Structuring Your Fundraise to Close Faster and Transitioning from Founder to CEO
Hi there!
Happy Monday.
Building a successful startup is a TON of work. Outside of raising kids, it’s probably the hardest thing you will ever do.
From initial idea to MVP.
From MVP to product market fit.
From product market fit to painfully fast growth.
Perhaps even an IPO or acquisition…
Every day is a new challenge and that’s something all founders struggle with, especially if they’ve raised venture funding. Because then there’s way more pressure and things move EVEN faster.
It’s like a pressure cooker trying to boil the founder alive. (Struggling with this and the stress of being founder/CEO? Here are 9 hacks to help stay sane and boost your happiness and productivity :)
The question is, can you handle it? And do you want to?
Not sure? That’s the motivation behind this week’s most recent article:
From Founder to CEO: Going from Zero to One to 100
Are you up for it? I hope this article helps you shed some light on your future as a founder and what’s best for you and the company. Because sometimes you need to push through and sometimes it’s better to sell or step down…
(If you’re struggling with this and want help deciding or upleveling yourself as a leader, I work with founders and CEOs all the time on exactly these topics and would love to chat.)
But for those of you earlier on in the startup journey, odds are you’re probably thinking about fundraising. If you are, check out The Ultimate Guide to Startup Fundraising which walks you through everything you need to know about raising money.
So, if you’re considering fundraising, invest some time beforehand in understanding the process and best practices. It’ll pay for itself a million-fold in the long run.
The Ultimate Guide to Startup Fundraising
And if you’re not sure if now is the time to raise or not, because of Covid-19 and the massive amounts of stimulus money being injected to the economy, it probably is. For more on this and how Covid’s transformed the venture landscape, see this post:
Millions in Minutes : The Zoom Boom in Covid Era Startup Fundraising
But that is enough reading for now. It’s time to get back to work!
I hope this has been helpful and that it helps you raise your round, build your business and change the world for the better. If it has, I’d love to hear about it :)
One last thing: Would you rather get these emails in the future as roundup posts like this one now, or as killer standalone articles direct to your inbox like this example here: The Killer Pitch Deck VCs Can’t Ignore!
Just hit reply and let me know and whichever is more popular, I’ll do that going forward.
Thanks,
Matt
Strategy and Growth Hacks Newsletter BONUSES (just for subscribing):
How to Build a Series A Fundable Startup: The 15 Step Guide to Acquiring & Retaining Customers
The 9 Ways to Engineer Viral Products and Word of Mouth Marketing
How to Craft a Killer Pitch Deck VCs Can't Ignore
The 13 Biggest Mistakes Startups Make While Fundraising
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PS. If you need help with your fundraising strategy, pitch deck, pitch/practice or with growing and scaling your company faster, I’d love to help.