251. Fundraise Now, Or Focus on the Business Then Raise Next Year? Artwork

VC Minute

Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Founders, do you feel like you're fundraising on an uneven playing field? You are. The VC minute is here to help you level up. Venture capitalists navigate pitches and negotiate investments every day. They know the ins and outs and are up-to-date on the current funding environment. But as a founder, it may be your first foray into fundraising, and no matter how much success you've had in other areas nothing truly prepares you for the fundraising journey. The VC Minute was created to help founders close this gap. While it may seem like securing an investment at the seed stage is mostly driven by luck, there are steps founders can take to increase the odds of successfully raising a round. And that's what we're going to cover on the VC Minute through a series of short episodes. I'm going to share with you insights to help navigate the seed stage financing dynamics. I'm Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures with 25 years business experience a dozen years in the startup ecosystem. I've applied my experience from sales, finance, and venture investing, to help startup founders fundraise better.

All Episodes

VC Minute

251. Fundraise Now, Or Focus on the Business Then Raise Next Year?

August 23, 2024 • Rich Maloy • Season 4 • Episode 251

Text your thoughts directly to Rich.

Should you back off of the business to fundraise for 3 months, or can you accomplish more by spending 4 months heads-down growing the business?

About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)

About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.

Rich: 0:01

All right. You took a couple of weeks to build up your list. You took a couple more weeks to build out your meetings and get those intros. You took three weeks to take nonstop meetings. Awesome job. Guess what. You've got a deadline coming up. You're up against that Thanksgiving deadline, whether you know it or not. And it's late this year on the 28th. So it's all the more reason that no new deals will get done in the four weeks following Thanksgiving. But before you begin this whole process, let's go back to the beginning and see if now is even the right time for you to be fundraising. Here's the question you need to be asking yourself. Knowing that fundraising will take you out of the business for the next three months, can your business afford to have you out of the driver's seat and just focused on funding? Or if you put all of your energy into growing your revenue, growing your customers, achieving your KPIs, knocking it out of the park over the next four months, would you be in a better position to fundraise in Q1 2025? Can you manage it from a cashflow standpoint? Can you manage it from a personal standpoint? What can you accomplish with fundraising? Or what can you accomplish without fundraising for the next four months. Weigh those options and decide, is now the right time, or should we push this out? Let me know where you end up on this. That's all for this week. As always, time is our most precious asset and I'm grateful you'd spend some of it with me today. And I'm grateful for AVL Growth Partners For supporting the VC minute. Why go fractional? Picture this: a CFO with an average of 19 years of senior finance CFO experience, alongside controllers and accountants with 15 years under their belts. This isn't just bookkeeping. It's the expertise your company needs to navigate economic challenges. If you want to take your company to the next level and need the experience required to make it happen. Visit AVL growth.com right now.

People on this episode

Rich Maloy

Host