🦄 Unicorn Mafia Startup

2021-10-31 13:57:58 31 Quotes on how to Launch a Startup

Whether you're in the thinking, building or financing stage of your startup here's some concise business advise from people who have been in your shoes Open / Comment

2021-10-30 16:45:57 Life changing advice for startups

One of the most important things for startups and for life in general but kind of underated.
When you asking something whether from the community, investors, friends, from anyone. Always provide some real value. Before you asking them you should give something valuable and you have to tell what they will get if they help you, support you, just be always specific. Otherwise you'll get nothing but. While providing real values opens almost every door. Use it. Open / Comment

2021-10-29 13:51:34 How startup funding works. From idea to IPO Open / Comment

2021-10-29 13:43:23 Startup Chat
English only chat for members of the community. No advertising. Connect and help each other and contribute to growth of our community!

We just reminding you that we have 2 group chats for you.
Feel free to join and invite your friends

English speaking chat https://t.me/startupfounderschat

Russian speaking chat https://t.me/startupfoundersfor Open / Comment

2021-10-28 14:31:55 Intensity is the key for successful fundraising

My number 1 mistake in the past was talking only to a *few* investors and connectors at the time. Unless you've made your previous investors rich or have astronomic traction, this doesn't work. Today, to run a successful funraising campaign, a typical startup should operate with the numbers like these:

Cold contact *200 founders* based on your space, demographics, business model
Convert *100 founders* to become your supporters
Source *200 investor leads and intros* from your supporters
Get *70 investor meetings* from your supporters
Get additional *130 investor meetings* from first wave of investors (both investing and passing)
Convert *30 investors* from 200 investor meetings to invest in your seed round

Do all of the above within 2 months. In other words, you will need to communicate with 500-1000 supporters and investors over 50 workdays, or 10-20 calls and chats each days.

If you are doing 2-3 contacts a day, the numbers will rarely add up. If you hope that one ~magical~ connector or investor will _create critical mass_ for you, in most cases, you will end up disappointed. Seed investing has a lot of randomness, you need to talk to a lot of people to fill the round. At the same time, use every contact to improve the pitch. Learn what resonates and what doesn't. Your conversion rates at the end will be much better than at the start.

For Openland, we talked to 200+ YC founders and 140 investors for our seed round. Only 30 investors ultimately invested, all with small and medium checks, without a clear lead investor.

By Yury Lifshits, Superdao CEO
@lifshits Open / Comment

2021-10-27 12:53:42 12 Tips for Startup Fundraising Process

*1. Start with clear one-line description.* Test it on 20-50 people. Ask them to repeat it back to you. Would your parents understand this one-line description?

*2. Find a hot trend you can attach yourself to.* Find a new space that's currently popular with investors that is related to your work. Can you teach investors something new there? Ask other founders what trendy topics you should align with.

*3. Write a paragraph description.* It should include your one-line explainer, alignment with a popular trend, and your key achievements.
*4. Develop your investor materials.* Can be a deck or text summary. Share in chats with other founders and get some honest feedback.

*5. Start your investor list.* Look what investors backed similar companies on Angel List, Crunchbase and NfX Signal. Look for new funds announcements. Your initial list should have at least 50-100 lines. Use Google Sheets or Airtable for sharing and collaboration.

*6. Connect with other founders.* Look for startups in your field who raised venture funding before. Ask for advice, not intros. Give them more context, in writing. Don't ask for calls, ask for answer to one specific question. Find founders in your space in industry chats, e.g. "AI Founders".

*7. Develop your target investor persona.* Don't aim for world's most famous investors, unless you have an insane track record or traction. Instead, look for funds and angels who are specialists in your field, share your country of origin, are new to investing, love your mission, etc.

*8. Ask for investor leads.* Share your current investor list and target investor persona with other founders. Ask them what funds and angels can they recommend adding to your list. Your expanded list should have at least 100-200 items.

*9. Finally, ask for intros.* Go to founders you've developed relationships with, give them your paragraph description, longer materials, and the investor list, and ask for warm intros.

*10. Run high-volume process.* Ideally, try to have up to 10 meetings per day. Initial meetings can be 30min each, with extensive chat follow-ups and, when needed, longer second meetings within 3 days.

*11. Keep investors on schedule.* Combine chats and calls to make the process moving as fast as possible. After each step, ask prospective investor "what will be your process from this point to the final decision?"

*12. Back-channels with other founders.* Ask about investor's reputation and any unusual terms in the deal.

By Yury Lifshits @lifshits Open / Comment

2021-10-26 16:50:11 Startup pinned «Hey guys. We just created 2 group chats for you. Feel free to join and invite your friends English speaking chat https://t.me/startupfounderschat Russian speaking chat https://t.me/startupfoundersfor» Open / Comment

2021-10-26 13:43:15 10 keys to a successful business plan Open / Comment

2021-10-25 17:49:59 Hey guys. We just created 2 group chats for you.
Feel free to join and invite your friends

English speaking chat https://t.me/startupfounderschat

Russian speaking chat https://t.me/startupfoundersfor Open / Comment

2021-10-25 11:39:31 Top 20 reasons Startups fail Open / Comment