Raising $200k through a Twitter post. By Alex Simon with Elude

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They're releasing to fundraising
video a podcast about

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fundraising for early-stage
startups, the major rule that we

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follow here is no bullshit on
this podcast.

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No music to relax.
You know, advertisements of our

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sponsors.
We only talk about fundraising

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here and nothing else.
So let's jump into the episode.

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And today's guest speaker we
have I'll excitement, co-founder

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and CEO a dilute.
And in this episode we'll talk

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about Free fundraising checklist
that everyone must have or it is

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recommended to have.
It also talked about how Alex

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raised nearly 200,000 dollars
through a Twitter post.

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How why?
And when does it actually work.

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So Alex Let's Get Up by you
giving us some background on

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yourself and on alert short.
So I really appreciate you

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having me on really looking
forward to diving deeper.

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So my background actually
before, starting a lude was over

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in investment banking on Wall
Street.

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So I spent about five years
there and I'd say ruling you

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know corporate world really kind
of kicked off and started my own

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company in the travel space.
Given my passion for just

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getting out and exploring the
world.

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And so really at the core elude
is budget based travel, we allow

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users to search based only on
their budget.

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So for instance, you tell us,
hey, I got a thousand dollars.

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And next weekend, we showcase
basically everywhere in the

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world where you could afford to
get to and that's flight and

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hotel combination.
The yeah, that's a little bit

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about myself and my background
and really, Happy to be here.

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Hello Lee.
This would indefinitely while

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we're having this conversation.
I'm definitely going to check

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out alludes to see what my
budget can afford me.

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I'm pretty sure it's gonna for
me to remain in my apartment,

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but we'll see.
We'll see.

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All right, so let's talk about
your recent fundraising.

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You could often only about two
months ago and you're nearly

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done closing.
Its is that about right?

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Yep.
That's correct.

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So, we're very fortunate to have
really great partner.

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Both from the investment side,
as well as the advisors that

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kind of help streamline a lot of
the process that to be quite

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blunt in the early days would
have cost, you know, months of

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work and kind of deep deep
connections.

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But very, very, very happy.
So, that was my major question

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there.
How did you manage to raise the

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money so quickly?
Their own fundraising process is

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anywhere between 4 to 12 months.
And yeah, I've seen fundraisings

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fun reading processes that were
about one month long but still

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you are are on the faster side
of it.

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So can you tell us a little more
about how you manage to make it

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so fast?
You already mentioned that, you

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know, a lot of Partners and
advisors can you talk a little

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bit more on that?
What exactly did they do?

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Did you click create a list of
investors that you really want

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to have on your cap table and
just reached out to your

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advisors and partners to see if
they can make introductions or

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how exactly did that work out?
Yeah, so great question.

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So it's a combination of all of
that I'll start off by saying we

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actually run a process.
Single month where we send out a

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newsletter to all of our current
existing investors as well as

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our advisors and the newsletter
really just goes anything from

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the product updates to
fundraising updates to kind of

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everything in between things
that might we that we might need

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help with and things along those
along.

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Those lines.
And typically, with our

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fundraising process, we use that
newsletter as kind of a, you

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know, a reach out to say, Hey,
you know, here's the top five

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funds that we're looking to
reach.

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Out to, if you have interests
or, you know, if you have

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connections to those to those
interested parties, you know, we

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would love an introduction and
in addition to, you know, just

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that that newsletter which is
definitely been very helpful for

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us.
We also run a process where we

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have basically a running list of
an Excel document with top

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funds, bulb in the travel space
to then also just in the

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consumer space that were
interested in and an interested

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in getting connected with.
And so I'm a huge believer.

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Weaver that you shouldn't just
be like turning on fundraise and

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just trying to kind of go out
and kick off a process.

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It really needs to be a
collaborative process both with

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your current investors.
And then also again kind of the

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new ones and starting to make
those introductions earlier

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rather than trying to kind of
put a process of, you know, two

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weeks or five months in place.
And so that's kind of a little

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bit of the foundational work
that we needed to do in order to

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get get us to this point.
Lovely.

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So, before we move any further,
actually, one more follow-up

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question.
On this, this is an ongoing

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debate for for this podcast that
our early listeners have been

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listening for years.
But that is how frequently

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you're supposed to reach out to
your existing investors and your

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overall Network that supports
you most investors or most

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Founders say that the stick to
and quarterly or even semiannual

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why did you choose a month
monthly updates?

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That is a lot.
That requires a lot of time.

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Why did you decide that it's
worth the time investment?

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Yes.
A great question.

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I think what we're realizing
especially, as kind of a precede

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seed, stage startup, is that,
you know, we're constantly

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changing our product and really
our team, every single month,

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right?
So there's so much movement and

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and things that are happening
within that current month, where

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that monthly update to
investors, there is some

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substantial value that that
actually happens on that monthly

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basis.
Now it's kind of funny And

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ironic because you're catching
Us in this kind of transitional

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period as well where I do think
that will start to move into

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more or less a quarterly update
especially when it comes to kind

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of our top-tier investors.
And I say top-tier meaning,

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people who have the most skin in
the game.

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What we what we realized very
early on is that if we were to

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continue having you know chats
with every single one of our

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investors on a monthly basis.
It would just be a time suck

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both for myself and my
co-founder and so that was Kind

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of the main reason for us to
migrate into a newsletter where

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we can address basically our
audience at kind of one you know

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at one particular point and then
go back to them with any

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specific asks and you know that
could be anything from new

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employees to hey test out this
new feature give us some

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feedback here but yeah I think
as we start to mature in our

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business I think it's definitely
moving more towards a quarterly

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update rather than a monthly
update.

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Nice.
And yeah, glad to hear that

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because I do think that monthly
is a little bit too frequent

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but, you know, whatever works
for you.

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It seems like as been working so
far so maybe that's the way to

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go.
So now let's talk about another

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debates.
That was very much old and has

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been going on here for ages
which is Twitter and raising

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money through Twitter.
On our print recall that you

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mentioned that you raised nearly
200,000 dollars through just one

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post on Twitter.
Can you tell us a little more

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about that story?
It just legitimately one post or

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was it a series of posts?
Or was it, you know, and I'm

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going work on Twitter for years
where you were building your

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audience where you were making
sure that the right people are

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following you and making sure
that they were actually reading

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what you're posting.
So how did that happen?

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So, yeah, let me unpack this
story a little bit more in

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depth.
So basically, I am not saying

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that I am any, but, you know, by
any means somebody of stature on

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Twitter, I think I have a few
hundred followers.

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So again, it It was definitely
definitely was not in the

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context of me.
Trying to build the right

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rapport with you know the right
investors through Twitter over

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time, it was much more kind of
like a fluke accident that kind

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of, that kind of happened.
And so there's a few investors

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that I actually reach out to on
a more recurring basis through

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Twitter, whether it's, you know,
going into their DMS and just

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saying, hey this is, you know
what I mean?

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This is what I'm working on.
In terms of allude in hopes of

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their response, in this
particular scenario, there was

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one investor That tweeted, you
know, hey, shoot, across your

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URL and kind of like a quick
one, you know, one sentence

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pitch and he'll comment on on,
you know, those posts to see if

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there's anybody that would be of
interest in his Network to make

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that interconnection in that
pitch, I basically said that

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we're closing our fundraise.
We have 200k left.

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And that this is kind of what we
are.

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What we're doing with our link
directly to our website and

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literally within the matter.
Of about 48 hours, we had that

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200k closed within Twitter.
And these were people reaching

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out that I basically never met
before hand, that either run

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funds or are Angel Investors and
what's quite interesting about

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this approach is that it's very
similar to an angel list.

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I guess you can call it kind of
Syndicate, right?

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Where you know, somebody goes on
they create you know a you know,

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a Syndicate for that business
and then reach out to, you know,

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20 to 100 plus investors.
This is very similar where I

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basically had submitted, you
know, our business.

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And I believe I had actually
linked our investor deck as well

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in that in that Twitter post.
And within again that first 24

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to 48 hours, we just saw a huge
Spike on docks and people

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checking out our deck and
interested in getting involved.

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The last thing I'll say is, we
did most of the hard work up

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until that point.
So, I'm not saying that this is

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something that will work for
every every entrepreneur we

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closed, you know, a little over
1.5 million beforehand and we

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were closing in that kind of the
last little bit, a little bit of

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the fund raised prior to doing
that.

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And so we had some pretty Heavy
Hitters, both advisers and

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investors, that I think helped
helped some of those Angel

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Investors make that leap but
death you know all in all the

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Twitter response was incredible
for us and really got really got

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us to be able to close quickly.
Great that is Really cool more

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and more stories about how
people raise money on Twitter.

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I tried to wear myself multiple
times.

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Just yeah, it did not work.
Out is not for everyone.

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Yeah.
Not yet.

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Not yet.
Not yet.

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We'll see.
We'll see how it goes on in the

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future.
Um but yeah let's let's talk

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about the reason why you're on
this podcast.

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The reason why you're here today
is because when my business

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developer mentioned the
investors that you raise money

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from I'm like alright I know
pretty much everyone in this

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round that sounds really
interesting.

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That is very rare, it does not
happen that frequently.

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Therefore it is an interesting
round.

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So how do you manage to raise
money from so many well-known

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investors specifically in Los
Angeles?

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Yes.
A great question.

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I think again I'm going to go
right back to something that one

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of our early advisors had
suggested we do and I think this

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is actually really good homework
for any entrepreneur out there

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that is looking to either go and
build their business or just

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start.
And it's create kind of a

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one-pager of The high-end
advisors that you would love to

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be a part and or associated with
your company because it

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necessarily need to be specific
names.

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At first, it could just be like,
you know, somebody from X

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company, X being, maybe Snapchat
or Instagram, or if you're a

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consumer Focus, again, those
that's in our case.

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That's where my mind goes
through.

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But our advisors basically our
top here individuals from these

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markets, right?
So we have the CMO of It's or

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the ex CMO of Instagram.
We have one of the cofounders of

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Priceline.
If you're familiar with

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Skyscanner, we have one of those
co-founders as well as part of

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our advisor group.
And I would really urge a lot of

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early in early entrepreneurs to
build out their advisor network

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with individuals, that can
really Propel their business.

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And I say that because we really
we the reason that we have some

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of the top-tier investors based
here in LA Specifically, you

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know, around La ecosystem is
because of those top-tier

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advisors that were able to get
us from.

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Really just the idea concept of
what we were doing to actual

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execution, and really a plan for
go to market.

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00:12:09,900 --> 00:12:14,200
So, happy to unpack that, but
largely, I give a lot of our

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success of fundraising, to the
advisors themselves actually

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overwrite.
That is their true.

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That is one of the major
value-adds of advisors will get,

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not one of them.
Not going to say that.

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I'm taking those words back.
Okay, but it is one of the value

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as of advisors, and let's, let's
talk about visors a little bit,

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advisors is yet another subject
that is discussed, very

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frequently on this podcast.
So let's touch on say it again.

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You've said that, you know, we
have a lot of notable advisors,

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which is lovely, but the problem
with notable advisors is,

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they're very hard to get and
sometimes they are expensive as

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hell.
So how do you compensate them if

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you don't mind sharing, this
information.

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Are you going through just
giving out the stock best thing

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00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,300
that's For certain amount of
time, giving them style, based

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on two actions or how do you
structure that?

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Yeah, it's a combination of
both, you know, I'd be more than

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happy to share just on this
podcast as well, kind of a

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context because I too, as a
fellow entrepreneur was, you

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know, Googling saying, you know,
what's the proper compensation

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to in investor or sorry?
An advisor in the early stage

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and what I like to say is that
anywhere between kind of a few

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percentage points, you know,
let's say 0 to 2 or, you know,

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in some cases facts, maybe,
Three percent in those very

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00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,000
early days is not something
that's going to make or break

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your business.
The vesting cycle is actually

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what was probably going to be.
My next point is that you want

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to be able to actually lock in
that advisor not for the first

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three months, which will
probably get a lot of value out

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of but, you know, over the
course of two years.

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And so I definitely strongly
urge a lot of early

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entrepreneurs to go into that
route.

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Now, in our particular case, I
think we were in somewhere in

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between where, you know, we're
not giving up more than a Age /

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advisor, but it was much more in
the lines of what could they

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help us from the short-term and
long-term goals.

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And so that was a collaborative,
you know, situation you you're

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going to find yourself as an
entrepreneur reaching out to

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these advisors.
It's not going to be a

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one-and-done.
Hey, okay, great.

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You're interested in my
business.

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Great now, your advisor.
This is something that you're

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going to need to build over time
in terms of relationship and

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that will feel it should feel
mind you.

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It should feel collaborative
where you're actually coming up

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with those.
Medium and long-term goals with

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that advisor, for them to kind
of action on.

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And it could be everything from,
you know them, reaching out to

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00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,200
their Network to helping make
introductions to strategizing

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00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,300
and whiteboarding, right?
Like it could be all of the

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above but my my biggest
suggestion is in the early days

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of when you're trying to kind of
formulate who those who that

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00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:49,900
advisor group is that you're
very deliberate about why.

282
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And what they could actually
help you with getting to that

283
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,600
next phase.
True.

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So you mentioned launcher,
multiple times, and also

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00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:02,000
mentioned that you locking the
advisor for not just the

286
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,100
upcoming three months.
But for two years that is the

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00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:07,800
struggle that I've seen
happening a lodge or with a lot

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00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,900
of Founders, were they lock in
the advisor, they worked in the

289
00:15:10,900 --> 00:15:13,500
beginning for a couple months
and then they just drop off.

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They just do not show up, they
do not care.

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00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:22,300
And what happens then what, how
do you how what's your advice on

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00:15:22,300 --> 00:15:25,300
keeping the advisor?
Active basically, Great

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00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:27,600
question.
So this is another reason that

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00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,600
we did migrate towards a monthly
newsletter and so we have

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00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,900
specific asks for advisors that
go out in that newsletter.

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00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:39,500
And so it may in some cases, the
reason I bring that up and set

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00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,100
in some months we may not
actually go and meet with every

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00:15:43,100 --> 00:15:46,600
one of our advisors, but but I
know that they're still learning

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00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,900
or reading our newsletter and
can still provide value.

300
00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:52,900
Even if that doesn't mean that
we've had a strategy session or

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00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,700
you know, had walked through
some scenarios.

302
00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,600
Oreos with them.
And so that's where I'd say that

303
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,100
monthly newsletter really
actually does help our cause and

304
00:16:02,100 --> 00:16:05,400
kind of push the needle even if
there isn't much to be said

305
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:07,500
throughout that month so I'll
give you the example.

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00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:11,500
In our case we launched about
two months ago and within that

307
00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:13,700
month there was nothing
happening from an advisor

308
00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:15,500
standpoint, right?
We were heads down focused

309
00:16:15,500 --> 00:16:17,800
building and kind of launching
the product.

310
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,700
Our advisors knew that because
we had sent out our newsletter

311
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,700
and some of them actually had
asked what could they could be.

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00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,000
Doing both on their socials, as
well as kind of promoting within

313
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,100
their own network, once we
actually got there.

314
00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:34,800
And so keeping kind of an active
pulse, that's another benefit of

315
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,800
having kind of a monthly
newsletter, rather than a

316
00:16:36,808 --> 00:16:41,500
three-month newsletter Right.
Yeah, that is very true and that

317
00:16:41,500 --> 00:16:47,100
is definitely good point towards
making more of those emails.

318
00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:51,500
Perfect.
Alright, now that we've covered

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00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:53,500
all of that.
One more question about the

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00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:57,400
fundraising that you just had
and that is the fact that is

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00:16:57,500 --> 00:16:59,900
weird times.
It is not covid, but it is not

322
00:16:59,900 --> 00:17:02,500
not covid.
So it's like a weird mix of

323
00:17:02,508 --> 00:17:05,599
things.
So, in this semi covid type of

324
00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:09,300
times, how do you approach
meeting with Esters or

325
00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:11,800
communicating with investors.
Did you actually meet any of the

326
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,200
investors that you raise money
from in person or did you fully

327
00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,800
see over Zoom even though their
most of them are in Los Angeles?

328
00:17:19,500 --> 00:17:23,300
So I'd say, I'll start with the
former questions or the latter

329
00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:24,000
question.
Sorry.

330
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,300
The former question, when it,
when it comes to our current

331
00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:30,700
advisors, sorry, are current
investors that had just

332
00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:34,300
participated majority of them.
We've actually met in person.

333
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,700
I'd say, I'd say 70%.
We met in person and 30%, we

334
00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:41,700
Either never met or in some
cases, they're either working

335
00:17:41,700 --> 00:17:46,200
remote or in different places
outside of the US that we just

336
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,800
didn't actually reach out or
just haven't met yet.

337
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,700
What I will say though and
specifically when it when it

338
00:17:53,700 --> 00:17:57,300
comes to fundraising during
covid, I think the biggest piece

339
00:17:57,300 --> 00:18:00,600
of advice that I wished that I
gave myself was that you

340
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,000
basically have you you do need
to create boundaries and

341
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,700
deadlines and I think it becomes
even more difficult to create.

342
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,900
Lines in the midst of covid.
Regardless of if you're meeting

343
00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:15,300
up with individuals because
there's so much downtime that

344
00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:19,700
actually happens now that, you
know, you need to be pushing

345
00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:23,200
towards a deadline to get your
your fundraise closed, but you

346
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,500
also don't need to.
You also can't give, you know, a

347
00:18:26,500 --> 00:18:29,100
deadline that's almost
unrealistic.

348
00:18:29,100 --> 00:18:32,400
And I've seen a lot of
entrepreneurs struggle with this

349
00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,300
idea, right?
They'll have a meeting on

350
00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:36,300
Monday.
It went really great and they're

351
00:18:36,300 --> 00:18:40,800
hoping to close by Friday.
I think Almost any successful

352
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,200
entrepreneur that has been
through the process of

353
00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,900
fundraising knows that it's not
going to happen within that

354
00:18:45,900 --> 00:18:49,200
short amount of time.
And so you need to create those

355
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,300
those expectations for yourself
and for your team, right?

356
00:18:52,300 --> 00:18:55,000
So if you're coming down to the
last two months, or three months

357
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,300
of Runway, you should have
probably already had

358
00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:00,100
conversations with current
existing investors or new

359
00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:02,400
investors to kind of, you know,
get it, get up.

360
00:19:03,300 --> 00:19:07,500
Get basically, what's to come
and forward-looking or at least

361
00:19:07,500 --> 00:19:10,700
the plan there.
And so my biggest suggestion for

362
00:19:10,700 --> 00:19:14,600
those early stage entrepreneurs,
like myself is really create

363
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,100
realistic, expectations, and try
to meet that right?

364
00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:21,900
Try to try to push investors
even if it is through Zoom or

365
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000
through email to commit whether
that's a yes or a no you're able

366
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,000
to kind of move the needle a
little bit easier with deadlines

367
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:31,700
hundred percent.
That is very true and of course

368
00:19:31,700 --> 00:19:34,600
deep inside every single sound
you're going to me with investor

369
00:19:35,100 --> 00:19:39,200
hopes that they will get a check
right there just from a A book.

370
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,600
Everyone does that everyone
hopes for it but yeah, setting

371
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,900
up more realistic goals,
definitely helps especially in

372
00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:48,100
long, run with your mental
health.

373
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,200
So yeah definitely think of that
and definitely pushed investors

374
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,600
to make the final decision
because the major thing that all

375
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,500
investors do is being vague.
That's what they do.

376
00:19:59,500 --> 00:20:02,800
That's that's just that's,
that's the most common trait

377
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,800
told investors have, but most
investors are, like, most

378
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,800
investors have.
Well, the one thing I also So

379
00:20:08,808 --> 00:20:13,700
just wanted to touch on there is
a bird really, really press your

380
00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:15,900
own network for warm
introductions.

381
00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:19,600
You probably see this or at
least your audience will see

382
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,500
this on every blog post, right?
It's like, how can you get a

383
00:20:22,500 --> 00:20:26,400
warm introduction to the top BC?
And the truth is those warm

384
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,000
introductions will save you
headaches because you're you're

385
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,500
not just trying to kind of get
into this Venture firm and kind

386
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:36,700
of, you know, sell your company
or, you know, promote your

387
00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:39,700
company with warm introduction.
You're going to be able to jump

388
00:20:39,700 --> 00:20:42,300
on, you know, a call with a
managing partner within the next

389
00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:46,100
two or three days, right?
Again, if timing persists.

390
00:20:46,300 --> 00:20:49,400
But the idea is that you should
really leverage your own

391
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,700
existing Network to try to get
you introduced to the network

392
00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:53,900
that you're trying to get
though.

393
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,100
Right?
That is true and that works

394
00:20:57,100 --> 00:21:00,400
really well especially on early
stages studies for sure.

395
00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:05,000
So before we move on to the key
kind of concept of today's

396
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,600
episode which is the fundraising
checklist, let's talk about

397
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,900
leveraging that Network.
You've mentioned that you were

398
00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:15,400
working in the investment
banking for where six years, how

399
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,700
do you leverage that network?
Was it at all helpful or because

400
00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:22,600
those people are Investment
Banking, which is not really

401
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,300
related to the startup world or
Or to the traveling.

402
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,300
Were they helpful at all or not?
Really.

403
00:21:31,500 --> 00:21:35,500
So that I will say they were
there's two there's two trains

404
00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,500
of thought here.
One is that they were definitely

405
00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:40,600
helpful my past experience was
definitely helpful from the

406
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,100
understanding the financial
terms and what it really meant

407
00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:47,300
to go out and fundraise.
I think a lot of whether it's

408
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:50,400
solo entrepreneurs or
entrepreneurs in general that

409
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,700
don't come from the existing
background of investment

410
00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:56,600
banking, you know, Find
themselves Googling and figuring

411
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,400
out what, you know, what a safer
convertible note is and what

412
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,300
that, you know, what a debt
instrument is and things like

413
00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:04,000
that.
That a lot of the foundational

414
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,300
work that I already had coming
from that experience worked in

415
00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:11,000
my benefit.
The second is the network,

416
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,900
right?
And so, I think, early on what

417
00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:15,800
we realized is that we needed to
leverage our own existing

418
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,700
Network to really build and
scale the company, our first

419
00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:23,000
investor was a former employee
of mine and so what?

420
00:22:23,100 --> 00:22:26,600
Yeah, well and a lot that Gave
us the, you know, the Charisma

421
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,000
or you know kind of insert word,
right?

422
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,000
To kind of go out and do our
dreams.

423
00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:34,700
When when I think you know we
didn't have friends and family

424
00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:38,200
to be able to go out and kind of
you know, ask if they can give

425
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,300
us 25,000 or 50,000 dollar
checks that that was not the

426
00:22:41,300 --> 00:22:45,500
network that I was coming from.
I did have the network of, you

427
00:22:45,500 --> 00:22:49,500
know, past employees of these
things that could write us at 10

428
00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:53,400
or 15 thousand dollar check that
you know, was a huge Catalyst at

429
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,500
that particular point.
And really was a game changer

430
00:22:56,500 --> 00:22:58,800
for us to go out and kind of
scale the company in the early

431
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,600
days.
Nice, and you had that

432
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,500
definitely helps therefore I
frequently recommend Founders

433
00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:06,500
who are very early on, just out
of college.

434
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,300
I frequently give them the
advice of, you know, go for a 9

435
00:23:10,300 --> 00:23:12,700
to 5 job.
It can help only make your life

436
00:23:12,700 --> 00:23:15,700
easier down the road, just for
that reason.

437
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,400
All right, now that we covered
that, let's go and talk about

438
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,900
the fundraising checklist or pre
fundraising checklist.

439
00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:27,100
So would do What does a Founder
has to have before?

440
00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:29,500
Starting to fundraise?
Yeah.

441
00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:33,000
So there's a lot to unpack here.
I'd say there's kind of four

442
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,300
main items that I wanted to kind
of touch on especially when it

443
00:23:36,300 --> 00:23:38,400
comes to the process of
fundraising.

444
00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:42,700
The first one is materials which
I can definitely jump into in

445
00:23:42,700 --> 00:23:45,900
terms of what you should
probably have in terms of, you

446
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:49,400
know, about to fundraise or, you
know, sending out in terms of

447
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,500
your actually fundraising the
second, which is email

448
00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:56,100
templates, which I actually
strongly Urge a lot of early

449
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,500
early Founders to do, it's a
great exercise.

450
00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:03,100
Plus it allows them to kind of
create this back-and-forth

451
00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:07,000
conversation with an investor
prior to end actually having

452
00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:11,700
those conversations, the third,
which is the actual Outreach.

453
00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:15,800
So right, this is generating a
list of investors and you know

454
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,200
kind of ranking them whether
it's top 10 or top 15 and then

455
00:24:20,300 --> 00:24:23,800
the fourth which is the process
which is kind of everything in

456
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,500
between, right?
It's it's, you know, basically

457
00:24:26,500 --> 00:24:30,000
taking the materials taking, the
email templates creating kind of

458
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,100
that Outreach strategy and then
actually implementing kind of a

459
00:24:34,108 --> 00:24:37,000
process to it.
But that fourth piece is

460
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,800
actually the biggest piece
because many Founders you know

461
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,800
can go out and create a pitch
deck in the materials and come

462
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,200
up with the email templates and
you know kind of list out the

463
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,900
different investment groups that
they're looking for but when it

464
00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:52,900
actually comes to doing the
process and reaching out to

465
00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:56,500
investors and you know, Having
those conversations and having

466
00:24:56,500 --> 00:25:00,500
the right right data points to
be able to describe, that's

467
00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:04,000
where a lot of Founders, kind of
fall flat is that they don't

468
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,600
have that realistic timeline and
they don't, you know, come up

469
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:08,700
with those expectations as
needed.

470
00:25:09,100 --> 00:25:12,200
And so, I'm happy to kind of
break down, you know, each one

471
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,100
of them if you'd like, or go a
little bit more into the details

472
00:25:15,100 --> 00:25:18,200
of one or two of them, if that's
what you think is, it might be

473
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,200
bester or interested in.
At this point I will do

474
00:25:23,100 --> 00:25:25,700
self-promotional plug-in because
we're doing the course on

475
00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:29,800
exactly that creating the
investor at least drafting those

476
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,200
emails reaching out to using the
particular resources to find the

477
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,100
emails of investors out of
mating this stuff and so on and

478
00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:40,400
so forth.
So my I have to put it there

479
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,400
because I loved it it was just a
perfect situation.

480
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,200
It was not planned people at
just occurred naturally.

481
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,500
So go check out those groups in
this episode.

482
00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:51,000
I'll include our Lending.
A page there.

483
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000
So you can take a look at it.
The course is not available yet,

484
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,500
but you can make a, the pre-sale
is available.

485
00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:00,900
So check it out.
But Alex with you, let's go and

486
00:26:00,900 --> 00:26:03,600
talk a little bit about creating
the investor at least.

487
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,000
I think that's one of the most
important things to do there.

488
00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,100
There's one of the things that
Founders can start doing

489
00:26:09,300 --> 00:26:12,600
literally any time in their
career or any time in the

490
00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:15,500
creation of the company.
So let's talk about that.

491
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,300
Tell us whatever you think is
the most important in the

492
00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:22,000
Investor at least creation
process.

493
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,300
Perfect.
Yeah, so I'd say there's kind of

494
00:26:25,300 --> 00:26:28,400
two rules of thumb here.
One is that you should have at

495
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,700
least a list of, you know, top
10 or top 15 funds or angels

496
00:26:32,700 --> 00:26:36,100
that you're really interested in
and then you should also have

497
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:40,000
anywhere between 30 to 100 other
additional individuals.

498
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,900
Whether it's Angels or funds
that you're interested in

499
00:26:42,900 --> 00:26:46,200
connecting with we touched on
this earlier throughout the

500
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,900
podcast.
But I really think that having

501
00:26:48,900 --> 00:26:52,400
deliberate and tailed
descriptions of kind of who and

502
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,300
why you're reaching out to them
as well as warm introductions.

503
00:26:56,300 --> 00:26:58,000
That that's really where you're
going to find.

504
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,200
Probably the most early
successes coming up with that

505
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,900
list.
And then kind of reaching out to

506
00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:05,700
your own existing Network and
saying, hey, you know, here's

507
00:27:05,700 --> 00:27:09,700
the top 15, here's the top 20.
Does anybody have no connections

508
00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:14,100
to these funds?
And then the second thing that

509
00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:16,800
I'll actually mention is more on
the technical items.

510
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,300
So you should be able to reach
out specifically.

511
00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:26,000
And have tactical asks for those
let's say top 15 or top 30 and

512
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:30,400
what I mean by tactical asks is
you should really, you shouldn't

513
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,700
have you know a general email
template that you just send in

514
00:27:33,700 --> 00:27:37,300
hopes of them responding, you
know for example if it's a fun

515
00:27:37,300 --> 00:27:40,400
that's invested into another
consumer-focused app.

516
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,300
Now I'm just, you know, I'm just
creating examples here for the

517
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:48,000
time being you should have, you
know, detailed as to say, Hey,

518
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,300
you know, I saw that you
invested in XY & Z come.

519
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,900
Many were very similar or very
different because of X Y or Z.

520
00:27:55,300 --> 00:27:58,300
And you know, here's why I
wanted to kind of chat with you

521
00:27:58,300 --> 00:28:02,500
and give them kind of like a one
or two sentence around why you

522
00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:05,200
should exist and why you should
really be able to take that

523
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,800
call.
It shouldn't just be like a hey,

524
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,600
let me sell you my company right
off the bat and hopefully you

525
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,400
responding.
I think a lot of early stage,

526
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,100
Founders go directly to the ask
and not so much the why but

527
00:28:18,100 --> 00:28:19,900
really, really start with that
lie.

528
00:28:19,900 --> 00:28:24,400
And Come up with those tactical,
asks for those top 15 or 30

529
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,300
investors, the last thing I'll
mention is where do you find

530
00:28:28,300 --> 00:28:32,600
this top 15 or top 30, you know,
invest investors or funds.

531
00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:36,800
The first thing that I would
strongly urge Founders to do is

532
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,600
go on Google and type in their
favorite company and and say

533
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,500
like, you know, Uber crunchbase
and then kind of back into the

534
00:28:44,500 --> 00:28:47,300
different funds that might have
invested in them prior.

535
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,200
Now, mind you you're probably
early for a lot of these.

536
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,600
Funds, you can start to get a
better understanding of what,

537
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,900
you know what, and who gets
funded by where, right?

538
00:28:56,900 --> 00:29:00,100
And again, crunchbase is a
really great example for this.

539
00:29:00,100 --> 00:29:03,700
I'm sure you have a handful of
other kind of web sites or sites

540
00:29:03,700 --> 00:29:06,900
that you can kind of check out
to find those, you know, those

541
00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:10,200
early stage funds that that
really are interested in

542
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,400
funding. 100%, I will agree with
you.

543
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,100
I don't think people need to
reinvent the wheel and just

544
00:29:16,100 --> 00:29:18,300
stick to crunchbase.
It is objectively.

545
00:29:18,300 --> 00:29:22,000
The best platform out there for
this kind of stuff, especially

546
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,000
if you're early on and not
really sure what kind of

547
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,400
investors you're looking for.
Growing base is definitely the

548
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,300
way to go pull us.
You can be easily get unlimited

549
00:29:29,300 --> 00:29:31,500
amount of free trials there.
So it is basically free.

550
00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:35,000
So do that, definitely great
advice here.

551
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,900
On this note, we are going to
move to the last question of

552
00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:40,400
today's episode, which is a call
to action.

553
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,700
So Alex, What do you want to
listen to do?

554
00:29:42,700 --> 00:29:46,800
As soon as the episode is over.
So there's two.

555
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,700
There's two quick asks, one I
think from every Founders point

556
00:29:50,700 --> 00:29:53,700
of view, I'm not by any means
self promoting this.

557
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,200
You should look into doc.
Send for, you know, sending your

558
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,300
pitch deck, sending video links,
basically anything that you send

559
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:03,700
to investors.
This is one of the biggest

560
00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:06,900
things that has helped our
fundraise in the past.

561
00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:09,700
The reason is, is you're able to
understand who's actually

562
00:30:09,700 --> 00:30:13,100
clicking into your, your Or
pitch decks, and kind of viewing

563
00:30:13,100 --> 00:30:17,900
at the at in, in real time.
And so, my strong asked to

564
00:30:18,300 --> 00:30:21,800
early-stage entrepreneurs is, if
you don't have doc cents, you

565
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,200
know, spend the $10 a month, or
whatever it may be, and really

566
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,800
get your pitch deck in there.
So that you're, you're, you're

567
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,500
aware of who's checking out your
deck and you're able to press

568
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,300
and get investors interest.
The second is more of like a

569
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,100
selfless or selfish plugins, if
if you're ever interested in

570
00:30:40,100 --> 00:30:43,900
traveling, you know, Definitely
check us out or lewd dot C 0.

571
00:30:43,900 --> 00:30:48,900
So e, l UD e, Co and really
again the premises, you don't

572
00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:51,100
really know where you're going
to be going, your kind of

573
00:30:51,100 --> 00:30:54,000
spontaneously traveling.
But you know what, you're, you

574
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,100
know, looking to spend.
That's that's kind of our plug

575
00:30:57,100 --> 00:31:00,200
there is, you know, being able
to search based off a budgeted

576
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,100
see different places that you're
able to travel.

577
00:31:02,100 --> 00:31:06,400
So that's kind of my selfless,
my selfish plug but, you know,

578
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,800
from that from the entrepreneur
and founder side, definitely

579
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,400
check out doc said I represent
nearly selfless and yeah, for

580
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,900
people who are actually
interested in Dogs ends, I just

581
00:31:17,900 --> 00:31:20,800
interviewed the founder of dogs.
And, and if you're curious to

582
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,200
hear how they came up with a
product that became so essential

583
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,300
to this dark world and
specifically to the fundraising

584
00:31:26,300 --> 00:31:29,100
process of it.
They came up with this Mansion

585
00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:32,500
ten dollar per month and how
they were doing, all this

586
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:34,800
absolutely epic stuff and how
they eventually got to

587
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,100
acquisition with Dropbox, I'll
include the link to that episode

588
00:31:38,100 --> 00:31:40,100
in the description of this
episode.

589
00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:43,500
So, check it out.
It out and just wrap it up in

590
00:31:43,500 --> 00:31:46,100
the description, you're going to
find Alex's LinkedIn.

591
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,000
There's going to be a ludes,
there's going to be a link to

592
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,500
the episode with the founder of
Dachshunds and there's gonna be

593
00:31:53,500 --> 00:31:56,800
a link to the course that
fundraising radio team is

594
00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,000
developing.
So if you're reaching out to

595
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,600
people, I mean, whatever you're
doing pretty much.

596
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,700
You absolutely have to take a
look at the description of the

597
00:32:04,700 --> 00:32:07,300
episode and as usually have a
good day.