How to Raise Your First roundOr an Insider’s Guide to Venture Capital

Friday, May 23, 14

@adaugelli

@trueventures

adam@trueventures.com

Friday, May 23, 14

Who We Believe In ...

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how VCs think

why venture financing?

the fundraising process

today

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not required• Dell

• Raised money with $60m in Rev

• Siebel

• Customers funded first product

• eBay

• $4.5m in rev before Benchmark

• Broadcom

• No VC money

• SAS Institute

• Largest private company in the world; no

VC money

• Oracle

• Govt contract funded first product

• Cisco

• $5m in rev before Sequoia invested

Friday, May 23, 14

high costs• Takes time away from serving customers

• False sense of security

• May mask underlying flaws in business model

• Potentially removes spending discipline

• Adds additional bosses, incentives

• Changes exit strategy and options

• You’re selling part of your company!

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but can be helpful ...

•Cash to FUEL GROWTH

•Strategic and Operational Advice

• Introductions to Customers, Partners

•Recruiting

•Both indirectly and directly

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how do VCs think?

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build big companies that last

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want to deliver big returns to LPs

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hard to find good deals

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every deal has “hair on it”

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constant flow of new opportunities

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Investors are people too.

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so how do you get a leg up?

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1. Build Trust

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spending lots of time together

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... to the right partner ....

get introduced ...

... from someone they trust ...

the process ...

... at roughly the same time.

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investor context

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faces in the deck

be human

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2. Make it sharable

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first meeting

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fund dynamics

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DO NOT HAVE A 50 PAGE BUSINESS

PLAN

the pitch

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DO NOT HAVE A 50 PAGE BUSINESS

PLAN

the pitch

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one sentence intro / paragraph for sharing in emails

less than 10 slide deck*

the pitch

financial model (focusing on micro-economics)

DO HAVE:

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faces in the deck

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faces in the deck

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3. Part of the Tribe

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No one wants to be alone.

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Show them the tribe.

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faces in the deck

People. People. People.

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how much money are you looking to raise and why?

why are you raising money now?

4 questions you’ll be asked

what does your business look like at the end of 12 - 18 months?

what is your gross monthly burn over the next 18 months?

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Social Proof (Founder Introductions)

Authority (Customer & Advisor References)

the art of raising money

Momentum (Deals and interest are time sensitive)

remember:

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questions?

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@adaugelli

@trueventures

adam@trueventures.com

Friday, May 23, 14

http://venturehacks.com/pitching

http://stu.mp/2011/05/howto-spend-your-investors-money.html

http://t.co/gxfau3U (Example Slides)

resources

http://www.askthevc.com

http://www.angel.co

Friday, May 23, 14