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Founder’s Playbook: Raising Venture Capital
- 1. Founder’s Playbook Raising VentureCapital Columbus Startup Week 2018
- 2. Fundraising is HARD. RepeatFounder 1st-time Founder $$$ $$$
- 3. Helping founders scalefaster May 2018 – Columbus Startup Week 3 Early Stage Practice, NYC Silicon Valley Bank @ijakemendel Consumer Tech, CPG, Fintech, B2B SaaS, Life Sciences + more Our clients raised >$118M in early stage funding in Q1 Work with >1,000 Seed & Pre-Seed founders in NYC Bank >50% of all VC funds & venture- backed companies FOUNDER’S PLAYBOOK: RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL
- 4. Entrepreneur-turned-banker 4 FOUNDER’S PLAYBOOK: RAISINGVENTURE CAPITAL Helping founders craft “problem- statements” at a workshop with IDEO in San Francisco.
- 5. Purpose and Goal VCFUNDRAISING 101 ▸ Fundraising forces you to articulate three things: Why You + Why Now + Why this Problem = How will you generate a venture-scale return ▸ Goal: Help you qualify investors, get high-quality intros, pitch prep effectively & run a fundraising process.
- 6. Disclaimers ▸ This isnot one size fits all; every deal is different. ▸ This assumes that you have decided that raising institutional capital is right for you -- it’s not for every company. ▸ All investors are unique, just as are all founders. ▸ Data in this deck is Ohio focused - fundraising and VC Funds differ dramatically by region. ▸ Data in this deck is based on 2016-2018 trends. Fundraising and valuation norms shift yearly. VC FUNDRAISING 101
- 7. START BY ASKINGYOURSELF: ▸ What round am I raising and why am I raising? ▸ When’s the best time? ▸ How do I qualify investors? ▸ What does a lead investor do? ▸ How do I get an intro to a VC? ▸ How should I prep for VC meeting #1? ▸ What should be in my deck? ▸ What other resources are out there? VC FUNDRAISING 101
- 8. WHAT ROUND AREYOU RAISING? Pre-Seed Seed Series A <$500K $500K-$2M $2M-$5M ▸ Pre-product ▸ Team is key metric ▸ Angels, F&F, accelerators (non- institutional VC) ▸ Unpriced round ▸ <10- 20% dilution ▸ Product launched (at least a beta) ▸ Early traction is + ▸ Mix of Seed VCs, Angel Groups, ▸ Either note or priced round ▸ 10-25% dilution ▸ Product is scaling ▸ Traction signals product/market fit Institutional Series A+ investors w/ a lead ▸ Priced round ▸ 20%+ dilution *based on VentureOhio 2017 Report Round Size Traction TERMINOLOGY
- 9. PICK THE RIGHTTIME TO RAISE Insider Tips ▸ Avg. raise takes 3-6 months ▸ Avoid closing during the holidays ▸ Matters less at early-stage PROCESS PLAYBOOK
- 10. YOUR RAISE ISA SALES FUNNEL Identify 30 qualified investors Find best introductions and batch your meetings Refine your pitch after each meeting until you close a lead Use Lead as momentum to close rest of round PROCESS PLAYBOOK
- 11. 11 Qualify your listof investors Does this fund invest at your Stage? Stage Does this fund invest invest in Your geography? Location Does this fund invest in your Industry/sector? Sector What size check will they write? Size Is this fund still actively making investments? Vintage Has this fund invested in any competitive co’s Activity PROCESS PLAYBOOK
- 12. START WITH ALEAD INVESTOR ▸ Lead investors = tipping point ▸ Lead sets terms for round ▸ Board seat (maybe at seed, usually at Series A) ▸ Check size matters (usually >1/3 round size) ▸ It’s okay to ask if a fund leads PROCESS PLAYBOOK Credit: Ryan Caldbeck @ryan_caldbeck
- 13. 13 Not all introductionsare made equal Spectrum of VC Intros Strong Neutral Weak Founders they previously invested in Trusted Partner (Existing Investor, SVB, Attorney, Accelerator) Cold Outreach (Direct or Indirect) Other VC that passed – Don’t ask for this! PROCESS PLAYBOOK
- 14. HOW TO PREPFOR VC MEETING #1 ▸ Have a pitch deck & one pager prepped ▸ Have a thesis on why this investor is a fit ▸ Don’t ask for an NDA at the outset. ▸ Know that you’re not going to get a check today. PREPARING TO PITCH ▸ Don’t use it! The best pitches are conversations ▸ If you don’t, neither will the investor you’re meeting ▸ Typically not applicable until due diligence ▸ Every fund has a unique decision process – ask!
- 15. At a minimum,your deck should include: 15 Problem Solution Team Market Size Competition Traction DECK BEST PRACTICES
- 16. Qualifier Meeting Follow-Up Meeting Decision Meeting Term Sheet Sign& Close Final Negotiation DON’T EXPECT A CHECK AFTER MEETING #1 FROM FIRST MEETING TO CLOSE
- 17. TRANSLATING A VC’SDECISION TO PASS Can mean any of the following: ▸ Company is too early ▸ Doesn’t feel a fit with team ▸ Lack of capital to deploy ▸ Competitive Investments ▸ Concern on sub-sector FEEDBACK, SIGNALS & WHEN TO SWITCH GEARS TEST LEARN IMPROVE
- 18. Programs to accelerateyour growth *Data from Pitchbook – Accelerators/Incubators with most Ohio-HQ’d portfolio companies in 2016-2018 18 Accelerators & Incubators
- 19. YOU’VE RAISED MONEY? CELEBRATE& GET BACK TO WORK! Q&A