Given how few deals partners at Series A firms do on an annual basis, it's critical to ensure you're targeting the right partners, not just the right firms. One way to combat this is to beef up and leverage your appendix slides so you can go deeper on the areas that matter most for that particular investor. Know the materials and messaging cold so that you can easily adjust on the fly. While there certainly are some commonalities, each investor that you're pitching is going to focus on different aspects of the business and it's important to read your audience and adjust your pitch accordingly. What was the most challenging aspect of raising a round of funding? How did you combat that? The feedback we received on our pitch deck and delivery from our seed investors prior to pitching our Series A targets was invaluable. We did a few practice rounds with the partners at our lead seed investor (NextView Ventures) and it was clear to me that the expectations were going to be much higher for a Series A pitch. The bar is so high, particularly for the Series A round, that it's absolutely critical to tell a really tight story supported by strong metrics that effectively show the business's early traction and how you will inevitably become dominant. The importance of really crisp storytelling, all the way from the initial intro messaging through the pitch deck. Raised $3.5M Series A in September 2016, led by Bessemer Venture Partners It will enable us to accelerate our learning process and shorten how long it will take to get to the next stage. How do you think this round of funding will impact the company in the long-term? They will support you in many ways over time with experience and capital. fundraising as fast as possible).īy doing much of the work up front with the existing investors, ensuring that the process was run as efficiently as possible.Īny advice you'd give to other startups raising funding? What was the most challenging aspect of raising a round of funding?Ĭontrolling timing and minimizing the distraction from executing on the business. After getting the first strong commitment from a great investor, the process got much easier. Was there a moment where this lesson clicked for you?ĭuring my first fundraising experience. To have world-class existing investors when leading your next round of funding is a great signal and very powerful. Your existing investors are extremely important. What was the most important lesson you learned while raising your recent round of funding? Raised $11M Series B in July 2016, led by Bain Capital Ventures We caught up with a few Boston-based entrepreneurs who recently went through the process to find out the lessons they learned while raising their most recent round of funding. And once you become partners, you’re on business journey that requires an expansive amount of time and energy. Venture capital firms and angel investors often want to see skyrocketing financial projections with little risk before taking a chance on a tech company. Raising funding for your startup can be incredibly stressful.
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