Copy These 5 Strategies to WIN at Raising Capital

No one looks forward to raising capital, especially when you're in a time crunch…

Well, except for us at Obvi .

We don’t just look forward to them, we K*LL them every time around.

Don’t believe me?

We raised $2.2 million for our DTC brand using angel investors and networking the RIGHT WAY.

But how did we do it?

Here’s how to use our 5 strategies to COPY these wins for your brand:

1. Personal Branding:

Before diving into the tactical side of things, I feel responsible for highlighting that you NEED to have a strong personal brand.

For my co-founders, Ashvin Melwani , Ankit Patel , and me, our presences on LinkedIn and Twitter weren't just for fun or to keep up with friends.

It was our introduction before the introduction.

This visibility meant that investors came with a sense of familiarity and trust when it came time to raise our seed round.

Names like Carl Weische , Charles Tichenor IV and Elijah Schneider weren't just impressive on paper, they’ve been connections we’ve created through consistent personal branding.

They found us, believed in us, and invested in us — a clear indicator that sometimes, what you project directly impacts what you attract.

2. Streamlining the Hunt:

When it was time to seek funding, AngelList was our chosen platform.

The reasons were simple.

They had a setup as easy as answering a few fundamental questions and we were all set to receive curated investor information.

It would arrange our decks and streamline our contracts.

I don’t use this term lightly but it was a one-stop-shop and the best efficiency booster to have on our side during a process where we thought we’d be pitching and going through paperwork endlessly.

(Glad we were proved wrong)

3. Financial Forefront:

You’re probably going to think AngelList has me in the back of a van and is forcing me to say how good they are…

But they really are THAT good.

Their interface, which was easy to use and navigate, even simplified the intimidating process of setting financial expectations.

We were able to easily put together the narrative of our funding needs, set a valuation reflective of our ambition, and establish minimum investments.

We were able to share our company’s store in such a personal way and set up the stakes investors could claim.

They had an analytics dashboard that could be used with the same level of precision as an ecom platform.

We could track investor interactions and follow up with leads with the same attentiveness as we would with an abandoned cart, re-engaging and converting interest into a commitment.

4. Referrals:

Our investor network didn't just grow, it started to evolve through referrals.

It began with a single investor who saw the promise in what we were building.

We were grateful for their belief in us and then the unbelievable happened.

They invited their network to participate as well.

From there, it was a strategic expansion.

Every referral is built on the last, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem of investment and support.

5. Simplifying the Boring

Yup, I’m talking about the legal aspect of it now.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this was the most dreaded part of the process.

The legal and administrative side of raising funds has never been anything other than a headache that made me want to pull each and every individual hair out of my head.

But I had faith.

AngelList hadn’t let me down so far and I didn’t think they were about to start now.

(I was right)

They had set up the most detailed SAFE and managed the influx of funds to be reduced to nothing but some formalities.

We were in and out so swiftly and moved from the transactional to the transformational stages of our business growth in a couple of blinks of an eye.

The idea of raising $2.2 million in four weeks might seem overwhelming.

But it doesn’t have to be…our entire experience shows it's entirely achievable and actually pretty simple with the right strategies and platforms.

All you really need to worry yourself with is how you’re going to exchange your ambitions to reality.