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- Capital raising: The B-Sides
They say you gotta spend money to make money, and the same is true of capital raising. But how much money, exactly? And what about the time that’s invested? Or the impact of fundraising on our business, our health, and our relationships?
Week after week, we’re treated to stories of successful startup raises in the news. It’s a cause for celebration, but it can be hard to stomach when you’re struggling to get investor interest in your own round. That’s why it’s important to remember—all this celebration is just one long highlights reel which leaves out the blood, sweat and tears that preceded the success. The true cost of raising, even when it all ends well, usually ends up on the cutting room floor. 🎬
We’ve spoken to hundreds of founders, both during and after their raise, and we’ve heard some surprising—even shocking—things:
Spending $1,500+ on a basic legal doc, $15,000+ on a shareholders’ agreement, and an astonishing $30,000+ on governance docs, all by founders preparing to raise a pre-seed round 🤯 Spending a year chasing investors instead of chasing revenue, resulting in the startup’s failure 😱 Dealing with blatant bias as an underrepresented founder; an all-too-common story that makes founders feel like 💩 and isn’t ok | Calling Lifeline because the emotional and psychological toll of raising was so severe 😢 Unknowingly signing unfair contract terms that resulted in the payment of 20% of the total amount raised in fees to a “broker” ✍️ Founders smashing their raise 🙌 only to be booted out 🥾 by their new investor a few months later—learning a painful lesson about value alignment |
We’re on a mission to help climate founders simplify the journey and unlock their raise, so they can focus on scaling their impact.
So, we want to know—what did your raise cost you? 😫
If you’ve recently been on the fundraising rollercoaster, welcome—it’s one hell of a ride, ain’t it? If you’ve got a few minutes, we’d love to hear your story so that we can share the lessons learned (anonymised, of course) with our community. We can’t guarantee that founders will always enjoy the ride, but we can at least make sure they’re buckled up and ready for what’s coming!
Once submissions have stopped pouring in ☔️ 😜, we’ll share the results and insights. Estimated time to complete survey: 5 mins. ⏲
That’s it from us for now! We’ve gotta get on with the UAT for our awesome new capital raising platform—the beta’s launching later this month. We can’t wait to share it with you all! 🥳
We humbly acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we live and work. We stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples the world over in their fight for self-determination, recognition and justice.