Seth Goldstein & Michael Simpson – The Secret of Raising Money
ou can raise money easily…
You just have to know the rules….
I opened the email and my heart rate skyrocketed. The message read:
Friday came… and Friday went. But no money showed up in our account…
Days later, the investor who sent the email told us he had to withdraw…
I was stunned. Seth was not…
See, I had assumed that when investors commit in writing, it means you will receive money. Not so. Thus began my education about how fundraising really works, and when I learned for the first time (of many) that “It’s not over until the money’s in the bank…”
My name is Michael Simpson. I’m a co-founder of DJZ and the co-author of The Secret of Raising Money, which I wrote with Seth Goldstein…
Seth has raised $100m over the last twenty years, has sold two companies, co-founded Turntable.fm and was Fred Wilson’s first EIR. So I was lucky to learn fundraising at the heels of the world’s best…
“Seth Goldstein: the master fundraiser”
“Seth Goldstein has been a master fundraiser since I met him in the mid 90s. He has finally gotten around to sharing his secrets with the rest of us”
FRED WILSON, CO-FOUNDER OF UNION SQUARE VENTURES
But we don’t all have the good fortune of working with someone like Seth… Instead, we rely on blogs to help us understand what fundraising is like. But here’s the thing:
Tech Bloggers Create The Illusion That Fundraising Is Easy…
“Payments Startup Clinkle Raises $25 Million Seed Round…”
“Music platform Splice nets$2.75 million…”
When you read the tech press, it seems like everyone is raising millions of dollars all the time. That there is too much money to go round. That all startups are literally swimming in cash…
Reality is very different. The odds of you raising money from any given VC fund are around 0.5%…
For 3 years, Andy Dunn, CEO Of Bonobos, was 30 days away from being unable to pay his rent and 90 days from his company running out of money. He managed to stay afloat by raising tiny angel checks from 100+ angels.
The AirBnb founders famously sold cereal boxes in order to stay afloat…
Despite what the media will have you believe, raising money is a complex game with a specific set of unwritten rules. These rules can be broken, but if you walk into the process unaware of what they are, you stand very little chance of being successful….
I’m based in San Francisco, and many of my friends are entrepreneurs. Any time one of them goes out to raise money, I watch as the fundraising process takes over their life. Product development grinds to a halt…
The big questions they struggle with are always the same –
“How much I raise?”
“When is the right time to raise?”
“How do I meet investors?”
“Should I use equity or debt?”
“Should I use AngelList?”
Even after all those questions are answered, I hear this: “But I’m not well known! No VCs have even heard of me…”
I learned the answers to all these questions from Seth as I worked alongside him…and that’s why we decided to write The Secret of Raising Money….
You Don’t Have to Be Well-Known to Raise Money
I wasn’t well-known either when I started worked with Seth on fundraising at DJZ. In fact – I didn’t even know the first thing about fundraising. But after he taught me the ropes I raised hundreds of thousands from VC’s and angels within a few weeks.
And I started teaching friends how to do it too…
Now, Seth and I have decided to teach even more startup founders. That’s why we’ve written The Secret of Raising Money…
“Crucial Strategies”
“The strategies I learned from Michael were crucial to kickstarting my angel round at Crowdsporting. If you want to master fundraising, buy The Secret of Raising Money”
ERIC MARTIN, FOUNDER OF CROWDSPORTING
What if….
You could reduce the time you are spending on fundraising by 45% or more?
You knew how to get meetings with top investors quickly, and you knew exactly what to say to them to get them interested?
You had access to the collective knowledge of the best minds in Silicon Valley?
Presenting: “The Secret of Raising Money”
The Easiest Way to Go From Bootstrapped To Funded…
You’ll get culmination of 20 years of fundraising and literally 1000s of hours of effort that condenses the best wisdom on how to get funded into a single book…
You’ll ALSO get a pitchdeck template library, financial model templates, cap table, budget, exclusive new video interview footage, and much much more…
Learn all of the following:
- The networking mistakes you are making today
- The techniques you need to get investors whipped up into a frenzy over your company
- Why your financial model is meaningless
- A formula for choosing the right investor for you
- Why your pitch sucks and how to fix it
“A Comprehensive Guide…”
“As an entrepreneur, you’ll likely raise money for any startup only a handful of times which is part of what makes it a tedious process. Seth and Michael have put together a comprehensive guide to the process so you’ll be set up for success.”
HITEN SHAH, CO-FOUNDER OF KISSMETRICS AND CRAZY EGG
Get insider information from the world’s best VC’s….
You will get access to interviews from some of the finest minds on fundraising on the planet. For example:
FRED WILSON
Co-Founder of Union Square Ventures
NAVAL RAVIKANT
Co-Founder, AngelList
MARK SUSTER
Partner, Upfront Ventures
MARK GOLDSTEIN
Chairman, Backops
DANNY RIMER
Partner, Index Ventures
JOSH KOPELMAN
Co-Founder, First Round Capital
BRAD FELD
Co-Founder, Foundry Group
JON CALLAGHAN
Co-Founder, True Ventures
Here’s what’s inside the book
Chapter 1: Set the course
- Funding sources (e.g. Angel, VC, crowdfunding etc.), and the pros and cons of each
- How to choose equity or debt
- How to make your debt sexy
- Timing: Learn when to raise your round
- Overview of funding rounds (Seed, Series A etc.)
- Co-ordination and emotional investment – how to prepare for the rollercoaster
Chapter 2: Prepare the materials
-
- Learn how to craft your 1 sentence, 30 second and 30 minute pitch
- How to craft an e-mail summary
- Build the perfect pitch deck – slide by slide instructions. Includes information on market sizing
- Learn how much you should raise
- What to put in your financial model
- Why “business plans” are irrelevant
Chapter 3: Meet investors
- How to pick the right targets
- The no.1 technique you should use to meet investors
- E-mail etiquette
- The cold e-mail
- Meeting investors via blogs
- The NDA
- How to use AngelList
Chapter 4: Sell your story
- The three key components of investor psychology
- The three criteria investors use to evaluate you
- The three key pillars of entrepreneur psychology
- Preparing for the pitch
- How to pitch
- Storytelling
- What to do after the pitch
Chapter 5: Close
- What to expect from legal due diligence
- What to expect from business due diligence
- The clauses of the term sheet, and the market standard for each
- The clauses of a convertible note and the market standard for each
- Valuation
and much, much more…
“A must read for young, budding entrepreneurs”
“Given Seth’s wealth of knowledge on this topic, I think that this book will become a must read for young, budding entrepreneurs”
DANNY RIMER, PARTNER AT INDEX VENTURES
No Matter What or Who You Know,
YOU STILL HAVE TO BUILD A GREAT COMPANY…
Look – there is no magic pill that is going to solve all your problems for you…No matter how many insider secrets we give you, the fact remains: You still have to be building an awesome product that people want to use. No tricks or gimmicks will make up for that.
BUT! There ARE tools, processes, tactics and practices that WILL enable you to become more attractive to investors….
Why are we the ones to teach you to raise money?
Seth Goldstein
- Raised hundreds of millions of dollars for dozens of companies over the last twenty years
- Co-founded DJZ, funded by Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, True Ventures and more
- Co-founded Turntable.FM, dubbed the hottest music startup by Billboard
- Founded and sold Site Specific, one of the first internet advertising firms and Majestic Research, a hedge fund research company
- First EIR at Fred Wilson’s Flatiron Partners
- Angel investor (bit.ly, delicious, Gumroad)
Michael Simpson
- Co-Founded DJZ, funded by Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, True Ventures and more
- Managed process for $3m debt and equity capital raise and personally raised hundreds of thousands from angels and venture capitalists
- Two years M&A investment banking at Greenhill & Co
- Angel investor
- Yale College graduate
“100% of the Information you Need to Get Funded…”
“Raising money is really hard, especially as a first-time entrepreneur. Seth and Michael have given entrepreneurs the complete arsenal of weapons they need to successfully close a funding round. Highly recommended”
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