JESR’s Post

How to win over angel investors in a changed fundraising landscape - EU-Startups. Check out this deep dive on what motivates investors 👇 Link: https://lnkd.in/gsWTbiJN

#startups, we heard you! We recently run a mini-poll here on LinkedIn and asked you about your challenges when fundraising. Turns out, due diligence and negotiating fair terms are top of your list. Here's a short article that might help with this 👉 A guide on how to prepare for due diligence when fundraising. https://lnkd.in/dmN4DMiq Follow us for more tips on #startupfundraising #StartupInvestments #AllThingsEquity

Want to future-proof your startup by identifying and fixing gaps before they become big challenges? 🚀🔎 Read more and take the Pitchago 5-Min Fundability Assessment 👇https://lnkd.in/dtbjq7-J Created by Thorgeir Einarsson, this powerful yet simple tool gives your business a 360° evaluation. It pinpoints what’s working, what’s not, and what to prioritize for success. Think of it as a quick startup health check designed to sharpen your edge in fundraising and growth. ✅ #Fundability #StartupGrowth #FundraisingTips #PrivateEquity

💡 Do female founders really need VC funding to succeed? This semester, I’ve attended and hosted countless panels and events for female student founders and aspiring entrepreneurs. A common question that comes up: Is raising VC funding truly essential, especially for women in the startup ecosystem? The startup world often glorifies the "move fast and break things" mentality, which has been inherited from male-dominated startup culture. Many founders see VC funding as the key to success. However, many incredibly successful companies found success without relying heavily on VC funding—some avoided raising VC money altogether. ✨ Success Stories Sara Blakely, Spanx Sara bootstrapped Spanx with just $5,000 from her savings, proving that innovation, customer focus, and grassroots marketing can create a billion-dollar brand. She retained full ownership of Spanx for nearly two decades until 2021, when she sold a majority stake to Blackstone. Intuit Mailchimp Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius built Mailchimp as a profitable side project, scaling without external funding. By reinvesting their earnings, they grew it into a $12 billion company, eventually acquired by Intuit—the largest exit for a bootstrapped business. Microsoft Bill Gates and Paul Allen built Microsoft without external funding for the first five years, focusing on profitability through software licensing. Their sole VC investment in 1981 was a strategic move to prepare for going public, not out of financial need, demonstrating their deliberate and sustainable growth strategy. 🚩 The Trade-Offs of Venture Capital Accepting VC funding isn’t just about receiving money—it means giving up equity in your company and facing intense pressure for rapid growth. This can result in: - Conflicting priorities between founders and investors - Emphasis on short-term metrics over long-term sustainability - Reduced control over the direction of your business vision 🎯 The Alternatives? Stay Lean and Strategic - Prioritize understanding your costs and achieving profitability from the start. - Expand cautiously, aligning growth with key milestones and sustainable progress. - Explore non-traditional funding options such as revenue-based financing or crowdfunding. 🚀 The Bottom Line Fundraising isn’t one-size-fits-all. Success can be built on your own terms. For female founders, challenging the VC-first mindset and exploring alternative paths can be both empowering and lead to better outcomes for your startup, while also helping to avoid the burnout often caused by the demanding fundraising process.

❓ 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 - 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴? 🚀 I launched The Art of Fundraising two months ago and the results have been mixed.. 🙏🏻 Participants, especially early-stage founders, see tremendous value in the course and provide me with amazing feedback, which helps me overcome some of my imposter syndrome. 😘 💰 However, to be honest, I have sold fewer courses than I projected. Partly, this is because my funnel sucks, which I will fix, but I am also planning significant changes to the entire course and the offering. 🌱 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱. 🪜 If you have never raised from VCs before, your first attempt won't be up to your full potential. But by the time you raise your second round, you should imo not need much external hands-on advice anymore. That said, if you don't learn how to execute a first-class fundraising effort initially, you might never reach the point of a second round... 😢 I see many talented founders struggle during their first rounds simply because they don’t know any better. It doesn’t have to be that way; with the right insights, frameworks, and knowledge, first-time fundraisers could significantly improve their chances of success. 📩 I have received a range of feedback from participants on which aspects of The Art of Fundraising they find most beneficial. But I want to reach out to early-stage founders who are preparing to raise their first round of venture capital: ❓ Where can I leverage my background—as a Deal Partner at a top-tier VC, as a founder who has successfully raised a seed round, and as a business angel and startup advisor who has supported dozens of seed rounds—to help you the most? 💊 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴? ➡️ Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or send me a message!

Laura Lenz of OMERS Ventures says it best --> a well-crafted data room is critical to standing out in fundraising. That's where FINSIGHT comes in. Here are my key takeaways: 🔐 Data Security: Finsight's robust security protects your critical information and elevates investor confidence. 📊 Strategic Repository: With Finsight's DealVDR, you can simplify your fundraising approach by creating a robust repository for your crucial documents. This will give you more time to impress investors with your organized, secure, and easily accessible data, simplifying due diligence. 🔍 Advanced Analytics: Gain an unparalleled advantage with Finsight's real-time and granular analytics - a perpetual well of insights to empower your team and drive informed decisions. Dive into individual, account, and historical cross-deal engagement, ensuring you confidently involve the right stakeholders. We are excited to see the strong alignment between Laura's advice and Finsight's mission to empower startups in their fundraising journey. How are you planning to leverage these strategies with your upcoming fundraise? I'd love to discuss further! DM me to start the conversation. #fundraising #CDNtech #vcfunding #FINSIGHT #investmentbanking

We are thrilled to be partnered with Microsoft for Startups and part of their incredible Founders Hub community. In partnership with Founders Hub, Forecastr is hosting a special educational session on Fundraising Strategy 101 for Startups. In this session you will learn how to run an effective fundraising process and increase the odds of raising capital for your company. Raising capital is one of the most challenging aspects of running a startup as a founder. Establishing and executing an effective fundraising strategy can increase the likelihood of a successful fundraise. How you run the fundraising process provides an opportunity for investors to assess how competent you are as an operator. This can contribute to building confidence and trust with your investors, or detract from it. We're excited to share expert tips on how to impress potential investors by establishing and executing a solid fundraising strategy. In this session we'll cover: - The essentials for a successful fundraise for your startup - How to establish and execute a fundraising strategy that increases the likelihood of success - The importance of knowing your numbers and telling the company's financial story - How to use your financial model as an effective fundraising tool Join us Wednesday, May 15th at 9am PDT (12pm EDT) for this special educational session on fundraising presented by Jeff Erickson at Forecastr, one of our Founders Hub partners. Open to all founders! >>> You can register here for free: https://lnkd.in/gHu2eg4s #startups #founders #fundraising

Fundraising is Broken. Since closing my VC backed business in 2018, I have supported founders on over 150+ successful fundraising rounds. In 2020, I personally wrote and managed 13% of all funded campaigns in Europe. I spend every waking hour of my life working along side pre-seed to Series A companies raising funding. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. 💰 Fundraising is expensive. VC firms will take 10-12% in fees. Plus legals, plus plus plus. Everyone wants a slice. ⏳ Painfully slow. Data suggests 30+ meetings per investor to get the cash to drop.  🤼 The average founder needs to reach out to 1000s of investors to see any form of result. 🏟️ Crowdfunding platforms have lost interest in smaller raises (not profitable) and require 70%+ of the cash raised upfront. 🎲 Fundraising is a game that has no rules. No one actually knows the answer.  👨🏻⚖️ VC’s have too much power. Not only in your business, but the entire global ecosystem. They can define culture.  🤵♀️ Female founders are let down at all stages of fundraising. 2.3% of global VC investments into female founded companies is shameful.  ⛔ Black and Ethnic minority founders are not taken seriously. The bias is outrageous and it is heart breaking watching it in real time.  📉 Founders from a low income background have practically zero access to financial markets. 🏆 There is no merit based system. Luck, Nepotism etc 💸 There is zero innovation in this industry and it is harder than ever to raise capital for early stage founders. 👎 Friends and family are left to pick up the bill, contributing more than 50% to early stage funding rounds. 𝐖𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐠. The start-up ecosystem powers the entire planet. I believe the start-up ecosystem is the best chance we have at fixing our most challenging issues. Yet we treat these people like muck on our shoes. Supporting founders started out as a mission, but it has became my purpose in life. Battling through this fundraising landscape will suck the soul from even the most hardy founders. 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 – 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤. #innovation #startups #entrepreneurship #fundraising #venturecapital

🚀 Exciting Journey Ahead: Fundraising Tips for Success! 🌐 Funding is never easy and the current climate is considered difficult.  As a mentor at Founder Institute Berlin I get asked a lot for fundraising tips, since my autonomous driving company Kopernikus Automotive has done a couple of successful funding rounds in the last few years raising eight figures from ambitious investors in the process. You will find a lot of tips online, here are my three top tips:  1. Craft Your Compelling Story 📖: Investors are drawn to stories that resonate. Clearly articulate your mission, vision, and the impact your venture aims to make. Every Pitch starts with a problem, not your technical solution. If they buy into the narrative you're halfway there. Please beware that investors need to understand the market, the problem, and the current solutions before they are ready to do a deep dive into your solution and the technology.    2. Network Effectively 🌐: Building relationships in the fundraising world is crucial. Attend industry events, engage with potential investors on platforms like LinkedIn, and leverage your existing network for warm introductions. If you reach out to investors only once you need the money you might be too late; every interaction with customers and investors is a possibility to network, knitting your network of trusted relationships that can open doors in sales and funding. Remember: Maybe a VC cannot invest but knows a potential customer, or vice versa. The better they know you the more willing they are to help in the long run. 3. Be Transparent and Authentic 💎: Authenticity builds trust. Be transparent about challenges, mitigations, and lessons learned. Investors appreciate founders who are open and genuine. Every interaction they will have with you they will use to estimate how smooth and professional the interaction will be after an investment. Remember, fundraising is not just about securing capital and not just the raw numbers; it's about building strategic partnerships. Each interaction is an opportunity to showcase your passion, expertise, and commitment to success. Each investor is an ally in your court. Especially in the early days of your venture you need supporters and not just money. Feel free to share your own fundraising tips or ask questions. Let's support each other on this exhilarating journey of growth and innovation! #startup #fundraising #founderlife PS: This kind of stone you get after successful fundraising...The one on the picture I got when we sold a previous company actually 💪

Negotiating power shapes everything in startup fundraising. Let’s reflect on some aspects of these dynamics.