Fundraising is a bit like fishing...
Fundraising is a bit like fishing.
If you want to catch a lot of big fish, to be successful, you must do a lot of legwork and invest time and money before you leave home.
You need to know the weather forecast when high tide and low tide will be, can you access the fishing spot on foot or do you need a boat, do you need a permit to fish there or is it free, what kind of fishing gear do you need – the size of the rod, kind or reel, gauge of line, type and size of hook, sinker or float, and last but not least, the type of bait you need.
But wait, there’s more!?Unless you treat fishing like playing a game of Lotto, you must know what type of fish you are trying to catch and if they frequent the spot you have chosen!
Why??If you wanted to catch Bream or Trevally, you would not have a snowball's chance in hell of catching them if you went to a quiet spot on a freshwater river or stream. Yet that’s exactly the spot you might end up catching a catfish or grouper.
It’s the same with Fundraising. If you think that you can send out a cookie-cutter email to everyone in your contact list, or random people you connected to on LinkedIn, you will probably catch one fish, er… investor, after several hundred random attempts.
But in the process, you’ll ruin your company or your reputation, as you’ll be perceived as either being a novice or a cheapskate.
You wouldn’t (normally) agree to marry someone you just met or never met, would you??Then why would you send emails out to people if you hadn’t researched them, found out what other companies they had invested in, found out what partners/suppliers/founders think of them, found out if they have had or do have legal issues, found out if they have ever been bankrupt etc? You should only target investors that YOU KNOW are a fit for your business, your culture, your values and you feel you will enjoy working with
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My proven process to close a new investment contains these five steps:
1. Plan & Test
2. Filter & Focus
3. Reach & Excite
4. Launch & Pitch
5. Close & Bank
If you’d like to learn more, follow my page https://www.dhirubhai.net/showcase/the-fundraising-angel, or book a call - https://calendly.com/jamesspurway/fundraising-as-a-service-faas