As a co-founder of FundersClub, Boris Silver knows a thing or two about startups and raising money. The crowdfunding platform has facilitated over $10 million in funding for startups to date. FundersClub is only open to accredited investors.
Companies that have secured funding via FundersClub include the likes of Teespring, Prizeo and Soldsie among many, many others.
In a post to Medium late last week, Silver shared 18 fundraising tips for startup founders based on his experience in selecting companies for the highly-curated FundersClub web site.
The 18 tips are as follows, but note that you’ll have to head to Silver’s post to read about each in detail…
- Only talk to investors when you are ready to raise money
- Make it easy for investors to research/find you online
- Timing matters for fundraising
- Raising money is about momentum
- Investors don’t want to invest in your startup until they suddenly do
- Investor interest is a lagging indicator
- Show, don’t tell
- If you can’t show, then tell effectively
- If it’s not in writing you don’t have it
- Time kills everything, so close fundraising quickly
- Be confident with investors
- Do not be overly aggressive and arrogant with investors
- Focus on getting feedback from your customers, not investors
- Know who you are working with
- Be able to answer “why now?”
- The market you are in is incredibly important to how big you can go
- It’s not closed until the money is in the bank
- Investors will talk to each other, act accordingly