How To Raise a Seed Round in Under Two Weeks

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how Jennifer Smith, the co-founder of the tech company Scribe, was able to raise an $8 million seed round for her company in just two weeks. It covers the key principles and strategies she used to achieve this lightning-fast fundraise, including:

• Ensuring the investor would not harm the company, would be a good long-term partner, and had relevant expertise/connections
• Thoroughly preparing by creating a shortlist of 15 potential investors, getting introductions where possible, and having all due diligence materials ready
• Batching meetings efficiently over the two-week period
• Being open and vulnerable with investors about the company's challenges

The article also discusses how Scribe later went on to raise a $30 million Series A round, even with the founder being 8 months pregnant at the time.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Principles for Selecting Investors

1. What were the three guiding principles Jennifer Smith used when selecting investors for Scribe's seed round?

• The investor should not do any harm to the company
• The investor should be someone Jennifer wanted to work with long-term, like a marriage partner
• The investor should have connections or expertise relevant to Scribe's business

2. Why was it important for Jennifer to avoid investors who might not participate in future funding rounds? Investors who don't participate in future rounds can create a "signaling risk" that makes it harder to raise money from other investors in the future.

3. How did Jennifer's prior experience in the venture world help her in this fundraising process? Her experience allowed her to see the full range of investor deals, including the fact that two-week fundraises were becoming more common due to the heated market conditions.

[02] Executing the Two-Week Fundraise

1. How did Jennifer prepare for the two-week fundraise?

• She made a list of 15 potential investors, tapping her network to get recommendations
• She made sure to target VCs that invested in industries aligned with Scribe's business
• She scheduled meetings with investors at least a month in advance
• She had all due diligence materials ready to send quickly
• She prepared customers to provide testimonials or speak with investors

2. How did Jennifer structure the two-week fundraising process?

• She batched all the initial conversations in the first week, Monday through Wednesday
• She then did second and third conversations towards the end of the first week
• She geared up for partner meetings in the second week

3. What was the end result of Jennifer's two-week fundraising process? Scribe was able to close its $8 million seed round in just 9 business days.

[03] Raising a Series A During Pregnancy

1. Why was Jennifer initially hesitant about raising a Series A round?

• It had only been 6 months since the seed round closed
• Jennifer was 8 months pregnant at the time

2. How did the Series A round ultimately work out for Scribe? Despite her initial hesitation, Scribe was able to raise a $30 million Series A round, which allowed the company to accelerate its growth.

3. What advice does the article give for how founders should present to VCs?

• Don't just try to impress them with a polished performance
• Get vulnerable about the challenges the company is facing
• VCs may have insights that could help solve those challenges