There is no fundraising magic*without structure

A roadmap to fundraising: From accepting where you are at, structuring & following a well designed game plan… to finally letting the universe unveil its magic.

*Magic refers to events that do not follow logic, sequential laws. This is the pilar behind the 60th gene key ,“The cracking of the Vessel”

I, like many, tend to rely a tad too much on magic and forget that “all things are subject to laws, and even magic cannot happen without structure”. We may be experts at going with the flow, we may even have such a strong will, that at the end things tend to somehow “work out”. At times, we may be celebrating a win that inheritedly comes from brute force and a huge opportunity cost: efficiency of your most precious resources; your time, energy and/or money.

The universe keeps reminding us that a river without limits does not flow, and that “Constantly swimming in a sea of boundless opportunity leads us to exhaustion” hence the 60th iChing.

My Cancer sun sign, Pisces rising, and Scorpio Midheaven did not invite any of its terrain friends to join in on my horoscope ride, but luckily I know how to spot my own limitations (or lack of) and of the inefficiencies that happen in a system; as well as the blessing of being able to recognize and bring together the earthy elements my avatar brothers and sisters have in their neutrino in order to contribute to the more discipline required attributes of the fundraising journey.

As we have now taken a peak into our limitations, it’s safe to say, in Gabrielle Bernsteins’ words “the universe has your back” and you can have access your very own 🤑 fundraising steps to manifestation spreadsheet here.

Make a copy of the spreadsheet and by following these steps you will be guided through the first channels of manifestation :

1. Create an exhaustive wishlist: in this tab you can include the names of investor that comes to mind or is suggested to you. As our partner Edson mentions in his text about the 6 principles of fundraising, fundraising can be a numbers game, therefore, you will need to relate to at least 50 investors per round.
2. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify: Use the suggested columns on the wishlist tab to qualify the investors in a manner that will best help you follow steps 3 & 4.
3. “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a Match”: on the same list evaluate who would be the most appropriate person in your network to make this intro. In order of priority, in usual circumstances, best intros come from 1)a portfolio company that has this investor on the cap table 2) VC’s LP 3)Astella or another VC on your cap table.
4. Prioritize:
   Now that you have your list qualified list ready with potential matchmakers, it’s time to feed your wishlist into these 4 groups:

*A list: “most likely and most desired to close” (perfect investor, you fit perfectly into their thesis, you have a close connection) → up to 10 names

*B list: (2nd Tier) Missing 1 of the 3 variables from the A list → up to 10 names

*C list (Safe Backups ): Only 1 of the 3 variables from the A list → up to 20 names

All in all, you should have no more than 50–100 investors on your wishlist. If you accumulate more names, you can maintain them as “extras” in the wishlist tab; to avoid dispersion, you can limit to up to 20 conversations at a time. Say goodbye to one before engaging with another.

You will need to go through these normal channels taken by any manifestation unless you have “a secret sauce”: incredible traction, incredible network and/or incredible market momentum. There is a great chance that there will be dissonance here between your perception and reality, so to play on the safe side its best to consider that your sauce does not hold a Michelin Star, thus you should go with the spreadsheet ;)

Now, that this is on the table, I can share in Richard Rudd’s words that “all laws eventually dissolve and falter. This can be seen throughout history- it can be seen in the inevitable decline of every great empire that has passed into form. It is important to understand that it is always the structure in itself that causes the decline. Structures are an essential part of life, however are expendable. Structures will always be necessary until form itself had been transmuted.” But we can leave this for another story….

Since you are now on your way to reach the siddhi of Justice, in the next chapter I will guide you with more best practices on how to best play the bass drum throughout your fundraising process, aiming towards Aurora.

Always remember: Even fundraising cannot happen without structure

Ps- The ideas from this article was adapted from Mark Suster and what I have absorbed about magic and fundraising from Edson Rigonatti and the team at Astella. 💫 You can read the text in Portuguese here!