Written by: Janine Kick
It’s no secret that it’s not exactly easy to raise venture capital at the moment. And to be clear, it’s never been easy but for founders (and I’d argue investors), getting investment and deploying investments isn’t as uninhibited as it once was.
Let me tell you about the two things that I’ve seen founders do who have raised successfully…
1.) They tell a story. Painting a picture, if you will, of a big, kind-of scary, massive vision. They’re determined to put a dent in the universe and will stop at no end until they do. That said, they’re breaking down this big vision into multiple, simple, pragmatic steps. They’ve boiled their vision down into something so simple and repeatable that the investors are itching to tell their partners that they met you and all about what you’re building.
You see, investors want to see and hear how you’re going to change the world. They want something new and different. They want big impact which in a perfect world means big returns – they’re greedy…but aren’t we all! 🙂
Yet in this climate they need something else more than ever before to make an investment. So what are the founders doing?
2.) They de-risk their business. They show investors that the ‘dogs are eating the dog food’ and tell them how they’re going to keep them hungry and wanting more. They’re demonstrating momentum and scale within their business. Whether it’s in the form of backlogged pipeline, feature requests, LOIs or any other palpable KPI – the most successful founders are proving that this is just the beginning and they’ve got more of where that came from.
Investors need to see you’ve minimized any risk to your business. And I know what you’re thinking, “Um, this is early stage capital. It’s all risky!” and sure, yes. However, being able to clearly, confidently, articulate your traction and how you’re going to keep it coming is going to help investors derisk the business and make an investment.
If you want to learn more about an investor’s mindset you can check out this post.
Kerosene Ventures: Helping Great Founders Raise Capital