First draft of my PPM is done, any tips for the next phase?
I would love any thoughts on the fundraising process, anything you wish you knew going through this for the first time, and "gotchas" I should double-check my PPM for.
Thanks!
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by a searcher
from University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business
in Dallas, TX, USA
in Dallas, TX, USA
5yrs ago
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by a searcher
5yrs ago
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA
A few quick thoughts:
(1) Fundraising is all about momentum. Use this process to practice outreach, follow-ups, and being pleasantly persistent. Leverage early commits to get others to make a decision. At some point, you need to decide you are closing and just set a deadline to get investors off the fence.
(2) Ask for the "sale." You'd be surprised how many people get to the end of a fundraising meeting and do not ask about next steps. For a first call, the next step will often be a more in-depth follow-up, but in subsequent calls, you should be asking how they are thinking about participation. Ask questions like "Should I hold an allocation for you?" or "Should I soft-circle you for X units?"
(3) Learn from your investor conversations. If you've read the primer and other resources, spoken with many (30+) current/former searchers, and done the right soul searching to decide on this path, you will have great answers to many of the common questions. However, you still have a lot to learn about the search journey. Use the investor calls to stress test your approach, investment theses, etc. and make sure to adapt your pitch based on what you learn.
(4) Continue adding investors to your list. I'm sure you'll find all the larger fund investors, but there is a long list of great investors who do not actively market - current/former searchers, family offices, etc. Keep searching for new leads and adding throughout your fundraise, even if you feel like you're close to the end. At a minimum, they can be great potential gap investors.
(1) Fundraising is all about momentum. Use this process to practice outreach, follow-ups, and being pleasantly persistent. Leverage early commits to get others to make a decision. At some point, you need to decide you are closing and just set a deadline to get investors off the fence.
(2) Ask for the "sale." You'd be surprised how many people get to the end of a fundraising meeting and do not ask about next steps. For a first call, the next step will often be a more in-depth follow-up, but in subsequent calls, you should be asking how they are thinking about participation. Ask questions like "Should I hold an allocation for you?" or "Should I soft-circle you for X units?"
(3) Learn from your investor conversations. If you've read the primer and other resources, spoken with many (30+) current/former searchers, and done the right soul searching to decide on this path, you will have great answers to many of the common questions. However, you still have a lot to learn about the search journey. Use the investor calls to stress test your approach, investment theses, etc. and make sure to adapt your pitch based on what you learn.
(4) Continue adding investors to your list. I'm sure you'll find all the larger fund investors, but there is a long list of great investors who do not actively market - current/former searchers, family offices, etc. Keep searching for new leads and adding throughout your fundraise, even if you feel like you're close to the end. At a minimum, they can be great potential gap investors.
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by a searcher
5yrs ago
from Stanford University in San Angelo, TX, USA
from Stanford University in San Angelo, TX, USA
Great feedback ^redacted - that's probably worth a quick blog post or something - thanks for sharing.
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