I've spoken to several founders this week gearing up to raise. With the fall fundraising season winding down, I recommend pumping the breaks until January unless you already have enough momentum to close your round by Thanksgiving. That makes now the perfect time to prep your process for Q1. Every Monday from 11.25-12.16 from 11:30A-1P PT / 2:30P-4P ET, I'm hosting an early-stage founder deep work session on Flow Club for anyone who wants to share what they're building and get feedback/support on their raise. 👋🏽 30s to intro yourself and share what you're building 👩💻 80m for muted deep work to share questions/challenges in the chat and get input from me and other founders who join the session ⏭️ 5m wrapup at the end for each person to share takeaways and next steps You can also just come and say hi and do other work 🤠 Often, the best time to connect is before you're ready to raise, and it's always great to get perspective from other founders at a similar stage. If you are interested, let me know which date and I'll send you the sign-up link. 8 founders per session. At Hustle Fund, we invest year-round into pre-seed b2b SaaS, digital health, fintech and web3 companies, and love meeting founders beyond our current network. You can pitch us (I review every submission with support from our amazing Venture Fellows) here: https://www.hustlefund.vc

So excited to kick off our Startup Fundraising 101 series with a chat with Arpan Shah, Partner at Pear VC and former founder. Fundraising is painful even for the most experienced founders. But if you're a first time founder without a built-in network, it can feel even more daunting. We're diving deep into the art of building strategic investor relationships, covering: - How did he make that initial connection with his seed investors - How effective are cold Linkedin/Twitter DMs - What are some common mistakes he's seen founders make

📣 Raising a seed round in 2024? Learn everything you need to know in just seven weeks. Each 90 minute session is packed with practical, actionable info from those who know what it takes to raise €1-5m. ✅ Fundraising tips from European EdTech founders who collectively raised €24m on what actually helped them close their round: Amine Mezzour, Joran van Aart, Christian Rebernik - thanks you for sharing your experience. ✅ Up to the minute insights on metrics and fundraising trends from angels and VCs who are actively investing in EdTech, including Anieke Lamers & Hugo Manoukian and many more 🎉 ✅ Sessions on terms sheets and terminology, and everything legal with Anthony Rose from SeedLegals ✅ 1:1 coaching with me, executive communications coach Louise and exited edtech founder Victor, to go deeper on your pitch, deck & BP. The program will help you put together your fundraising strategy, materials and skills to pitch investors at our Demo Day in June (just before London EdTech Week 😉) We're accepting applications until April 22, the program starts April 30 and Demo Day is June 13. Apply now - link in the comments - DM me if you have any questions!

This week, Lauren V. and I made the tough/brave/crazy decision to make Caffeine Daily a paid subscription platform. We've spent a year fighting to keep it free for all, with the hope that there'd be enough financial support to do so from organisations involved in and benefiting from the startup ecosystem. Alas, we live in challenging economic times where budgets are tight-to-non-existent, and the government's support for the startup community has never been so tepid. I am a huge believer in the value and potential of New Zealand startups - not only the economic value, but the ability the sector gives to people wanting to make a living doing important, exciting and personally gratifying work. I believe that content and community are critical to our startup founders knowing about, learning from, and being able to make the most of each other and the ecosystem that’s there to support them. I believe that in turn, this will make for a more successful startup community, producing more companies that grow faster, become more valuable, and deliver significant financial returns back to our founders, their teams, their investors and Aotearoa New Zealand. Thats why me and my team at Previously Unavailable created Caffeine, and why we put our money where our mouths were and funded it, almost entirely by ourselves - but we are only a small company, and we need a little help from the community around us to keep going. If you're a believer like we are, please become a paid subscriber to Caffeine. For less than 50c a day, you'll stay on top of what's going on in our incredible ecosystem and be part of supporting it to reach the heights I know it can. Subscribe at https://lnkd.in/gju4-JMp 🙏🏻

💸 Struggling to raise the funding your startup needs? Here’s the reality: A failed fundraise can mean the end of your company. Most founders struggle because: ❌ They don’t have a clear strategy. ❌ They waste time on ineffective tactics. ❌ They lose momentum and miss out on key opportunities. But fundraising doesn’t have to feel impossible. 🚀 We’ve created a video series that breaks it all down. In "How to Execute the Perfect Fundraise," you’ll learn: ✅ The 11-step system to raise capital confidently. ✅ Proven tactics to build momentum with investors. ✅ Strategies to pitch, close, and execute your round effectively. 📥 Like this post and comment “Fundraise” to get the series sent straight to your inbox

Is VC your cup of tea? Are you THEIR cup of tea? Join me as I talk with THE Alex Batdorf to expand our notion of what capital and business models are available to early stage founders. If you haven't yet met Alex, she will bring the 🔥 🔥 + the truth + deep experience supporting founders level-up -- it'll be quite the ride. Link in bio. Feel free to share! ---- (DM me if you want links to the two previous no-holds-barred webinars: "How to Raise Like a Tech Bro" & "How to Run a Fundraising Process")

BuzzFeed's seed round pitch deck raised $3,5 million in Series A from Hearst Ventures in 2008. Main takeaways from their pitch: 👇 ✅ Go big or go home: No. 19 slide proves that investors care about the money, and they want to hear what they like. In this slide, BuzzFeed’s founders don’t go shy at all, showing their business's scalability and revenue opportunities. ✅ Go for it: Buzzfeed pitched about how content can create revenue by predicting and executing new trends. Back in 2008, writing content was considered to be only for "hip bloggers," but 12 years later, everyone knows that unique content is king. 👑 Looking to raise like a pro? Check out BaseTemplates Pro: https://lnkd.in/dPQxrhMk #funding #pitchdeck #fundraising #founder #entrepreneur

We just closed our Pre-Seed Angel Round 🎉🎉 1 year ago, I wanted to be 100% bootstrapped... When we launched Scripe, bootstrapping felt like the right path. Lean and agile. In my mind, raising was just not necessary. I knew we wouldnt be ANY faster with more people or in the early days - we first needed to build our product and shape our vision. ✅ It was important to me to know that the time & effort we spend into fundraising pays off. Especially because we are profitable only 2 months after launching. So, why did we decide to raise now? 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗪𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗙𝗨𝗘𝗟. We realized it is the perfect timing for us. The biggest change for me → we can start hiring engineers 🤝 What I didn't realize before - it's not just the money, it's about the people. We decided to do an angle round. Now, we have 12 brilliant angel investors as our advisory board, each with unique insights into sales, AI engineering, LinkedIn branding, and B2B scaling. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. I once thought of fundraising as black and white. Now I know - it's not a simple choice... It's a nuanced decision. I am suuuper excited to see Scripe grow. 🎉 Thank you all so much for joining us. Let's freaking go! Big thanks to: Richard van der Blom, Glenn Miseroy, Daniel Frese, Robert Heineke, Laura Raggl, Benjamin Visser, Nina Kani, Tony E. Kula, 👋 Michael Kamleitner, Julius Göllner, Roman Geugelin, 🛠 Nico Axtmann, Michael Streit, Emanuel Jöbstl, Stefan Smulders, Nicoleta Danu

Funded in less than one hour, waiting for your pledge! It’s that time. When you show up! It’s launch day for Event Horizon: Stories of No Turning Back. That means the project is LIVE on Kickstarter and waiting for its rocket fuel to launch towards our inevitable black hole. Campaigns that start off strong go FARTHER in meeting their funding goals. Our rocket fuel is your PLEDGE, your backing of this project with dollars, and in return you get one GENRE BENDING OUT OF THIS WORLD book (in both its art and its narratives), along with other countless treats only Kickstarter backers are privy to. How do you back this project? For Kickstarter veterans, below is the LINK to pledge on Kickstarter, where you shop for the reward that fits your heart, your lust, or your wallet density. For those who need help, below is a video that walks you through how to “back” a project, how to pre-order Event Horizon from me, after you open a Kickstarter account (video for that here too). If pledging is too confusing, DM me. https://lnkd.in/ePqwUpmB or  https://lnkd.in/ezFbSa2B Don't forget there are EARLY BIRD discounts lasting only until April 10th 10:59am EST and limited editions for some tiers that can run out fast. #kickstarter #eventhorizon #crowdfunding #books #latinxfuturism

How many startup founders have experienced something similar? Our episode with Analisa Goodin on how she raised $31M for Catch+Release is out NOW listen down below 👇