The Art of Startup Fundraising: Pitching Investors, Negotiating the Deal, and Everything Else Entrepreneurs Need to Know

by Alejandro Cremades

Every great entrepreneur I know expands long before their business is ready. It's the only formula I know for aggressive growth. It forces you to think faster and move smarter because you're always overextended and you have to pay the rent.

I want to put my money on entrepreneurs who know how to get back up fast after they've been kicked in the gut. They get knocked down just like us, but unlike most of us they take very little time feeling sorry for themselves. I sometimes think to be a great entrepreneur you need to have a low enough IQ so once you're knocked down you're too stupid to lay low, and instead pop back up saying “Hit me again!” I don't think you can learn resilience; it's a built-in attitude.

If you don't have people clamoring for your venture, you've got to dream up a way to create the illusion that there is demand.

Cutting the noise is one of the hardest things that entrepreneurs have to master in order to focus on what really counts, which is the execution of business strategy.

CoFoundersLab is the largest matchmaking service for entrepreneurs.

One of the best ways to attract capital is to outperform the competition. This will certainly help in your pitches, presentations, and discussions, all while boosting results and your negotiating strength. And it might just help you get noticed and draw attention, minimizing the work and investment involved in chasing money.

If initial marketing and branding is done with fundraising in mind, results can be maximized, and your budget can go further. So look for crossover potential, and review messaging with fundraising in mind.

If you don't tell the story, others will make up a story about you and your business or product in their minds, and it might not be the story that serves you best. By documenting your story, you can look back and pick out the best parts of it, or have an expert and friends review and highlight what they believe the strongest parts of your story are. Sometimes you are too close to your story. A professional storyteller and branding expert can objectively leverage the most powerful elements of your story for the overall mission.

If you'd like to get better at storytelling, or are searching for ideas and pieces to your storytelling puzzle, check out author Seth Godin's books and blog, and see digital storyteller Amanda Lewan's post “Storytellers: 100 Ways to Spark Inspiration.”3