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1/ I recently hung out with a friend, who is a very successful CPG founder/CEO and an incredible operator.
He's been an operator his entire career and had 0 experience with the fundraising process when he went through his first raise.
He's been an operator his entire career and had 0 experience with the fundraising process when he went through his first raise.
2/ He revealed that he completely regrets his first fundraising approach because he had no idea what he was doing and took way more dilution than necessary.
This guy is probably in the top 0.1% of CPG founders and still got screwed by the opaque fundraising process.
This guy is probably in the top 0.1% of CPG founders and still got screwed by the opaque fundraising process.
3/ Another friend who has built an excellent company with a respected brand texted me this morning to ask about the best response to give a potential lead investor.
I am not a fundraising expert at all. Frankly, I'd rather be an excellent operator/founder than a fundraiser.
I am not a fundraising expert at all. Frankly, I'd rather be an excellent operator/founder than a fundraiser.
4/ But it does frustrate me that so many great founder friends put in so much hard work to build excellent companies only to get screwed at these fundraising moments.
5/ They might undersell themselves and throw out too low of a valuation in the fundraising conversations. Or they take staggered meetings and hope that one lead investor will come through vs. building a strong initial pipeline and running a tight process.
6/ If you are building a company right now and are thinking about fundraising, reach out to a friend who has been through the process and ask for advice!
7/ A 30 minute conversation to understand best practices and things to watch out for could save you so many percentage points of dilution or time wasted in the process.
