SuperPower(s)

Building your superpowers.

Superpower(s)

You know you get to have more than one superpower.

You can build them.

Been reflecting what is it that fires people up when they hear me speak around venture eco systems and fundraising.

Energy.

Oh, I certainly bring the fire and energy.

But what is it inside of that?

What is it that makes even other funders and investors listen and take note?

Is it my experience?

That they know that (while I am always in it for the founders), I am one of them?

That I know what it's like to put money on the line?

I think that certainly plays a heavy factor in creating what I feel the real super power is:

Certainty and convinction.

Yes this comes from experience, having the transactions but above all, doing the work.

There is no replacement for being the kind of founder or funder that does the work.

This starts with a way of being where you are willing to do hard things and the work on yourself first always.

It shows.

People feel it.

When you walk in the room.

The weight behind your words.

HOW you have come to "know" what you know about the problem you are solving with your venture.

How do I know where the capital is hiding out?

I went out and HUNTED it down.

Became a capital forensic and architect.

Challenged everything I thought I knew about capital even though I have been doing it for nearly two decades.

Realized the biggest companies and deals in the world were built not from one investor but from coordinating diverse capital types in real time (capital stack) and over time (capital sequence).

I followed the money, found the incentives and discovered the patterns.

These are the patterns we are automating into a platform to streamline fundraising.

Upon this realization, distinctly remembering thinking that I was just the "clueless VC /investor" that all the others just decided to not let into the party by revealing how capital works at the highest levels.

Then as I shared my findings with money movers from wide varieties across the capital hiearchy --- a funny thing became very apparent: By and large they were unaware too!

I could't believe it. But why would they know? It's a spiderweb of relationships and resources flying around!

Very few of them had taken the time to exhaustively track down the history, transactions and speak to all the players to distill it down to a clear picture.

Years in the making with travel, research, conversations and connecting the dots.

Does this sound like a lot of work ? Not to mention work on myself to BE the kind of person that could even get into Fortune 25 doors or with family offices for these relationships.

It's been a crazy amount of work! To both understand the depth of the fundraising problem and then how to build the solution.

I am crazy. I own it.

THIS is where my confidence comes from.

THIS is the source of my certainty.

THIS is the power of my conviction.

What are you willing to do bring that to your pitch ?

Who are you willing to be to bring that when you walk into the room?

#founders #startups #capitalraising #fundraising #venturecapital