The Last Three Mistakes Made By Startup Founders When Raising Money
Cash, surprises and logic are what to focus on as your fundraise draws to a close. Plus some thoughts on naming a price, and what really matters in startups
You’re CEO of a fast-growing startup, and you’re in the middle of a fundraising round. You’ve carefully considered whether you should raise the money yourself or use a professional intermediary. You’ve made sure to reach out to enough potential investors early on. You’ve qualified those investors to make sure they’re not wasting your time. And you’re aware of the signals and behavioural signs that indicate that the VCs you’re talking to are serious and moving forward at an appropriate pace. To sum up, your pipeline is appropriately full and it’s progressing at the right speed. What could go wrong?
As I argued in this primer on how to fundraise for a startup, four mistakes are commonly made by CEOs at the start of the process. They’re not hard to sidestep if you’re aware of them early enough. And your chances of success also go up significantly if you can predict whether a given potential investor is likely to close — a task that can be done using this simple checklist, which captures the important issues in the charmingly appropriate acronym F*CKWITS.
