• Simplify Everything!
  • Your valuation / forecast / legal docs / cap table / pitch deck. Simplify it all!
  • So many founders overdo things early.
  • Focus on customers, revenue and PM fit! Not ops.
• Why are you awesome?
  • If you don’t know, and can’t pitch with power - work it out!
  • Maybe it’s your life’s work, some incredible IP, market expertise, what ever it is. Double down on it and pitch with passion and conviction.
• Find great investors
  • Ask investors about their recent investments to better understand who is likely to invest. They should be able to tell you the companies by name and how they’ve helped the startup. If they don't invest, focus your time on finding people who will.
• Be a line, not a dot
  • A dot is one meeting, one email, its so hard to get investment from this. It's like getting married on the first date. A line is multiple meetings, dots joining together, multiple monthly updates, being well known in a community, or relationships that span rounds. This is how you get funded.
  • Accelerators and incubators are great for this but are often wasted. Cohort members do heaps of great work but then think that by presenting on demo day they will get investment. This does not work well. If you want investment on demo day, start 'making lines' with investors for the whole 2-6 months of the program.
  • You need to show track record, execution, and that you can achieve and deliver on what you promise.
  • Monthly updates are the key here. Batko's template is the best around. Use it and tweak it as you like!
  • Then get meetings, and follow up. Build relationships. Show that you listen, learn, deliver results. This is the KEY!!
  • Be careful not to spend time on investors that will never invest. This is not easy to work out but there are some ways to help yourself. Make sure that the investors invest in your space. Ask them about their recent investments and check them against yours
• Simple resources
  • Gsuite for Docs, Sheets, Slides and for your dataroom
  • Cake for you cap table 🎂
  • Startup accountant and lawyer - so you get Startup specific advice that is fast and affordable and doesn't have to be fixed up later. If you're not sure then ask the Cake team to meet one of ours, they're awesome, simple and fast. Book a chat with our team here.
• Avoid a Valuation? SAFE
  • There are great benefits to SAFEs and Notes. You can do a rolling close. Valuation is off the table. Legal costs are usually lower.
  • You do need to be careful though as they can convert at high % if the next round is not an 'up round' and you haven't done your modelling carefully.
  • See Legal Templates for more details.