The most powerful tool you have in closing an investor is fear of missing out (FOMO). FOMO only occurs when you have momentum in the round. Once you get that momentum, you start closing investors and a virtuous circle begins, increasing FOMO and carrying you to a great round. Here’s three ways to build momentum when you’re fundraising for your startup.
Setting a low round target does 2 things: first it broadens the number of investors who can participate in the round, increasing competition. Second, the round looks almost closed with even a small amount of investment. You can always increase the size of the round later as demand catches up. The only cost of this approach is creating a credible business plan for each successive target.
For example, you only need one investor with $50k to be half full in a $100k round. Conversely, if you tell an investor you’re raising $3M and have $50k raised, the situation seems less attractive. When you start getting yeses you can increase the size of the round in stages and still have the majority raised at all times.
You can also build momentum by getting smaller investors to earmark parts of the round. This usually comes in the form of new, angel investors and existing investors participating with their pro rata (or more). Ask the investor if they’d like to reserve a spot while they decide? If you get a verbal yes, you can’t give that space to another investor and thus more of the round is now ‘earmarked’, ‘spoken for’ or ‘wrapped up’.
For example, say you’re raising $500k and currently have $150k committed. When talking to a new and interested investor, Investor-A, you ask their usual check size, which is $100k. Next, ask if they want you to hold that space for them while they decide, as the round is filling up. If Investor-A says ‘Yes’, then going forward you can’t offer that space to any other investors. Thus, your round is now half full.
One of the hardest parts of fundraising is hearing noes. Your fear of these noes can hinder momentum. All great companies get a lot of rejections during fundraising and being willing to push for a decision will actually help your process. Leaving a potential investor for weeks in the maybe column will almost certainly result in a no. Follow up regularly with updates but don’t blast everyone with fake success to push for an immediate decision.
To avoid hassling a deciding investor without cause, your follow ups should be focused on good news. Provide updates on new investors, or reservations, in the round, customer wins and product launches. At the end of each email you can ask if they’ve decided or need anything else. Eventually, you have to give a deadline to avoid dragging out the conversation too long. Even if that leads to a ‘no’, it’s still progress.
Hi Joe,
Wanted to quickly share some great news, the team closed Hooli today and the contract should be signed next week. Let me know if you have any questions or if you’ve come to a decision?
Thanks
Ash
Raising money for your startup is a grueling test for any founder but it gets better once you have momentum. Making use of these strategies makes it easier to get started and increases your chances of getting the round you need.
Thanks to Duncan Davidson, Pejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson and Kaego Rust for reading drafts of this.
About Me
Cofounder & CEO @SendHub (Cameo Global), Faculty @AlchemistAcc. Alum@YCombinator, @UniofOxford. Prev: @Klout (Lithium), @OneRiot (Walmart). IG: ashrust
Re-tweet post - https://twitter.com/AshRust/status/778278891886477312
Original Post - https://medium.com/@ashrust/how-to-get-momentum-when-fundraising-6826ba8c52e2#.9q1cz4z89