Note: i) this post was transcribed from this video, and ii) This post is the first in a series where I go into detail on each of the 10 steps in my 10 step framework for raising investor money for a startup. To read a summary of the entire framework click here.
Hey guys, what's up? Today I'm going to talk a bit about fundraising. I'm actually going to go through the 10 step process to raise money for a startup that I used when I was running Kindara. I used this same method to raise a friends and family round, a bunch of angel rounds, and a venture round. I'm going to go through it super quick because I get a lot of questions about this in my coaching and I just want to lay out a framework that you guys can use to go step by step by step until you have money in the bank. So let's go.
The word recreation means "activity done for enjoyment when not working" but I prefer to think of recreation in another way by deconstructing the word itself: re-creation can be seen as activities that we use to re-create ourselves. Taken this way, recreation is when we stop the action, taking ourselves apart, throw out the things we no longer need or that are no longer serving us, and put ourselves back together again using only the parts we want to keep.
Without recreation, there's no opportunity for sub-performing thoughts, frameworks, strategies, or relationships to get off the bus, so they just hang-on and continue bringing us down. Recreation is like spring cleaning for our mind, body and soul. Without it, our minds-eye view
We are about to close another round of funding at Kindara. Having been through this a couple times now, here's my advice on how to close funding for your startup in ten steps: Step 1: Get your story straight and your materials together. At a minimum you'll need a pitch deck, an executive summary, and some sort of product demo. Get all this stuff together and make sure it looks good. I personally think design communicates almost as much as content.
Step 2: Test your pitch and your materials to see if they are any good. Use your friends, advisers & team members. This step serves two purposes: first it allows you to change and improve your pitch, and second it allows you to practice pitching. When pitching, it's important that you appear excited and confident, and use words that effectively tell the story of your product and company....
