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You CAN Framework Overview VIdeo
In the years before I launched my last startup, I worked deep in the startup community as a VC. At the time, I wasn't certain I'd ever raise venture funding myself. That said, the work I did ended up enhancing my ability to raise. But that wasn't by design; I did things for fun and pure enjoyment. There was no urgency or goals set.
In 2017, I co-founded a startup and raised what was then a large pre-seed from top investors. Looking back, I can see how the sum of many random activities over a bunch of years drove much of that success. The question is…can you do that too? With more intention? More quickly?
The answer is "You CAN"!
You CAN are the 3 categories I worked on slowly: You, Credibility, Awareness, and Network.
Here's how to think of them in a fundraising context and why they're so valuable to fundraising success:
You - having your mind right (as woo-woo as it might sound) might be the most important thing in startups. Jumping into this game when things are off is a recipe for disaster. There are so many cliches about startups being hard, working on your passions, life being short, etc. Guess what? They're all true. I did startups for all the wrong reasons in the past which makes all the cliches even more real to me. If you're in it for the right reasons, you will execute better. Not only that, but great investors are great at sniffing that out.
Credibility - the belief in your ability or expertise. Do investors believe you have what it takes to do what is necessary? Do they trust that you know what you're talking about? Without significant data, credibility is all an investor can count on.
Awareness - are investors aware of your efforts in the space? Can they see focus and progress that helps predict your trajectory? It's difficult to invest in a founder with zero context or relationship. Awareness adds data points that investors can use to plot a line pointing towards success. Mark Suster has a well known article on this here.
Network - it takes a village in fundraising. The stronger your village, the greater your chances of success. Your network determines the quality and volume of warm introductions at your disposal. Warm introductions are the lifeblood of fundraising.
Focus on building these 4 things long before you're ready to raise and things will go far smoother.