Building an Angel Army + Fundraising Fieldnotes - 12.10.21

December 10, 2021

Hey - it’s Jason Yeh 🕺🏻

This is my Friday recap of thoughts I’ve had while helping founders solve their fundraising challenges this past week (12.10.21)

If you have any questions, please reply! I try to get to every comment/question I get :)

Building an Angel Army 

What do F1 Racing and Fundraising have in common? In both, the outside world sees a solo hero tackling an extremely difficult contest.

Lewis Hamilton, driver for the Mercedes car, comes back from 10th to win the São Paulo GP in stunning fashion. Emily Rasmussen, CEO of Grapevine, navigates a daunting fundraise disrupted by holiday breaks and investor indecisiveness to close an awesome pre-seed round. 

The other common thread in both sports is that success is dependent on a team in the background- despite it seeming like an individual effort. The Mercedes engineering team and pit crew do so much to put Lewis Hamilton in a position to make magic happen in a race.

In startup fundraising, having a team that wants to help push you over the finish line makes a massive difference. This team is separate from your co-founders and the employees actually building your company. It's the people who are helping make intros, backchannel, send positive notes/references, and build the momentum that closes fundraises.

It’s possible to build this team organically and slowly over time. That's what I did before I launched my last fundraise in 2017. My "team" was built over 10 years in tech and investing. I worked alongside amazing individuals who would go on to build huge companies and I helped people when I could without asking for anything in return. So when it was my turn to fundraise, I had a team that was excited to make connections for me and speak positively about me.

My leisurely approach over a decade worked for me, but most founders don't have that luxury. The question is how do you assemble a team to support you if your deadline to start fundraising is 10 weeks and not 10 years?

This is where the idea of the Angel Army strategy comes into play.

On to the Fieldnotes for 12.20.21…

More deck links created = more pitching before the EOY

EOY is not a good time to be raising… everyone is and should be recharging

Till next week. Stay adamant and be chased.

Jason

LOL. Dogs.

In case you missed it, check out last week’s post -

Small asks!

If you thought this was helpful or enjoyable in any way, I’d love for you to:

  • Forward this newsletter to others who would enjoy it

  • Follow me on Twitter where I’ve begun building in public (my course, my podcast, etc)!

  • Listen with a friend to Funded, my podcast that tells the rollercoaster stories of how founders raised millions (and subscribe🙏)

  • Ask me your fundraising questions so I can help you and cover them in a future issue