The Art of Raising Capital

This section will help you uncover why you need a pitch deck to raise capital.  Investors don't have the time to read every entrepreneurs business plan.  A pitch deck is your opportunity to wow investors in a short and engaging presentation.

Pitch decks are meant to be short, and engage the investor.  This video will help to make sure you're not rambling on and putting investors to sleep.  

Short. Sweet. And to the point.  That's the winning strategy.

There are basic concepts that every pitch deck should cover.  This video will help you start to formulate the concepts that must be covered in your presentation.  

This video will talk about a companies burn rate and how much runway they need.  When a company raises capital, they're raising funds to last for a certain period of time.  This period of time is determined by how much money a company spends on a monthly basis - this is called 'burn rate'.

Investors take pro forma's and burn rates very seriously.  Although they realize that these numbers may change over time, they want to see that your projections are well thought out.  

All investors know that sales and marketing are the lifeblood of every company.  Organizations are moving products and services - and in order to do that, sales and marketing expenses must be well thought out.

In this day and age, EVERY company must be leveraging the technological resources that are at their disposal. Here we discuss how technology can create unprecedented results in your business. 

The language of business is NUMBERS.  If you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business.  You don't have to be an accountant to have a basic understanding of how finances affect your business.  The fundamentals of accounting are only a Google search away.  

No great entrepreneur reached the top by themselves.  They've surrounded themselves with people who have strengths that cover their weaknesses.  

A great team will push you beyond your limits.  A mediocre team is a sure sign of difficulty and despair.  

Although all companies have different visions and missions, the whole purpose of business is to turn a profit.  Without revenue, there is no business.  

Over time, companies accrue assets which help them to increase both valuation and revenue.  

All investors are looking at a given companies risk profile. Risk is how investors gauge the investability of any company. It's the entrepreneurs job to de-risk their business so that it's a no brainer for any investor. 

Every company should approach investment in the way that best fits them.  Investments used to go 1 of 2 ways: debt or equity financing.  Now that we are in the 21st century, there are tons of different ways to raise capital for your company.  Sometimes thinking creatively about your investment strategy is the best way to de-risk your investment opportunity, and attract top investors. 

If someone walks up to you and asks about your company, you have 15-30 seconds to WOW them (maybe even less).  

It's important that you can effectively and efficiently communicate who your company helps and how you help them (the problem that you solve).  If you can't quickly communicate what your business does, you need to go back and look at your pitch deck!

There are a ton of different types of investors, and not all investors think alike.  What's attractive to one investor may be a turn off to another.  It's important to understand each investor on an individual level.  Since no 2 investors are the same, no 2 pitches will ever be the same.  Tractably is your best friend when assessing investors and the different types of investment your company can take on.

Yoda said it best - "do or do not - there is no try."

If you're putting together a fundraising plan - make the decision that you ARE going to raise money (not try to raise money).  Here we'll talk about understanding the investor you're pitching to, and putting together a strategy for attracting multiple opportunities.  The more investors want you, the higher your valuation will go!

Knowing how to conduct yourself in an investor meeting is one of the most important facets of raising capital.  Investors want to see that you're confident, and passionate about your product.  In here we'll talk about some of the tactics you can use to WOW investors.