But I got a lot of inbound asking about the product and found myself stumbling into meetings with people with no real goal.
What I learned from raising my first seed round.
This isn’t a how-to guide, that may come later. This is just a story and observations from my own experience.
See, I didn’t know what I was doing at all...
But I got a lot of inbound asking about the product and found myself stumbling into meetings with people with no real goal.
I’m not from SF. I’m from small town Missouri. I didn’t have connections.
But I did spend a lot of time making internet friends. It’s what I’ve done my whole life. In particular friends in @genzmafia
And met a lot of connected people thanks to @ItzSuds. He also got me on clubhouse.
In there I started talking to people and met @YousifAstar
He taught me how to be intentional with raising instead of stumbling into meetings.
I blocked off two weeks and got started.
2. You want to find people to get intros to these investors
3. Schedule all your meetings in a 2 week window
4. Pitch your heart out. And remember it’s about your story and your team more than your numbers
5. Close!
Though one person also deserves a lot of credit in this story and that’s Sahil..
He just liked what we were building and believed that we could make it. He was our first big check in.
In fact, it doubled.
This all happened in 24 hours and was very overwhelming... See, now I had to learn to tell people no.
Additionally you now have to pick your partners. Who do you want by your side for life? Don’t rush these decisions.
15-20% dilution is Good
20-25% dilution is Okay
25% + dilution is Bad
We ended up only taking 1.5 of the 4
And avoid any red flags like the plague. Regardless of how much money they want to give you.
They will be with you for life!
Hiring, Organizing, Managing, Shipping is much much much harder than raising.
But I know from the other side raising can look like a big mountain to pass.
We can go over investors, pitch, materials, or even the little nuances like what to say in emails 😆
