I used these slides for a seminar at BLAST Conference in Rome (May 2017). Most of the information provided are taken from Fundraising Field Guide by Carlos Espinal, plus the experience that we have done with Stamplay so far.

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Fundraising 101
Nicola Mattina
BLAST Conference
Rome, 10 May 2017

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fundraising is fucking hard

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You’ll meet investors who doubt you
as a founder/CEO, and your ability
to execute

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You’ll meet investors who are
meeting with you because they
want to invest in your competitor

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You’ll meet investors who don’t
have the money to invest but want
to appear active in the ecosystem

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You’ll meet investors who don’t get
what you do at all, but will have an
opinion about your product

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You’ll meet many investors…

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comfort
zone
good investors

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1. know where you are

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5 fundraising stages
A team with an idea

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5 fundraising stages
A team with an idea
A team with a prototype

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5 fundraising stages
A team with an idea
A team with a prototype
A team with product market fit

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5 fundraising stages
A team with an idea
A team with a prototype
A team with product market fit
A team with a product and traction

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5 fundraising stages
A team with an idea
A team with a prototype
A team with product market fit
A team with a product and traction
A company that needs to scale

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There is an investor for any stage
idea prototype PMF traction scale
business angels
crowdfunding
acceleratorsincubators
funds
you / FFF

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2. determine your objective

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idea prototype PMF traction scale
$ $$ $$$ $$$$
How much money do you need to
get to the next step?

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Don’t pick arbitrary numbers
The right number is = amount
needed until you hit your milestone
* buffer multiplier

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How many
shares do you
want to give up?
7%
8%
10%
11%
29%
35%

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Pre Money + Investment = Post Money
1.000.000 + 100.000 = 1.100.000

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3. craft your story

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Why are you doing it?
Why your are the right team?
What did you achieve?
What’s the next step?
What’s your vision?

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4. prepare materials

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A one-pager, in a mobile-device
friendly format, that contains the
absolutely critical facts about your
company.

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The pitch deck you will use when
presenting verbally.

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The pitch deck that will have more
detail and make sense to an
investor without your verbal
presentation.

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Your financial assumptions model,
to showcase how you are thinking
through cash use.

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Your cap table, to show the equity
distribution between your team
members.

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Your personal profiles on Linkedin,
Facebook, Angel List, Twitter, and
other meaningful platforms.

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Your startup profile on Angel List,
Crunchbase, F6S and other
meaningful platforms.

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5. prepare for the roundabout

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Make a long list

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Qualify your list and prioritize
• Investing in your area (i.e.
Mobile, IoT, etc)
• Actively investing (at least once
in the last 6 months)
• Invested a similar amount you
are looking for in the last year

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Track you progress
Use a CRM
(Pipedrive), a
spreadsheet or
Trello.

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Find any possible way to get in front
of investors. Better if you have
intros.

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Do a practice run on your meeting!

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Ask info about the investment process
How do they make decisions?
When do they make decisions?
What are their key metrics they use for investment?
What concerns do they have about the investment?

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Be prepared for tough questions…
One/three year projections
Any question you don’t know the answer to
How much you are raising?
What your cap is? / What valuation you are looking for?
Whether you are looking for a lead?
When you are closing?
Whether you are raising an equity or a convertible note round?
What happens if you cannot raise the full amount?
Personal questions

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Be prepared for tough questions…
What will you do with the money?
Bad answer: “I want to hire some engineers.”
Ok answer: “I’m using half of it for growth.”
Best answer: “We’re raising X for growth. Based on our customer
acquisition experiments, if we pour Y into this process, we can get to Z
in the next 12 months. I have person A, B, and C, who are waiting in the
wings to come onboard.”

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Fundraising is an learning process.

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Sources
This presentation is based on the best fundraising
manual that you can find. If you want to become a
ninja, download it now!
http://fundraisingfieldguide.com/

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ciao@nicolamattina.it
linkedin.com/in/nicolamattina
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