"How much should I raise?"

Think about it carefully...

Don’t remember where I got this excerpt from but it was an interview with some (magazine?) and a member of the a16z team. 

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“What are some of the more obscure but really detrimental mistakes you’ve seen entrepreneurs make during the fundraising process?

People don’t always think critically enough about what is the right amount of money to raise. What we try to encourage entrepreneurs to think about is: Think about what the story is around the milestones you’re going to want to tell at the next fundraise. When you’re raising the Series A round, think about what you’re going to tell your investors at the Series B round. And then you can back into your number.

People often get too enamored with what else is happening in the market and don’t think critically about what’s required of them. As we’ve seen, the problem with raising too much money can be that it raises the expectations for what people think you’ll accomplish by that B round, and then you might find yourself in a situation where you set the bar too high. I think that can be way more crippling to a company than potentially raising a little less at the A round and giving yourself a little more margin of error for that next financing.”

Just today, I had a client discuss some numbers with a potential investor that I think were way off. We didn’t get the chance to discuss our game plan before the meeting and there was little I could do to intervene when I felt things were going way off. Entrepreneurs looking to raise money, please pay attention to your numbers and show how and why you arrived at said numbers. Can’t be pulling whimsical fundraising amounts with no proper backing. No one is saying you can’t raise a $5m seed, as long as it makes sense. 

Pay attention to your numbers. 

Article List—Articles I’ve read in the past 24 hours or so

The cost of next day delivery: “Amazon is taking over my page today. We all love Amazon Prime and the convenience it gives us, and the free shipping, and the discounts at Whole Foods, and the movies, and the million other things that will come up in the future. But it all comes at a cost…actually multiple costs- human, environmental, economic. Check this article out.”

This is why your startup will fail: “this is hard stuff. don’t take the experience for granted. And read my other post about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.” (I was going to add the link but I want you to see the other posts so, figure it out 🙂)

Mastering the seed raise: “Everything you need to know about the first round of funding you’d raise.”

Life after power: Joseph Kabila, the gentleman farmer: “In stark contrast to Señor dos Santos from yesterday’s post…”

Ghana oil production to double to over 400,000bpd in next four years: “Let some people get rich first- Deng Xiaoping” 

AFC DIVERSIFIES FUNDING SOURCES WITH FIRST JAPANESE YEN LOAN FACILITY: “I’ve seen significant Japanese interest in the last couple of months. I closely followed the Carlos Ghosn trial and got a better understanding of how Japan works. See below.”

Inside the Takedown That Put Carlos Ghosn in Jail: “I used to look up to him. And probably still do. Quintessential international businessman. What I always wanted to be.”

Toyota Chooses Ghana Over Nigeria For Its West African Expansion: “Did I hear something like Toyota reps met with Buhari in the morning and signed this MOU with Ghana in the afternoon? Wonder what Buhari told them…” 

Podcast— A podcast channel listened to this morning

Yea, Amazon is wilding. Listen to this podcast series: Land of the Giants. The company is literally trying to control all aspects of our lives, and soon with all these AI and ML algorithms, can predict what we’d to 5, 10, 365 or 1000 days based on our patterns. Humans are creatures of habit, so that won’t be that hard. And there’s a guy on there who has 14 Alexa devices in his house? Maybe there’s some merit in living in a country that doesn’t have good internet connection. We’re not the target for Amazon…or are we? 

Book—What I’m reading now or in the recent past or want to read…my book list is nearing 1000 books 🌚

Started Merchants of Debt again. Can you raise $8B in a week? Well banks were doing that for KKR back in the day when LBO-mania was going on. Power and influence was the name of the game.

Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” 

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