www.thesecretofraisingmoney.com Adapted from The Secret of Raising Money: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Getting Funded, by Seth Goldstein and Michael Simpson What is The Secret of Raising Money? The Secret of Raising Money is a book the provides all the information, tools and materials needed to raise capital for your startup. We have distilled years of "in the trenches" knowledge into a book, and supplemented it with financial models, cap table templates and pitch decks that entrepreneurs can use immediately to improve their chances of success. We have included exclusive new interviews with many of the most insightful investors on the subject: Fred Wilson, Josh Kopelman, Danny Rimer, Mark Suster, Naval Ravikant, Mark Goldstein, Brad Feld and Jon Callaghan. Why are we doing this? The cost of starting a company has fallen to almost zero. There are now more founders than ever before, not only in Silicon Valley but all over the world. Early stage capital is abundant. The removal of the ban on solicitation from non-accredited investors is opening the floodgates even wider. Although there is a wealth of information available online, a typical startup CEO has barely enough time to read one blog post about fundraising, much less all of them.

1. FUNDRAISING QUOTES
19 WISDOM FROM THE MASTERS

2. PAUL
GRAHAM
Founder,
Y Combinator
1
#
“
“ That's the secret.
Convince yourself that
your startup is worth investing in,
and then when you explain this
to investors they'll believe you. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

3. “
“ The fact is that the amount
of money startups raise in
their seed and Series A rounds
is inversely correlated with
success. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
FRED
WILSON
Co-founder, Union
Square Ventures
2
#

4. “
(on investor meetings)
NAVAL
RAVIKANT
Co-founder,
AngelList
3
#
“ You have a very short amount
of time to make a first impression.
If you’ve got a long rambling slide
deck...you’re done. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

5. “
“ Create alternatives with focus:
pitch and negotiate with all
your prospective investors at once.
Focus compounds scarcity
and social proof, which
closes deals.”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
BABAK
NIVI
Co-founder,
AngelList
4
#

6. “
most
“ Our led bysuccessful companies
are
entrepreneurs who are
JOSH
KOPELMAN
Co-founder, First
Round Capital
5
#
heat seeking missiles.
It doesn't matter where the missile
is aimed pre-launch. Successful
entrepreneurs are constantly
collecting data, looking for bigger
targets, adjusting course if
necessary. And when they find their
target, they're able to lock-onto it
— regardless of how crowded the
space becomes. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

7. “
“ If you can’t get an intro to
a VC, hang up your cleats now.
You’re done, GAME OVER. ”
MARK
SUSTER
Investment
Partner, Upfront
Ventures
6
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

8. BRAD
FELD
Co-Founder,
Foundry Group
7
“
“ The only thing that we know
about financial predictions of
start-ups is that 100 percent
of them are wrong. ”
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

9. “
“ A lot of VCs say things like,
‘We’re part of the team with you
and we’re building this together.’
BEN
HOROWITZ
In reality, the entrepreneur is
building the company, and I’ve yet
to see a VC who shows up in the
company’s office at 8 am and works
until 11 pm 7 days/week, so no:
they are not ‘part of the team’. ”
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
Co-Founder,
Andreessen
Horowitz
8

10. AILEEN
LEE
“
“ Venture investors seek
billion dollar companies.”
Founder,
Cowboy Ventures
9
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

11. “
“ Investors are pinched between
two kinds of fear:
fear of investing in startups
that fizzle, and
fear of missing out on
startups that take off.”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
PAUL
GRAHAM
Founder,
Y Combinator
1
0
#

12. “
“ Investors are trying to find the
NAVAL
RAVIKANT
Co-founder,
AngelList
1
1
#
exceptional outcomes, so they
are looking for something
exceptional about the company.
Instead of trying to do everything
well (traction, team, product,
social proof, pitch, etc.), do one
thing exceptionally. As a startup
you have to be exceptional in at
least one regard. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

13. “
“ (on investing)
Out of ten swings at the bat,
you get maybe seven strikeouts,
two base hits, and if you are lucky,
one home run. The base hits and
the home runs pay for all the
strikeouts.”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
MARC
ANDRESSEN
Co-Founder,
Andreessen
Horowitz
12
#

14. “
(on Google in the early years)
MARISSA
MAYER
CEO,
Yahoo!
13
#
“ We were very focused on becoming
profitable from a very early time,
which was not true of most
companies in the bubble.”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

15. “
“ The best entrepreneurs
made me feel like the train
was leaving the station whether
I got on board or not.”
JON
CALLAGHAN
Co-founder,
True Ventures
1
4
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

16. VINOD
KHOSLA
Founder,
Khosla Ventures
15
#
“
“ 95 percent of VCs add zero value.
I would bet that 70-80 percent
add negative value to a startup
in their advising. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

17. “
“ Keep the competitive leads warm,
get your deal oversubscribed,
because until your deal is done,
it’s just a nice fantasy in
your head. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED
TRAVIS
KALANICK
Founder,
Uber
1
6
#

18. MARC
ANDRESSEN
Co-Founder,
Andreessen
Horowitz
1
7
#
“
“ It's an old—and true—cliche that
VCs rarely actually say ‘no’ —
more often they say ‘maybe’,
or ‘not right now’, or ‘my partners
aren't sure’, or ‘that's interesting,
let me think about it’. ”
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

19. “
“ I get a lot of emails from
entrepreneurs. The best ones
are short, to the point and include
some question and/or the product. ”
JASON
CALACANIS
Serial
Entrepreneur and
Angel Investor
18
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

20. JERRY
MCGUIRE
“
“ SHOW ME THE MONEY! ”
Sports Agent
19
#
THE SECRET OF RAISING MONEY:
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO
GETTING FUNDED

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22. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
SETH GOLDSTEIN
@seth
‣ Raised hundreds of millions of dollars for
dozens of companies over the last twenty
years
‣ CEO and Co-Founder of DJZ
‣ Co-founder at Turntable.FM
‣ First EIR at Fred Wilson's Flatiron Partners
‣ Angel investor (bit.ly, delicious)
AUTHORS
N
FEATURED I
MICHAEL SIMPSON
@michaelgsimpson
‣ Co-Founder at DJZ
‣ Managed process for $3m debt and equity
capital raise
‣ Two years M&A investment banking at
Greenhill & Co
‣ Angel investor
‣ Yale College