The Fundraising Bootcamp

Can we help you? Let’s be honest, there are tons of people who promise fundraising support. We wanted to share the values that we are translating to our founders: 1. There is plenty of money in the world. We want you have not just cash in your bank account but also great partners as investors. We want you to have support. But those investors require a different approach. We are all about smart money, not just money. 2. Relationship building is the most important. We focus on building relationships with other founders and getting warm introductions to investors. 3. Learn how to build relationships with investors in a smart way. For example, start building relationships in advance and create a culture of updates. 4. Massive cold outreach can bring some results but that’s the least efficient thing you can do. You will have very little results, unless you strategize your communication, make research and make it personalized. 5. All concerns and fears are in your head.

The most efficient way to connect with investors is through an introduction from the founders. They have already done the work you're about to do and they have built relationships with investors. We encourage you to invest time and effort to find and connect with founders who recently raised money in your space. One of our bootcamp participants: "Had a great meeting with one founder today. This guy closed the round last year at more than a million. He promised to do intros to investors. In short, one meeting with the right founder brings 10 good intros. For sure, this is much more effective than bombing cold letters by email"

Sharing insights from 5,000 decks We just realized that some of you never meet us in person, so we want to reintroduce ourselves and make sure you know how we can help. The Fundraising Bootcamp was created by Dasha & Nat to leverage their gained experience in Silicon Valley from both investor and founder perspectives to facilitate your fundraising and share fundraising skills. Please meet Natalia Fedulova ? Ex-500 Global (top US accelerator program), reviewed over 5,000 decks, selected startups, and raised funds herself. ? Launched and managed programs in Arizona, Korea, India, Russia, Georgia, and Israel ? Over 10 years of Investment banking experience ? Resides in San Francisco, holds Hult Business school degree You will learn from here: Learn how to make a killing deck from Nat who has seen 5,000+ decks while selecting startups for the 500 Global program Learn how investors think and what makes them invest based on her work with 100+ portfolio companies in 500 Global. Book a free 15-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for each other to help you succeed in your fundraising process. https://lnkd.in/gY8sxeSQ

Sharing insights from raising $1M in 8 days We just realized that some of you have never met us in person, so we want to reintroduce ourselves and make sure you know how we can help. The Fundraising Bootcamp was created by Dasha & Nat to leverage their gained experience in Silicon Valley from both investor and founder perspectives to facilitate your fundraising and share fundraising skills. Please, meet Dasha Kroshkina ? Raised $5M in venture funding ? Techstars NYC and Berkeley SkyDeck alumni ? Won 5 international startup competitions, including Seedstars Global Winner ($500k in prize) ? Growth mentor in Seedstars ? Forbes 30u30 ? Resides in Los Angeles You will learn from her: 1. Killer pitching from Dasha who won 5 international startup pitch competitions and $500k as a prize! 2. All the tricks and hacks on how to close fast (like $1M in 8 days) from fundraising experience and lessons from Techstars and Berkeley SkyDeck 3. How to handle fundraising emotionally and deal with fear of failure and shame if you don’t succeed. Ypu can book a free 15-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for each other to help you succeed in your fundraising process. https://lnkd.in/gY8sxeSQ

We are thrilled that you are planning to raise money for your startup! It's a great time to start the process because: - the most active VC season will start in September - Pre-seed deals have grown significantly both in the number of deals and valuation remained the same and it makes NOW a great time to start the process and raise that money for your business growth and your own salary. However, if it's your first time raising money in the US, on average the process takes around 1 year.. because you are learning all yourselves and making your own mistakes. We have created our program to make this process fast, easy, and efficient for you! Get the experience of both Silicon Valley investor and founder. Book a call here to have 15-min intro call with us to get some fundraising tips and learn how to make your fundraising process faster: https://lnkd.in/gSWSrVQ7

"This is like getting fundraising skills from 3 top American accelerators all at once, but only in a few weeks and without giving away equity," described our founder-participant. And you can join us this week! Our goal is to save you YEARS of your own mistakes and help you do everything right quickly and on the first try: 1. You will learn how to create an impressive presentation from Nat, who has screened over 5,000 decks in her career at 500 Startups. You will learn how to pitch like a pro from Dasha - a winner of 5 international startup competitions (one of them with a prize of $500k). 2. Learn from Nat how investors think and what motivates them to invest, based on her experience of selecting over 100 startups for the 500 startups programs. Dasha will share all the tricks and secrets on how to close deals quickly, based on her experience of raising $4 million and skills from mentors at Techstars and Berkeley SkyDeck. 3. Get the opportunity to practice your pitch in front of investors and founders from Silicon Valley. Get valuable feedback and build new relationships.?

3 things that impact fundraising success: Let’s take a similar product, the same market and stage. Why one founder raises a lot and fast and second - struggles for months? 1. Storytelling skills (~30%) How good are you at clearly explaining the problem? Inspiring with your vision? Convincing with your background? The good news is - you can be trained. 2. FOMO/momentum creation skills (~30%) Well here is more or less easy to learn the strategy. This could be taught. 3. Skills to effectively grow the network and build relationships (~40%) Remember, fundraising is a numbers game. Given great pitch and momentum tricks, you need to be able to get 50-100 warm connections with relevant investors through other people. And that’s on you. Plus let’s add on top cultural biases around “asking for money”, mental and psychological blocks, and personal fears that lead to procrastination. All of it can be improved. We'll be happy to help you!

If you are an early-stage founder who is planning to raise money in 2024, that’s the first thing you need to do right now. Connect with 10 founders who have recently (in the past year) raised money. Ideally in the same industry as you, but not direct competitors. Connect with them, get them on a call, build relationships, and ask for 3 warm intros to their investors. 10 calls with founders will give you 30 warm investors in your pipeline, making already half of the funnel you need for your round.

Sending regular updates to all your network is the most efficient tool to warm them up and build relationships. Even if you don’t know when you are planning to open a round, start sending progress updates right now to raise later faster. Investors who were following your progress are much likely will schedule the call as soon as you open the round. On the early stages, investors want to make sure they putting money in the right people. Regular updates are not only showing your work in progress but also allowing investors to see how dedicated and consistent you are.

Grants are a real source of funds right now! #fundraising #techstars #ycombinator #yc #500global #startup #venture