d
Here's my top 10 \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
4. Weâre in a really unique fundraising environment right now.
Itâs important to contextualize all these tips in the âhere and nowâ of whatâs going on in the landscape.
Raising money for startups is wild right now. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) May 5, 2021
Lots of Founders are wondering how to approach it and who they should partner with.
Here are 10 observations / practical tips I've shared with 100+ Founders in the last few months \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
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Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, âXâ could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- âFeel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- âFeel that weâre in a good place as a companyâ
- âFeel that weâre on the same pageâ
- âFeel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we arenât that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders donât know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is âwhat would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?â
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.