Getting funded feels like a milestone and it is.

We all love to hate our Venture Capitalist brethren (and it’s not entirely misplaced), but having access to capital, to the extent needed for your business, is an undeniable game-changer. And the VC-ecosystem, among other factors, has made it easier for those without generational wealth or extensive personal assets, to be able to build valuable companies. 

 So yes, the day on which our funding finally flowed into our bank account, we were happy and excited and a teeny bit proud, but the main emotion we felt was relief.

 

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Those who have been following our journey know that last year was tough for us. 

 And I would posit that most funding journeys are tough. Unless you are one of the rare few who because of a pedigree and a network and a certain zeitgeist could raise relatively easily. For the rest of us, the raisin’ takes some chasin’. 

 Of course, we also have privilege. It is important to acknowledge that our backgrounds do open doors. But being a women-only team building for women, while great for visibility and pats on the back, has not historically set cash registers ringing. 

 Never mind. The year was tough, but we endured it and that’s what matters. 

 And while this is not a tell-all account (one day perhaps), here for public consumption are three lessons we learnt on this roller-coaster of a ride. 

Always be raising

When do you start raising for your next round? Immediately after your previous one. 

 You read that right. 

 To be honest, this was a learning experience for us also after our first round. Waiting for our technology to launch, we started a bit late. 

 But fund-raise takes time. There is a funnel to it, with drop-outs and probabilities. So start early. 

 In fact the first step might not even be to ask for money, but to start building a rapport, to seek input, to test the waters. It is the best time to be speaking with investors, when you are not actually asking them for money!

 

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Be brazen 

To say that I have as many versions of pitch decks on my laptop as there are stars in the night sky, would be exaggerating, a bit.

 With each pitch and every well-wisher, we received the timeless wisdom of people who’ve been in the business of money for long, but one of the best pieces of advice we ever received was when we were told to make our pitch more “brazen”. 

 We get it. Being women, we need to not just think our ambition, we need to communicate and over-communicate. 

 

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And that’s exactly what we did. Apart from our painstakingly done near-term plans, we quickly made an estimate that was a bit broader and more long-term. A billion dollars. 

 We gulped. 

 And then we added it. Not just the number, but a framework that pitched us as a potential billion dollar company and then went on to explain exactly how we would achieve it. 

 So yes, you have to think it to achieve it, but it helps to say it too. 

Confidence is key

We were on tenterhooks for most of 2023. There stood a giant hurdle in the shape of a regulatory approval between us and our funding. We self-soothed, made back-up plans, kept our investors updated and the business going. 

 But we never let this situation affect the conviction that we were onto something, and that we knew how to scale it. So we dug deep to find and project that confidence in every external stake-holder interaction we had. 

 

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The business of building a company is messy. There will be days when nothing seems to be going right. But that’s the nature of the beast, and that’s why, dear founder, you chose it. Because challenges energize you. Because easy is boring. 

 So no matter what may be going on, take the time to find that thing in your business that thrums, and plug yourself into its energy. 

 Happy raising!

                                                                                                                                                 
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