Most founders lose the fundraising game before they ever pitch an investor.
By the time they’re building a deck, booking meetings, and scrambling for intros, they’ve already put themselves at a disadvantage.
Scarcity is by far the biggest tactic that entrepreneurs miss. The process of raising money does not begin on the day a founder decides to raise. It starts once validation exists and details about the idea can be shared confidently. That’s when founders should start to create a prospect list of investors and founders in their space.
When building a payments company, start connecting with other founders who have built in payments. Experienced founders have an appreciation for the early struggle, so generally, it’s a high conversion outreach.
Through this process of reaching out to investors, don’t reach out to ask them for money; ask them for feedback instead. Feedback invites conversation and collaboration; money creates pressure. Build the relationship first.
Yes, have a good deck and a story, but most investor conversations aren’t a pitch. They’re a discussion. It's more of a conversation. Decks are for them to read afterward.
As founder relationships deepen, introductions to investors often happen organically.
Start connecting with people and getting feedback, and start sending monthly updates. And, if you're executing, people may even organically come in and say, “Hey, are you raising a round yet? We should talk.” You might even get commitments before you're ready to fundraise.
Start leaning into FOMO and tell people, “I'm not ready to raise.” This creates scarcity around the round before it happens.
“Hey, we're thinking about raising, we've already got some commitments, and we'd love to tell you more and see if it would be a fit, if you're interested in a round.”
When it comes to thought-leadership around fundraising, I hear “pitch deck” 10x more than I hear the words: FOMO and scarcity. This is backwards.
Get ahead of the curve. Create traction before you need to take on money. Put yourself in a good position to raise—before you do.
