2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Why raise capital
• How startup funding works
• Which sources of capital
• What investors look at
• Where to find investors
• Q&A
4. Personal Introduction
• Managing Director KPN Ventures
• Founder/partner River Venture Partners
• MSc Chemical Engineering and MBA (INSEAD)
• 5 years Finance & Strategy (McKinsey)
• 8 years in Consumer Internet (Sanoma Digital)
• 7 years in Venture Capital
• Married, father of three teenagers
• Loves live music, movies, vintage design and
slow food
• Supporting sustainable development, education,
research journalism and diversity
10. How startup funding works
Idea-stage ...more
rounds…
You
0
100% of 0
FFF stage
€50-100k
Family
€140k
28% of €500k
Seed round
€100k-€1m
Angel
investor
€500k
22% of €2.3m
Series A
round
€1-€10m
VC
investor
Employee
option pool
€2.5m
13% of €20m
Series B
round
€10-20m
2nd VC
investor
€5m
10% of €50m
IPO
€50m+
Public
investors
€50m
9% of €575m
Co-founder
stage
<€50k
Co-founder
Co-
founder
€50k
33% of €150k
Your
stake’s
value
18. • total market size & growth
• addressable market
segment(s)
• international scalability
• profit margins
4. Potential
19. • ‘Uses of funds’
• product development
roadmap
• go-to-market plan
(customer acquisition)
• hiring plan
• financial plan, with
cashflow prognosis
5. Plan
20. • realistic valuation
• staged funding
• protective rights
• governance & control
rights
• information rights
• investor value add
6. Terms
21. • Lack of ambition
• Founders not dedicated
• Not enough skin in the game, too much
founder dilution
• Not open to feedback
• Tech solution looking for a problem
• ‘We have no competition’
• Bad unit economics
• Not sharing all information
• Inconsistent financial model
• Too much money raised too early
• Messed up captable
• Non-standard terms
Red Flags
25. When/how to approach investors
Research investors
• Right scope, right stage, right ticket size?
• Similar investments?
• What can they bring?
• Which partner do you want on your board?
MAKE
LONGLIST
WITH
RELEVANT
INVESTORS
START WITH
SECOND TIER
AS TRY-OUT
Reach out
• Preferably through personal intro
• Send clear teaser deck with ask
(feedback, network connections, meeting to explain/demo)
• Propose 30 min. video call or to meet at event/office hours
• gentle reminder mail/call
26. The VC perspective
• Dealflow: assessing 500+ startup to close 5 investments
• Thesis-driven: targeting investments in emerging/hot spaces, with specific
characteristics
• Founder focus: entrepreneurs should drive growth and have sufficient skin in the
game
• Unicorn focus: each investment should have €1b exit potential to generate fund
return, compensating for failed investments
• Risk averse: taking time to get more information/validation; external urgency
needed (e.g. FOMO)
• Syndication: investing alongside existing and other new investors for additional
validation, value-add and shared risk
• Horizon: all companies should be exited when fund ends 8-10 years after start
28. Best practices
1. Find personal intro’s to investors through your network or via other investors
2. Research investors: point out why the approached investor is a good match
3. Build up relationships with investors early; e.g. send regular updates, meet-up at events, also when
you’re not fundraising
4. Use a CRM/sales tool for your fundraising process
5. Get at the table: use simple decks and quick demo’s to get at the table and make the personal
connection; in the end investors invest in you
6. Maintain data room: keep an up to data room from the start of your company, always ready to be
opened for interested investors
7. Prepare terms: Prepare a VC-type term sheet yourself to reduce workload for investors (and gain
some control over the terms J)
8. Create urgency: use planning and FOMO to create external urgency for investors
9. Do Investor Due Diligence: ask investors for founder references, also of failed cases
10. Stack funding: combine different sources of money, for validation, less dilution, more value add:
angels + crowdfunding + VC’s + grants + innovation loan + venture debt