4 steps on how to successfully fundraise

Endurance athletes only

Everyone always asks me what the hardest part of founding and starting Saie was. Without hesitation, fundraising. Raising money as a woman is almost impossible. And I think it’s important to start with that. Because, fundraising is essentially endless rejection (until it’s not). Knowing very clearly that when you fundraise (for your dream business no less) you will be rejected over and over is important so you’re mentally strong enough to do it.

So with that.

Here’s what I did for my pre-seed fundraise for Saie in 2018/2019. This is after I had my preliminary branding and pitch deck done.

Step 1: Make a list of everyone you know who has ever raised money or has ever mentioned fundraising. I put these into a google sheet with their name, email and notes. It can be someone you met at a party for 5 minutes or your friend’s aunt.

Step 2: Ask for a 30-minute coffee or Zoom with each person and stack as many as possible. With each meeting get feedback and a next step. This is a hard part, but ask to be introduced to their contacts - specifically VCs and angel investors. Keep building the list from Step 1. Keep doing this until the fundraise is done.

“Thank you so much for your time and feedback. I’d love to connect with anyone you think would be interested in investing. I’m going to close the round at the end of the month so I’m looking to meet with as many people as quickly as possible.”

Step 2.5: Meet, pitch, refine, network, repeat. I updated my pitch deck after almost every meeting listening for the feedback that resonated with me (and leaving the advice that didn’t (like when one investor who never invested told me I needed a co-founder)). I perfected the way I explained things with each meeting. By the end I could have done it in my sleep.

This picture was taken the moment the news about our first celebrity investor came out.

Step 3: Create demand. This is really hard to do when you don’t have any interest, but try to put a time limit on the raise so investors feel like they will miss out if they don’t invest. It’s really hard to get someone to write a check when they don’t think other people are - in my experience most investors are very influenced by other investors. And fair enough, they want an investment that is protected. So often they won’t commit until there is a lead investor or if they know someone else who has invested.

Note: Don’t underestimate anyone. Some of my first investors where friends of friends who knew nothing about beauty but were excited to have access to a new kind of investment.

Step 4: Keep going. Dig deep. My mantra when I was fundraising was “I just have to get up one more time than the next person.” I don’t know why it was these words exactly but it was what kept me going each day when I had over 100 rejections and was emotionally and physically exhausted (I had a toddler during my pre-seed round and was pregnant during my seed round FYI). I remember feeling like I couldn’t even make it home from the subway after a day of fundraising, but I knew it was a game of endurance.

So those are my fundraising secrets. There are sites (like Y Combinator) where you can learn about pitch deck outlines, convertible notes, safes, advisor equity, etc but what was the most difficult for me was the mental strength required, so watch The Last Dance (or any great sports doc) and DM me if you need a pep-talk.

And remember, people invest in people, not ideas. That’s you, you’re the person.

You got this.

Laney