Startups have many different funding options available to them. In this lecture to university entrepreneurship students, global climatetech entrepreneur Bryan Guido Hassin shares lessons learned from having raised ~$100M across nine ventures. These ventures, as well as others he has advised, have cumulatively created ~$100B exit value.

1. Startup Fundraising
Bryan Guido Hassin
@guido23

2. Types of Fundraising
Types of
Fundraising
Raising
Outside
Capital
Smart OES
Deep Dive

3. Types of Fundraising
Bootstrapping
Debt
Grants
Customer
Finance
Equity

4. I have led nine startups with
various fundraising strategies
Antmachine • Bootstrapped (Acquired)
R7 Solutions • $1M Customer Finance (Still going)
TNR • $30M VC (Acquired)
Vinopedia • Bootstrapped (Acquired)
Poken • $6M VC (Acquired)
GIVEWATTS • Crowdfunded (Still going)
Smart OES • $2M Angel (Acquired)
DexMat • $5M Grants (Still going)
D3 • $30M Customer Finance (Still going)

5. Bootstrapping keeps control but
can limit growth
Pros
• Maintain ownership
/ control
• Focus on operating
business
Cons
• Can limit growth
• Undiversified
financial risk
• 2/2 [small] exits
• Share financial burden
Lessons learned

6. Debt is a good deal but often
inaccessible to startups
Pros
• Maintain ownership
/ control
• Lower cost than
equity
Cons
• Security sometimes
untenable
• Finance working capital with
debt
Lessons learned

7. Grants can be a good source of
non-dilutive funding
Pros
• Maintain ownership /
control
• Good for early stage
basic science
Cons
• Sometimes strings
attached
• Reporting conditions
can be onerous
• Hire a professional grant writer
Lessons learned

8. Customer finance is a great deal if
you can get it
Pros
• Maintain ownership
/ control
• Customer
validation
Cons
• Sometimes strings
attached
• Negotiate no-cost value to
provide the customer
Lessons learned

9. Crowdfunding can be powerful for
consumer startups
Pros
• Maintain ownership
/ control
• Customer
validation
Cons
• Letting the cat out
of the bag
• 3:1 planning:execution ratio for
success
Lessons learned

10. Raising equity capital is incredibly
straight-forward

11. Whoops, actually, no it isn’t
Source: AVC.com

12. Outside investors can help – but at
a cost
Pros
• Fuel for growth
• Credibility
• Additional value-add
Cons
• Most expensive capital
• Lose ownership /
control
• Asshole risk
• Can limit options
• 3/3 less than awesome
outcomes with outside investors
Lessons learned

13. Raising Outside Capital
Types of
Fundraising
Raising
Outside
Capital
Smart OES
Deep Dive

14. When is the right time to be
thinking about fundraising?

15. Fundraising is a skill; develop it or
partner with someone who has it

16. Investors look for reasons to say
NO; don’t overwhelm them

17. When you get to YES, STFU

18. Raise from the heart, not the mind

19. Investors invest in lines, not dots

20. Plan at least six months to raise
capital

21. Raise enough capital to fund
18-24 months of operations

22. Pull rather than Push

23. Create scarcity / urgency

24. Plan then execute for momentum

25. Many investors are sheep

26. But FF&F are investing in you

27. Smart OES Deep Dive
Types of
Fundraising
Raising
Outside
Capital
Smart OES
Deep Dive

28. Smart OES raised three rounds of
angel funding
• It takes just as long to close a $5k investor as a
$300k investor.

29. Former colleagues invested the
most in Smart OES
• Significant trust built when working with someone
• Same with former classmates

30. Second Degree connections
become more valuable over time
• Engage “connected” investors early on
• They are invested in your success, so leverage them!

31. Repeat investors become more
valuable over time
• Engage investors with capability to follow on

32. Seek out smart money

33. But verify how smart the $$$ is –
dumb $$$ is expensive

34. Angel groups are largely useless
social clubs

35. If pitching an angel group, make
sure to have a champion a priori

36. Never ever ever pay to pitch

37. Maintain a strict No Asshole policy

38. Honesty and integrity are all you
will take with you

39. Startup Fundraising
Bryan Guido Hassin
@guido23

40. Entrepreneurial Leadership
• A few tips on leading startups from my
own experience

41. Entrepreneurship is a search
Large companies execute
known business models
Startups search for
unnown business models

42. Start with your means and create
new opportunities

43. Set affordable risk and fearlessly
increase returns

44. You can’t predict the future . . .
so create it

45. Build a psychologically safe
organization

46. Founder behavior is the startup’s
culture - all eyes on you

47. Hire for diversity, humility, curiosity
Psychological
Safety
Diversity
Curiosity Humility

48. Seek support from secure bases;
be a secure base to others
• To fear risk is
human
• Secure bases love
you even if you fail
• Secure bases give
you confidence to
take risks
• Identify and lean on
secure bases