James Green on LinkedIn: #fundraising #raisingmoney #startups (2024)

No, it's not just you. It's VERY hard to raise capital at the moment. I've been raising money for pre- and only-just-post-revenue startups since 2012 (around $30m raised in total). Here are 5 important lessons I've learned.•—01. Unless you're a true tech business (not tech-enabled) and growing by >15% month-on-month, forget VCs. Don't waste your time (or theirs).02. That includes you, venture studios. We raised money from a VC, but that's only because we have a deep, long-standing relationship with the GP 𝗮𝗻𝗱 he's not afraid to pick atypical deals that other VCs shun (he invested in 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿's first round, for example).03. Cold emails won't work either. They may create interesting connections, but it's virtually impossible to convert those into funding. (We've sent thousands of very personalised mails in the last year. You could count the conversations on one hand, and they resulted in $zero raised.)04. Ignore people who put "angel investor" on their LinkedIn profile. By and large, this is a lead-gen tacti, used by people who want to help you fundraise. They want to take your money, not give you theirs.05. Early-stage funding is all about one single factor: 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. Without trust, you almost definitely won't raise money. But you can't manufacture trust either. You can only look for opportunities where it already exists.Here's where we've had most success:06. Present at 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. The investors who attend such events are there (usually) because they 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 (although this varies between events). Crucially, there's already a degree of trust implied when you stand on stage to pitch. Investors know you had to pass the event's screening process, which automatically increases your credibility.07. Ask for 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘀 at every opportunity. I do this myself. Right now, I am proactively arranging calls with founders I've met. They may be people I've invested in personally, or those I've met over the years. I ask them for feedback on my deck and my pitch, and make it clear I'm not expecting them to invest. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 (𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰), 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 for 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰. Does it work?Yes. I'm not saying it's easy, but here are 2 real examples:—I recently met 6 new investors after pitching at an event in London.— I just had verbal commitment for another $100K angel investment after a single, 25-minute call, resulting from an intro from a founder I know.#raisingmoney #startups

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Who says you're too late in life to launch a startup?More experienced (i.e. older) people make better founders. Fact. But older people don't start companies because they have more responsibilities, dependents, high salaries and high costs.DQventures is here for those people.We've raised money from family offices and HNWIs so that we can:— Invest $50K-worth of time and resources into 30 more portfolio companies (we've started 18 since Covid).— Build your venture from idea to "minimum viable business" in the next 6-to-12 months, while you stay employed 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺.— Help you get your first paying customers, revenue and/or external funding.— Help you 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 prove that the idea won't work, 𝗼𝗿 make the transition from employee to full-time founder, CEO, and 80% shareholder of your own company.— Support you—as co-founders, advisors and business partners—for the rest of your business journey. •—If this sounds like you, drop me a connection request 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 and I'll get back to you directly. (N.B. I tend to ignore connection requests without a message.)If you know someone who has a great startup idea, tag them below.If you're just curious, sign up to our quarterly updates (you can subscribe at the bottom of any of our blog posts).Help spread the world and unlock a brand new category of experienced-professionals-turned-startup-founders. Thank you!•—#startups #experience #startupideas

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What if there was a way for founders to raise money from investors 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?Impossible, no?Well, we think we've found a way.The question is: would more deals get done?We're in the process of validating this idea with some early-stage investment opportunities, which dramatically increase the investors' chances of a return, and without penalising founders unfairly.If you'd like to know more, visit the DQventures website and subscribe to one of our blog posts (you can do this at the bottom of every post). We've shared our initial thesis with over 1,000 early-stage investors and captured feedback from founders, VCs and angels all over the world.𝘞𝘦'𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. I'll add a link to the overall description in the comments, which includes a returns calculator, so you can see how different investment / returns scenarios would play out. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to know more.Thanks, J•—#raisingmoney #earlystagecapital#angelinvesting

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Sad but true.Not investing advice obvs. 🙃 •—#investing #startups #nearlyfriday

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What should you include in your data room?👇I was just chatting with one of our portfolio company founders. She wanted to know what to put in her data room, and what to exclude. Here's the structure we used on a previous deal.As a general rule, I like to provide more detail as opposed to less – if only to show how organised we are, and how well our business is managed. Always separate documents into relevant folders, use a consistent naming convention, and ideally have some kind of content guide, that explains what can be found where.Finally, congrats. If someone is asking for data room access, you've probably done something right! Good luck with the close.#raisingmoney #dataroom #startupsNote: By the time they get inside your data room, your investors should have shown some level of commitment. Ideally this would be a term sheet. If they're an angel, it should be some form of written commitment, so you know the quantum of their investment. Before that, investors don't need access to your data room. It's better to give them a more comprehensive deck, and/or some generic FAQs. If they insist on seeing the data room, ask them why. What is it they want to see? It's not common, but also not unheard of, for investors to snoop, especially if they've invested in potential competitors. Be open, but proceed with caution. Good luck!

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Among the startups in my investment portfolio are two kinds of zombie companies. I think it's another bubble about to burst. Do you recognise them?1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱-𝗨𝗽 𝗭𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗲These are companies that raised a big round, let's say, in 2021. Since then, they've spent millions of dollars trying to find product-market fit. None of it worked. Meanwhile, the fundraising environment took a turn for the worse. So they made massive cuts, preserved their capital, and essentially put progress on hold. Where are they now?Well, many of them are still steadily burning money. They never found PMF, but thanks to their huge cash reserves, they could keep going like this for another 5 years. Of course, they could turn on the taps again and move faster, but there's a good chance it wouldn't work.Nobody wants an early death... especially not their VC backers....Right now, for many of their investors, these companies are still priced the same as they were in 2021. For the VCs trying desperately to raise their next fund, the status quo (and their TVPI) actually looks ok. For the founders and early investors, however, it's just postponing the inevitable.2. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗭𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗲Similar to the cashed-up zombie, these companies are stuck. They also raised money back in the day, but unlike #1, they burned their cash reserves, found some degree of PMF, and just about broke even. Just. The problem these companies have is lack of momentum. They don't have capital to experiment with (either marketing or product), and they're not growing quickly enough to raise again. Even if they could raise money (or sell), it would mean a huge down-round. This would trigger horrible anti-dilution clauses and preferences, which the founders agreed to when times were good.So they're stuck. It's Groundhog Day. They're creeping along, staying alive, but with no levers to pull to escape their current, mediocre velocity. Are they lifestyle businesses?Not exactly. The founders are still earning well below market-rate salaries, and the teams spend every day feeling like they're failing. Meanwhile, anyone with shares or options realises, a little more each week, that their net worth is a fraction of what the paperwork suggests. Is it even worth continuing?•—There's chatter about a recovery in venture capital and startup land. I hope it's true. But, from where I'm sitting, it looks like there's more pain to come first. When these companies come up for sale, however—probably for cents on the dollar—it could be an interesting buying opportunity.Does anyone see this differently? Anybody (besides me) own shares in companies like these?•—#vc #venturecapital #startupsP.S. Thanks to Nima for the inspiration. Good luck with the next phase, my friend!

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Made me chuckle... 8 pieces of advice for business owners from comedian, Steven Wright...•—Don't recognise the name Steven Wright? He's a standup comedian, who was also the dry, lazy voice of the DJ narrating Quentin Tarrantino's film, 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗿 𝗗𝗼𝗴𝘀.Recognise this?𝘑𝘰𝘦 𝘌𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘋𝘺𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦, 𝘱𝘰𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦-𝘨𝘶𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘧 1974 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘒-𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺'𝘴 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '70𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴...If not, I envy you. Not only do you have a great film to watch, but also you have a brilliant soundtrack to listen to.•—Steven's business advice...01. If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.02. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.03. The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.04. The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.05. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.06. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.07. Borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back.08. Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.•—#startabusiness #startups

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#truth #startups #founders

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"You can't possibly be an entrepreneur if you haven't started a company by the age of 35."What??Try telling that to:— Eric Yuan, started Zoom at age 41— David Baszucki, started Roblox at age 41— Stan Lee, started his first comic one day before he turned 39— Martha Stewart, launched her cooking / homewares empire at 41— Donald Fisher, opened the first GAP store at 40— Sam Walton, founded Walmart at 44— Ray Kroc, started McDonalds at 52— Harland (Colonel) Sanders, franchised KFC at 62— Arianna Huffington, started The Huffington Post at 55The belief that entrepreneurship is "black or white" is surprisingly common. "You're either a founder or you're a corporate stooge - it's one or the other."𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.—Of course, some of the best-known founders started young: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook @ 19), Bill Gates (Microsoft @ 23), Evan Spiegel (Snap @ 25), Brian Chesky (AirBnB @ 27), Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos @ 19!!)...But entrepreneurship comes in all shapes and sizes; being entrepreneurial and owning your own business are 𝗻𝗼𝘁 the same thing. Millions of amazing entrepreneurial people work in normal jobs. Just because they don't own a business doesn't mean they're not entrepreneurial. More likely it's a reflection of their 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 and 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀, not their 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀:— What did they choose to study (when, let's be honest, they had no clue)? — Where did they live? — Who did they support?— Did they buy a house?— Did they have kids?— Did they get married? (How many times?)— How much money did they have?— What debts did they accrue?—Having a great singing voice doesn’t mean you’ve recorded a platinum album.Being an amazing cook doesn't mean you own a Michelin-Star restaurant.So why should being entrepreneurial mean you've started a company?It doesn't.—There are, in fact, advantages to starting a business young:— You have a larger window for learning valuable business lessons. — If you fail, you have more time to pick yourself up and try again.But, analysis of 2.7 million founders between 2007 and 2014 (link in comments) actually showed that older founders do better:— The average age of company founders is ~40 years old— The average age of a unicorn founder is 34— A 50-year-old is ~2x more likely to get a successful exit than a 30-year-old—So if you're in your late 30s, 40s or 50s, don't listen to the naysayers. You probably have as good a chance as anyone of starting a great business, and compared to your younger peers, it's likely you have an advantage.You probably...— Have friends in influential places— Know wealthy people who invest— Have deep sector expertise— Have the reputation and skills to attract employees— Know that there's always more to learn— Have learned from many, many mistakes!...Go get 'em.—#entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs

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