3. Raising Money Is Damn Hard
• For seasoned and Series
A
Series
B
Series
C
successful, Total 21 31 23
entrepreneurs its still VCs
Total 2 2 2
hard term
• Most entrepreneurs sheets
cannot raise
5. Prepare Before You Start
1. Get a great lawyer – actually more of a consigliere
2. Prepare like a salesman
– Keep it exclusive
– Sales pipeline mentality
– Have a business plan
– Have a plan for the capital proceeds
3. Build a sexy deck
– Show momentum
– Define a big market
– Establish confidence
– Wow them
10. Build A CRM Process
• Create funnel management on each prospect
– build prospects from “hot”, “warm,”
“lukewarm,” “dead”
• Tackle 3-4 at a time
• Push interested parties to declare interest
• Find the right partner
• Be cognizant of the venture B.S. – “we like you
but we’d like to see more market traction” –
this is a no
12. Build A Sexy Deck
• Show momentum
• Define a huge market and how you plan to
attack it
• Establish confidence in you, your team, and
the company
• Wow them – pitch your company as if you
were pitching a movie
13. Bad Example Of Momentum
Chart Titles are Helpful
90
25
80
Same With the Y Axis, But Remember, It's Turned
70 20
on The Side, So Harder to Read
60 Se rie s1
Se rie s2
50 15 East
Se rie s3
Se rie s4
Se rie s5
40 West
Se rie s6
Se rie s7
30 10 North
Se rie s8
Se rie s9
Se rie s10
20 Se rie s11
5
10
0
0
1 4
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85 88 91 94 97
If You Don't Tell Me The X A xis, How Will I Know What it Is?
14. Good Example Of Momentum
800,000 600,000
700,000
500,000
600,000
500,000 400,000
400,000 300,000
300,000
200,000
200,000
100,000 100,000
0 0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
800,000 800,000
700,000 700,000
600,000 600,000
500,000 500,000
400,000 400,000
300,000 300,000
200,000 200,000
100,000 100,000
0 0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
18. Show Them Where You Fit
Insert New Entrant Insert Traditional
This is You
Competitors Competitors
Revenue: Revenue: Revenue:
Innovation:
Innovation:
Innovation:
Example of some market
share proof points in this
section
19. Market Share and Total Addressable Market
Market share
Investors like
disruptive plays that
tackle big markets
Even a small % of
execution on your
part is a big business
19
20. Make Them Feel Confident In You, The
Team, The Company
• If you are weak pretend you are strong
– Build a world-class Board, advisory board, or
management team
– Coming from a big company without startup
experience….prepare to fight skepticism
• If you a strong…well, you are doing ok
– If you are a successful serial entrepreneur
– Relationship with a VC
22. “Ask” Slide – Raising $nM To Accelerate Growth
Total=$nM
• Financing History
– Explain what you’ve done Project A
• Current Raise Project B
– Get detailed on your use of
Project C
proceeds
• Start with what you told Tech Acq
them and then tell them CAPEX
again… Other
$0.0 $1.0 $2.0 $3.0 $4.0
Millions
22
23. In Conclusion
1. Get a great lawyer – actually more of a Consigliere
2. Prepare like a salesman
– Keep it exclusive
– Sales pipeline mentality
– Have a business plan
– Have a plan for the capital proceeds
3. Build a sexy deck
– Show momentum
– Define a big market
– Establish confidence
– Wow them
24. Thank You
Email: matt@matthulett.com
Personal blog: startupwhisperer.com
