Chances are youre more at home leading your company than asking investors for money.
True, there are plenty of traps scattered along the road to venture funding.
Itispossible for founders to sidestep the most common hazards and keep their companies moving ahead.
I know this because Im a founder with my own two feet in those very diverse worlds.
And I can tell you what Ive learned sometimes the hard way about raising capital to fund your startup.
As I see it, the keys are planning, preparation, and passion.
Planning is everything
In funding mode, planning is crucial.
As a founder, you oughta verify youve got enough funding to carry you through to the next round.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Ask yourself how youll use existing capital for marketing, product development, R&D?
What milestones will you use to mark your progress customers, revenue, working profit?
Whats your burn rate?
And when will you have enough assets to raise the next round?
Answers to questions like these make the beginnings of a plan.
Eisenhower said the Army taught him a valuable adage: Plans are worthless, butplanningis everything.
The act of planning itself is what matters most.
But if you havent been planning you cant start to work, intelligently at least.
Expect the unexpected
Even between funding rounds, be ready for unexpected opportunities.
You never know when youll cross paths with an investor.
You cant anticipate what the market will look like the next time youre ready to raise capital, either.
If I were looking at my company from the outside, what would I think of it?
How is it performing?
What are its strengths and weaknesses today?
These monthly mini-SWOT exercises help me put myself in the investors shoes.
Make time to attend conventions and industry events and casual meet-ups.
With every interaction, always provide value.
Help everyone it’s possible for you to.
Share your industry insight with investors, and spread the good word about your fellow entrepreneurs.
Youll become known as a trusted advisor and a mensch.
This can be a long and cumbersome process.
There are ways to ease the pressure.
(Here three months might actually be realistic.)
It can be your bridge to an equity round, and buy you some time before valuation.
Keep your eye on the customer
To investors, your company is a vessel for creating wealth.
Theyre watching your growth.
They expect you to keep expanding your customer base, to continually work toward scaling up.
But while youre sharpening your fundraising skills, dont lose track of your business.
Its really important for an entrepreneur to provide value as a person and as a company.
Just keep in mind, it all starts with the customer, before investors are even in the picture.
This is a perspective every young entrepreneur must develop.
These are the goals worth working toward every day.
The time and energy it demands can be dangerously all-consuming.
As a founder, managing my bandwidth is an issue I take very seriously.
He knows the customer and the market, along with many aspects of the business from the inside.
Hes become another face of the company besides my own.
As a founder, Im always working.
My work/life balance has definitely been thrown off kilter.
The funny thing is, all this working never really feels like work.
I actually enjoy untangling the web.
Thats because Im a founder, and my work is my passion.
If youre a founder, you know exactly what I mean.
Earlier in his career he was a startup scout for the international technology district at Hewlett Packard.
Gil is a graduate of Tel Aviv University, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.
