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by gumby 1349 days ago
> The title of this piece is what he wishes he had known, but it's not really clear what the true lessons are.

he restates the lesson at the end: he thought that raising money would be like a grant submission, not realizing that it would be more collaborative (after all you're gonna have the investors along for a while, unlike a grant agency).

There were a few other small lessons too (e.g. your deck will be passed around, which used to be a no-no in the "old days")
1 comments
bcantrill 1349 days ago
I am shocked -- shocked! -- that our deck is being passed around. ;)

Given that they did have deal heat, I would love to know what they actually did for round composition and how they made that decision -- especially if it was on something deeper than firm prestige or valuation.

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gumby 1349 days ago
> I am shocked -- shocked! -- that our deck is being passed around. ;)

Often there is important insight and market detail in a deck, especially first-financing deck, that could help a fast follower, so you wouldn't want it shared widely.

But in the end there's a big, big difference between idea an execution, and if a fast follower could get it from a deck, perhaps there isn't much differentiation in what you do.

Decades ago I was advised to act as if any competitor had full access to our internal systems (payroll #s, marketing plans, the works) and assume that prospects and customers not only don't know anything about what we do but also that they could not care less. I've taken this to heart.

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gumby 1349 days ago
> round composition

For my current company (self-funded for the past year, raising about the same size seed round now) I have a goal of 1/3 strategic partner, 1/3 customer, 1/3 professional investor. But I know if I get a professional investor(s) to cover more than 1/3, or all of the round I'll just take it and move on to the next task. Fundraising always takes too long and is too distracting to try to optimize on this scale at this point in time.

A strategic investor is extremely rare at the seed stage, and for many of the reasons that it is rare, it usually a problem when you do it. Our plan is a very special case...but still it's unlikely, despite expressed interest.

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