Increase the Odds of Getting Your Startup Funded
Hit these milestones before you pitch your first VC
There are a lot of reasons why your startup might have trouble raising money. But in my experience, most of those problems are self-inflicted and can be avoided.
I’ve done almost every combination of funding path you can imagine — I’ve done pure self-funding all the way to acquisition, pure VC from the very first stages, and everything in between. There is no single path to fit every startup, but if you want to retain more control, and a greater return at exit, you should always put off raising money as long as you can.
Not only will you increase your odds of getting the money, but you’re going to get better terms. Every time.
What’s more, when I say “raise money,” I don’t just mean putting together the ubiquitous pitch deck and knocking on the digital doors of venture capital firms. I also mean angel investment, friends and family investment, even handing out equity options to co-founders and early employees.
So here are four times a startup tries to raise money too early, and how waiting will increase your odds of getting the funding you actually need.
