Funded

Preface

Why Funded?

In this book, you’ll learn what it takes to successfully raise a round of funding for your company.

The venture capital (VC) world is often intimidating and can be hard to navigate, even for the most seasoned entrepreneurs. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. Entrepreneurs who run a successful fundraising process don’t do it by accident. This book will prepare you to fundraise like the best. It will help you build a foundational knowledge of how the venture capital industry works, and walk you through each step of planning, executing, and optimizing a fundraise of your own. Funded is packed full of exercises, checklists, and templates that will guide you through the fundraising process, start to finish.

Reading this book before you step out onto the fundraising trail will save you time and prepare you to fundraise with confidence. The purpose of this book is to enhance your prospects for achieving and exceeding your fundraising goals.

Is This Book for You?

Funded acts as a road map for all entrepreneurs in their quest to secure seed capital. This book is meant to be a handbook for the road warriors—the founders who will be knocking on doors to raise capital to grow their businesses.

Funded has lessons for entrepreneurs of all levels of experience. Veteran entrepreneurs will refresh their knowledge while honing their fundraising strategies. Entrepreneurs inexperienced in fundraising will learn what it takes to raise a round of capital from the ground up.

While Funded is written first and foremost for entrepreneurs raising their first round of capital, many of its lessons are timeless startup principles. Entrepreneurs raising later rounds of capital, entrepreneurs who aren’t sure how to finance their businesses, early-stage employees, and investors will all benefit from the information provided in this book.

You’re in the right place if you are:

• A startup founder

• A small business owner considering equity financing

• A C-level employee at an early-stage company

• An aspiring entrepreneur

• An early-stage investor

• Anyone else who wants an authoritative overview of the startup fundraising process

By reading this book you’ll:

• Gain an understanding of core venture capital concepts and standards

• Learn to develop and hone an investor pitch

• Come away with a plan to hit the fundraising trail for your company

• Develop the confidence to negotiate key terms in a funding deal

• Understand best practices in fundraising today

What You’ll Find Inside

Funded has been divided into four sections, covering everything you need to know as you set out to raise your first round:

Part I

The first section builds a foundational knowledge of core topics relating to venture capital. It will help you understand when and why to raise money from investors, discuss the alternatives to venture capital, and introduce you to the core principles of ownership and valuation.

Part II

The second section will prepare you for the fundraising trail. We’ll discuss what investors will be looking for from your company and what you’ll need to develop before you make your first pitch. From pitch decks to financial projections and what to expect during the due diligence process, we cover it all here.

Part III

The third section is all about execution. We’ll go through each step of the fundraising process, from structuring your fundraising to finding investors to getting money in the bank. When to raise capital, how much to raise, how to structure your deal, and what it takes to close the deal: we go through it all here.

Part IV

The fourth and final section of Funded is our Top Tens. Here we go through the top 10 mistakes founders make when raising their first round and dive into equity crowdfunding strategies and fundraising hacks.

TheEntrepreneursGuide.com

In addition to the interactive exercises and checklists included throughout the book, we’ve developed a companion website packed with more resources to help you succeed. Visit TheEntrepreneursGuide.com to download templates, check out additional content, and access support from the Funded community.

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Acknowledgments

A special thank you goes out to Roger Chabra of Rho Canada Ventures and David Crow for their guidance and support in reviewing early drafts of Funded.